"Tradition"

Mezba:

At my wedding, I am going to demand that the bride's party show up with purple M&M flavoured gulab jamuns.

I burst out laughing at that. Gulab jamun is a syrupy Indian sweet. I had never thought of a romance between Gulab jamuns and M&Ms. How about burfi with smarties!? Mmm.

His last paragraph is right on as well. I find the 'ghost-white' look to be scary. There is not even much point in going to a beauty parlor for the whole setup--just splash your face with water and then dump it in flour and you'll get the same effect.

In the West, the main obsession is mostly with smooth, soft and silky skin. In desi circles, it's largely about the 'correct' skin tone.