It's true.
There's quite a few Indian women out there who've spent more on "fairness creams than on saris".
And it's not just the Indians.
The whole subcontinent suffers from the same obsession, the sizeable chunk of prime-time viewing being sponsored by fairness creams in Pakistan never ceases to amaze me.
And it's not just the fairness creams.
All of a sudden, there's a huge increase in the number of blue-eyed, brown-skinned, blow-dried-dead-straight hair people. Why?

My dorm mate Alia suggested it was a direct consequence of colonialism:
Colonialists = Superior Race
Colonialists = White
White = Superior

*Sigh*
Believe me when I say, you're gorgeous honey, whatever color you, your hair or your eyes are.

I love you, Benetton.