— Anonymous
Societal beauty standards is a topic that is still very much alive to this day. In “Odour”, Saadat Hasan Manto deconstructs what we think are the laws of attraction. I believe this makes the story a great work. The story details an event in which the character, Randhir, sleeps with a girl from a low class. This girl worked nearby and was very different to the girls he was used to being with. These girls were of a higher class and affiliated with the British occupants. They were considered beautiful because of their lighter skin and westernized ways. In contrast, the girl he sleeps with has a darker complexion. In particular, this girl has a certain odor, which would be categorized as uncleanly to most people, however, it was intoxicating to Randhir. He could not get enough of her pheromones. “Randhir had always hated the smell of perspiration and after a shower he would rub his body with talcum powder and put deodorant in his armpits. But wasn‘t it strange that he had kissed her repeatedly in her armpits and felt no nausea? in fact, a deep sense of satisfaction had washed over him. He was profoundly aware of the powerful smell of her body, something impossible to explain” (page 68). Even when their time came to an end, he reminisced about the girl he was not supposed to love. “He looked at the girl lying next to him. Her body was soft as if it were made of milk and melted butter, but the perfume she wore had a tired smell now, even a sour smell, a sad, colourless smell. He looked at her again. Her white skin with scratch marks reminded him of milk gone bad. He recoiled from the perfume she exuded. His mind went back to that night when that dark girl had lain next to him, her odour overwhelming his senses. It was something that leapt out of her body at him with a primeval force. far sweeter than the perfume his bride wore. The dark girl‘s odour had penetrated his body like an arrow, he remembered” (page 69). To tie this story in with modern times, the concept of colorism is something that is alive and well today. People with lighter skin get more opportunity than people with a dark complexion. It’s a common theme that when a man, in particular, attains wealth or fame, he is more likely to be with someone who is light skinned. This is probably because it’s seen as a status symbol. Similarly, Randhir was not allowed to attend the private dances the Anglo-Indian girls were giving because it was exclusive to the British, which he was not. He was made to believe he wanted a lighter skinned girl, when in reality, he was crazy about a common girl that society overlooked.
