“How does that even—” I began, confused, but Tania interrupted me.

“Leila, what she means is, they have South Asian matrimonial sites that are specifically geared towards Muslims.”

“Now that sounds perfect!” Liv said. “That’ll narrow it down, so you won’t waste any time.”

“You’d be surprised by how many people are on there,” Tania continued. “I actually helped my cousin make a profile on one, and she ended up meeting some really great prospects.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out,” I said hesitantly. I settled into the couch as Hannah and Liv squeezed in on either side of me. Tania grabbed Liv’s laptop from the dining table, pulled up a chair next to us, and quickly logged on to the website her cousin had used. Within seconds, she was filling out the five-question survey asking for my name, birth date, height, weight, and skin complexion.

“Skin complexion?” Liv asked as she watched Tania scroll down the list of options ranging from fair to wheatish to dusky. “Isn’t that kind of . . . what’s the word?” She turned toward Hannah.

“Racist.” I helped her out. Sadly, I wasn’t all too surprised by this question. It was an often repeated inquiry on every bio-data, and even on the matchmaker’s application packet. “Unfortunately, that’s pretty common in our culture,” I added, looking at Tania with a knowing look. “Basically, a fair-skinned bride has more marriage value than a ‘dusky-complexioned’ bride.”

“But why?” Liv asked.

“Beauty, status . . . ,” I began explaining.

“Colonialism,” Tania interjected.

Liv and Hannah looked at us, their faces perplexed.

“That’s just how it’s always been,” I said. “Fair skin in the Indian culture is considered more attractive. Which I suppose makes sense when you’re a country that has a two-hundred-year history of British rule—”

“And a caste system based on inequality,” Tania said.

“And a totally skewed perception of beauty.” I sighed. “Whiteness has always been linked to superiority . . . or power . . . or whatever. It’s not right, but it’s a belief that’s embedded deep within the Indian psyche.”

“But people don’t still believe that, do they?” Hannah asked.

Tania and I looked at each other. As much as I wanted to say no, I knew that wasn’t true. It was obvious that these prejudices still existed. I remembered glancing through my mother’s Stardust magazines on her nightstand as a kid and feeling so confused by all the ads for bleaching creams. Growing up in Southern California, I was used to seeing images of beautiful, tanned people everywhere. I couldn’t understand the desire to be “Fair and Lovely!”

While my parents never overtly expressed these views, they would still say things like “Leila! You can’t go out to play until the sun goes down!” or “Here, use this dupatta to shade your arms” whenever we’d go on long road trips. I just assumed it was normal.

“Do you think men on this website also have to answer these questions about skin color?” Liv asked.