'Obsession for White skin': Video of Indian men looking at Azerbaijani women reveals the racist side of internet

Social media is a tricky space to be in. While it provides you with a platform for global connection, it also lets people find community in their darkest sides. From trolling to photo editing, people leave no stone unturned to reveal just how strongly they feel about something or someone. And the best (worst) part, is that there is absolutely no policing of thoughts and expressions. Case in point is a video going viral on X, where a group of tourist Azerbaijani women are posing in front of the Taj hotels in Mumbai. The video pans out to the other side where a group of Indian men can be seen looking at them and recording them on their phones. "Indian men look at Azerbaijani women like they’ve never seen a human," said the caption of the post which has received 163.1K views and more than 4K likes. While the video does make you question a whole lot of things about it, a look at the comments section will have you forgetting it all. Because what it audaciously portrays in every use of words is the larger racist lens with which some sections of the globe still view India and Indians. "Reminder to never ever go to India! If a toilet and a garbage dump had a baby," wrote one X user. "Color obsessed? That caste society is said to suffer from it," added another. "It’s because they’re mostly white women. It’s a fixation with white women," claimed one."The skin color, dressings, no groomings, no hygiene even if they earn decent they keep such standards to save few pennies.. fatefully" commented another."Obsession for White skin another level" and "The smell" were some other racist comments. "Most disgusting race in the world" wrote one. The video does make you uncomfortable about the proximity of the men to the group of women and raises your guard even from the distance of a screen. It also makes you question their act of recording them through their phones. However, you can also see the women posing for the photographs and what seemed to be just an interaction between two groups seems to be taken out of context with the help of one single comment. All just to troll one country and its men. "The women are posing for a photo. Your claim is most likely taken out of context," wrote one social media user in the comments. "If staring equals “never seen a human,” then the same logic would apply to tourists everywhere. Bad behaviour is individual, not national. Generalising Indians is no different from any other prejudice," rebuked another. The post has served as a stark reminder of how no matter what people portray on the outside, some still carry within themselves the outdated and disrespectful ideals of racism.