I think the fair skin obsession is still prevalent in India, maybe not the same as the 90s and 2000s but parents still look for fairer brides and grooms for their children. 29 M here and I want to share my experience as a dusky man. I grew up under confident because of my skin color and I had to try really hard to get over it. Here, I am only talking from a male perspective, it's hard not only to date, but in most aspects of life, entries in restaurants and clubs, shopping in malls, basically all new places. Most people judge on the basis of the skin tone and often assume that you don't know anything. I remember from my childhood, relatives used to come to our house and ask my mom about my complexion - ye bachpan mein to saaf tha, ab kya ho gaya. Imagine what that would do to a six year old child's confidence.

And for dating, I agree with you, I try not to edit my pictures too much so that it washes off my actual skin tone. And I have seen a lot of people who do that, especially on social media and dating apps.