Recently when
I had to purchase a gift for a friend from a foreign land, I was advised to be
colour conscious. ‘The western world is paler’, I was reminded. As an Indian, it
was difficult to digest a colourless world. Strangely, though our skin colours
are limited to white, black or brown, our blood everywhere is hot and vibrant
red.
Memory took
me far back in time when an acquaintance once had stopped me to inquire, as to
where in the pink sari that I was then wearing, was there any shade of green,
that I had the courage to wear a green blouse. The sari that I was then wearing, had a medley of colours at its base and to my relief, I quickly searched it to locate
a tiny bit of green at the bottom. I escaped the cold look of my acquaintance!
What got me thinking though was the word she had used. She had been amazed at
my ‘courage’ to wear colour. Till then I didn’t know that colours needed
confidence. As an Indian, I had grown up being incautious when I draped colours
on my body. In fact, colours gave me strength to be happy in the gloomiest of
times. And today when I was told that the West largely shirked from colours, I
was in a way glad that I had the ability to do that which the West was probably
frightened of.
Last year a
young and beautiful Mexican friend came to India and splurged with colours from
the street shops. Surprisingly again, it was the green and the pink; and what a
glow it gave to her complexion! When asked what she had liked most about India
she had said, ‘colours’.
In between
this West and the East, my mind feels drawn to the earth I live on. How many
colours she carries on her body! The brown of the soil, the green of the grass and
the visually attractive in between courageous peeks of the colourfully vibrant florets.
The blue of the oceans and the white of the waves; the colours of nature can
indeed stimulate the dullest mind into creativity. And what’s marvellous is
that the earth so effortlessly mixes the hues in spite of being so serene. Probably
the West would be ruffled at how easily our planet carries all shades on her
skin in all calmness. Perhaps it’s the politics of fashion which play a jinx on
us. It has taken on itself the responsibility to teach us to wear colours and
we pay it with our freedom of choice. If we were to emulate nature, we would be
able to comfortably wrap ourselves in different shades without any rivalry or
embarrassment.
A whisper
here speaks a bit more to me. The recent shock waves felt in India due to Srinivas
Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer being shot dead in a suspected hate crime in
Kansas, has certainly shaken many parents of this land whose children are
living in the United States. The scene could become every migrant’s nightmare
indeed; but for the Ian Grillots who seem to care for all shades; and who come
running to help when impulses of race and nativity begin to hold guns.
Perhaps some
parts of our world need art classes to get down to understanding the benefits
of mixing and matching of colours in the tapestry of life. Then in the long run
our earth could wear a beautifully woven colourful carpet and spare us pigment
crimes. The world would then clad itself in different shades of humility and
mercy, stripping itself of any thread of ego. Grace from the skies above would
shower waters to assist it in self-effacement cleaning up the dirt of
divisions. Then there would be no need for new walls to be built with bricks of
fear, because finally someday love would overpower the unpleasant emotion of
hate.
What an
amazingly beautiful world we would have an opportunity to live in, where the
winters would blow the breeze of compassion and the summers would give the
warmth of blessings. Where every man and woman would belong to the race of
humanity and rely on the strength of values, honesty and care irrespective of
religion, caste or the colour of their skin. Where people would have the courage to allow colours in their lives and neighbourhoods.
As humans, we
have the opportunity to create a masterpiece of our lives using our
intelligence by walking purposefully, worthily and accurately on the green
grass of love, but sadly some of us prefer to plod through the mucky slush of
hate and anger as we let go of wisdom.
“SO BE
CAREFUL HOW YOU ACT; THESE ARE DIFFICULT DAYS. DON’T BE FOOLS; BE WISE: MAKE
THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY YOU HAVE FOR DOING GOOD.” Ephesians 5:15,16
It would be injustice if I end without honouring the one who let go of thoughtless and foolish behaviour and chose not to be vague but grasped and understood the essence of life beyond boundaries. - Love.
(pic. courtesy: Google)
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