Colour me Red with an HP Laserjet B) !!
The number of things that had turned colourful from black-and-white, over the years were countless. As a child I wanted to know why the shows on TV showed people wearing black-white-grey shades. A little later when we saw the colour TV, I realised that the smaller TV needed replacement because it was time we added some colour to our lives! There were so many times we would relish on ice-creams. I was only given the vanilla flavour. It made me think why my ice-cream was always white. A few years later, when I had the freedom to carry 10 Rs. to school, I discovered the variety of colours in ice-cream that my parents had kept me away from! From then, till date, it has been a sixteen year old affair between me and the chocolate flavour.
As some more time passed, I wanted to know why the chess-board was always black and white. To that my father answered, some games are meant to be like that. "You cannot change that," he laughed. Okay, I couldn't! Being true Indians, my brother and father wouldn't miss a single cricket match on TV. Even when it was as boring and endless as Test Cricket! The boring white test-cricket uniforms would always put me off and then ODIs made a grand entry into the world of cricket. I knew who came from which country when I saw them don their nation's colours on the field. Today the colours overflow with the onset of the IPL. As I grew older, I took to art classes. And I swear, I wouldn't leave any page without sketch pen marks on it. I would anxiously wait to scribble over all the pages with my sketch pens. Not one blank sheet in the entire file-- that was what I called achievement.
Another few years down the line, I made it to high school. It was then that I realised that colour was one issue that would divide people! Apartheid. People in the West, differentiated between the Blacks and the Whites! There were also the Browns. Why couldn't they see beyond the colour of someone's skin? I agree we would also differentiate people on the basis of their cast or creed, but with the mushrooming of schools and colleges, education was given more importance. At least the city-bred had shed the obsolete rules of division of people on the basis of their caste.
Indians, and Asians on the whole, continue to move West-ward for higher education. News of our students being ill-treated and murdered abroad makes me think why the Whites couldn't educate themselves on how to treat people equally! Was treating them on the basis of colour the only way to show their one-up-manship? A friend once said, "the Whites turn red in the sun, green out of envy, blue when they're cold, and ironically, they call us coloured!" It is the hearts that are still either black or white. If only they could add more colour to their hearts and lives!
Advertisements have made everything full of colour. When I look around today, I see everything is available in colour. Recently I saw the traditional white toothpaste available in strawberry and chocolate flavours! The Pandas eat Gems and become colourful. The hair-oil ads that once showed long, black, shiny hair have given way to the hair-colour ads! Yes, even your black hair can now turn blue, green and pink! Living in this age, looking at everything that has been happening, from killing our students abroad, to a complete state of war between political parties where if one says Black the other says White, I only wish for a change of heart among our people. A little more compassion, a little more colour in our hearts .. it wont hurt anybody!
As the great Michael Jackson had rightly said, "You can be my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white!"
The number of things that had turned colourful from black-and-white, over the years were countless. As a child I wanted to know why the shows on TV showed people wearing black-white-grey shades. A little later when we saw the colour TV, I realised that the smaller TV needed replacement because it was time we added some colour to our lives! There were so many times we would relish on ice-creams. I was only given the vanilla flavour. It made me think why my ice-cream was always white. A few years later, when I had the freedom to carry 10 Rs. to school, I discovered the variety of colours in ice-cream that my parents had kept me away from! From then, till date, it has been a sixteen year old affair between me and the chocolate flavour.
As some more time passed, I wanted to know why the chess-board was always black and white. To that my father answered, some games are meant to be like that. "You cannot change that," he laughed. Okay, I couldn't! Being true Indians, my brother and father wouldn't miss a single cricket match on TV. Even when it was as boring and endless as Test Cricket! The boring white test-cricket uniforms would always put me off and then ODIs made a grand entry into the world of cricket. I knew who came from which country when I saw them don their nation's colours on the field. Today the colours overflow with the onset of the IPL. As I grew older, I took to art classes. And I swear, I wouldn't leave any page without sketch pen marks on it. I would anxiously wait to scribble over all the pages with my sketch pens. Not one blank sheet in the entire file-- that was what I called achievement.
Another few years down the line, I made it to high school. It was then that I realised that colour was one issue that would divide people! Apartheid. People in the West, differentiated between the Blacks and the Whites! There were also the Browns. Why couldn't they see beyond the colour of someone's skin? I agree we would also differentiate people on the basis of their cast or creed, but with the mushrooming of schools and colleges, education was given more importance. At least the city-bred had shed the obsolete rules of division of people on the basis of their caste.
Indians, and Asians on the whole, continue to move West-ward for higher education. News of our students being ill-treated and murdered abroad makes me think why the Whites couldn't educate themselves on how to treat people equally! Was treating them on the basis of colour the only way to show their one-up-manship? A friend once said, "the Whites turn red in the sun, green out of envy, blue when they're cold, and ironically, they call us coloured!" It is the hearts that are still either black or white. If only they could add more colour to their hearts and lives!
Advertisements have made everything full of colour. When I look around today, I see everything is available in colour. Recently I saw the traditional white toothpaste available in strawberry and chocolate flavours! The Pandas eat Gems and become colourful. The hair-oil ads that once showed long, black, shiny hair have given way to the hair-colour ads! Yes, even your black hair can now turn blue, green and pink! Living in this age, looking at everything that has been happening, from killing our students abroad, to a complete state of war between political parties where if one says Black the other says White, I only wish for a change of heart among our people. A little more compassion, a little more colour in our hearts .. it wont hurt anybody!
As the great Michael Jackson had rightly said, "You can be my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white!"
Thoughts - B-)
ReplyDeleteNice post. I had mentioned skin color as well in my post for HP. But in a humorous context.
ReplyDeleteAll the best for contest:)
see... it's fine to say that the whites racially discriminate and stuff like that... but then... i've seen a lot worse in the metropolitan cities of this brown skinned country that i live in.... i mean... when they see foreigners.. they're either dubbed as easy chicks... or as people you need to stay away from and STARE at... or considered drug dealers........ and.. of course... no one ever bothers helping them when they are confused by the HUGE crowds.. and when they do go ask for help... there's always other people who're just bouncing around to help the out because they all want to talk to the 'phorener'.... that happens here......
ReplyDeletenice one!!!!
ReplyDeletedo tell me what color do i paint