When I was a little girl, my favorite color was always green. Light green, dark green, sea green, teal, lime green, emerald … every shade except for olive-green – was my ‘bestest best color in the world’. Those were the days when I’d buy only green toothbrushes and dream of living in Greenland (yes, yes, I knew it’s covered in ice. But oh, the name!)
This complete fascination for green undoubtedly stemmed from my unswerving loyalty to my school house, which was represented by this particular color. I’d wear a green badge and proudly represent my house (it was named Bhabha, after one of the most prominent scientists India has ever had) in inter-house competitions like quizzes and group songs. It was my house, my color. Green forever!
Unfortunately, forever lasted just a few days till after I was shuffled into Tagore House, whose color was blue. Although this kind of reshuffling occurred ever school year, I’d somehow managed to remain in one house for six years straight. And after being put in Tagore, though I tried my best to still love green, well … the people who now wore green were my rivals. They were the people whom I had to defeat. And look down upon. And defeat! If I supported green any longer, then indirectly I’d be supporting them.
After all, blue is a nice color too, right? It’s the hue of the sky, which is serene and content, and so incredibly vast … and of the seas and oceans, which have always attracted me (or is it just me? Doesn’t each and every one of you just long to go to the seaside … for the beach, the waves, the immense power of the water?).
But what really clinched the deal was that the Indian cricket team were the ‘Men in Blue’ … and that was quite, quite enough to make blue my favorite color. Hence, blue it was for the next few years. After a while, it became kind of reflexive … if anyone asked me which color I liked the most, pat came the reply, blue. No conscious thought involved.
Which makes it kind of surprising that now it’s purple which makes my day. You see, at some point I realized I like pink as well … and I don’t like to like pink, because it’s oh-so-girly! It’s right up there with Barbie dolls, and ‘cho chweet’s and ‘he’s so cute …’ and I was NEVER that girl!
It’s been commercialized and marketed and projected : Girls = Pink. And so I rebel against liking pink … but in a small hidden and buried part of my mind, I can’t help it. Which is why … I settled for purple. It has a little pink, to indulge in cute girly-ness, and a little blue, for the sane, calm, rational side of me (yes, I do have one). Purple is just the right blend. It varies from lavender and lilac to deep royal purple … plus, it’s the color of the wrapper of Dairy Milk chocolate. Case closed!
So now, I’ll have purple earrings and purple water bottles. But I also own an adorable pink jacket and a blue pencil-case. And I’ll always have a soft spot for green. I guess all those colors can live in harmony inside my heart after all. And I can look inside and choose … whether I’m feelin’ blue, or in the pink of health, or any other color at all.
Sunlit Prism 