Colour.

Colour breathes joy and life into every creation, whether ancient or modern. Skin tones progress from palest white and dusky wheat to darkest ebony. In the words of Rupi Kaur –

‘It is a blessing to be

The colour of the

Earth

How often must

Flowers confuse me for

Home.’

A prism splits light into all of its magnificence. Stained glass windows in high-ceilinged churches make light dance across the polished wooden floor. The sun sets over the horizon and plunges within cerulean seas and oceans. Left in its wake are splashes of colour; crimson, orange and golden, skipping across the waves, cruising along the blue surf. Inky stains bleed across the sky as twilight approaches. The advent of velvety indigo, purple and black symbolize them regaining their nightly territory and thus ensues a clash of colour- a real-life watercolour over the ocean. Night tiptoes stealthily and the crescent moon glides, her creamy gossamer gown trailing and dipping into the water. It has floated over mountains and countryside, towns and pinpricks of light in cities and has now come to rest. Pearls are strewn across the jet black sky, winking to attract the attention of yet another stargazer, far, far below.

Dawn arrives and summer is here. Tender green shoots turn their faces to greet golden splendour. All of the town is awash in yellow. The red tint of the sky drips into the gulmohar blossoms which are the centre of attraction of all passers-by. Flowers arch overhead. Shadow and light play hide and seek along the streets. If some wanderer, like me, happens to peek above, they will find green and brown tendrils and branches crisscrossing the sky, cutting it up into pieces. A jigsaw puzzle comes to mind. The sky seems cracked and veined but I pass from under the tree and it is whole again. Such is one of the many magic tricks that nature plays with us. Is this not the case with us too? Beautifully and utterly flawed but mended and whole again, someday. Or as whole as humans can be. This is one of my favourite sights which is why I often tend to gravitate toward bare trees.

If you drive out of the city in the hopes of clasping some moments of peace, golden corn and beige wheat nod along to the rhythms of the breeze, apparently pleased for some respite from the heat. The sun slants through gaps in the canopy, brightening the road. Have you noticed illusions of water in the distance, while on a road trip? What tricks colour and light conspire to play!

Evenings are a delight to experience when the day blows off some steam in preparation for the coming of night. When the white clouds come alive with colour. No aerial masterpiece ever repeats itself and a medley of pink, purple and tangerine tinged with red air-spray themselves onto the canvas of the heavens. Often, the rays of the sun burst through this paint, wanting to remind everybody of its presence one last time before it bids farewell for the night. I have lost count of the number of times that I have captured these evening skies with my camera and yet, they never fail to inspire awe within me.

Colour envelopes us. In fabric, in paper, in plants and in wood. The colours on the walls define the room, the colour of our clothes brings vibrancy, the colour of our food makes it both more interesting as well as appetizing, the colours in the sky and of the trees inspire curiosity, the colour of dawn and snow, of sunset and hail, of twilight and autumn bring joy.

Patterns scream with colour while sculptures are its stoic reflection. Hillsides dappled with flowers make us want to gaze at the open skies all day long. Henna streaks through whitened hair and adorns the arms of brides. The brilliant hues of saris moving in the throngs of a wedding, add life to the ceremony. The gentle white of a wedding dress mark companionship and happiness.

Let me paint another imagery for you. The rustling of a peacock feather in a silent wood. The clicking of red beaks, the sporting of a burnt sepia mane. The majestic black and white stripes snaking their way across the orange of a tiger. Spotted fawn, the colour of darkening caramel, skipping across the stones of a pond. The aristocratic shine of blue when the Indian Roller soars into flight. The brown owlet, scouting its next prey. The deep grey of a cave, the dazzling yet soothing greens of a forest, the stony black of towers and castles rising from a cliff.

Colour embraces us everywhere we turn. The golden dash of a Retriever, the streak of black when a cat pounces. Books thrust us into fantastical faraway lands which we paint with the colours of our imagination. The hues of music bring forth a memory. Travel accentuates the richness and splendour of different cultures and places. The sun sets everyday but looks different from each vantage. Seas of red, blue and green fill stadiums. Our eyes perceive different shades and different intensities of the same colour in wondrous ways.

Paintings enthral us with their whimsical and other-worldly nature. Photographs capture the essence of the moment in colour, frozen in time. The glossy sheen of copper stallions and the blues and blacks of depths and heights. Colours make us experience stillness, yet make us spin.

The colours in your heart swirl, red with love; for yourself and for others, for this world. Your mind pops with the brightness of that yellow, the promise of earth-shattering potential. Your soul is lavender from the once deep violet of bruises. Hold onto it with pride. Those are your scars coloured with the whisper of hope.

 I’m always excited to find a stray pop of colour in a roadside hedge or spot a tiny flower growing through a crack in the cement. Coming home to receive a bouquet of gladioli and carnations is one of the most beautiful feelings. Colour sucks us into its fathomless whirlpool. The world is painted in the most incredible colours; it is colour itself. These colours might at times, fade and at others, become subdued. But then, these very colours heal us, with one brushstroke and another and one day, we find the golden of the sun seeping back into our lives. They enable us to create, inspire us, calm us and yet, are a dizzying reality. 

We are made of the most magical colours.

‘Hold your finger to the sky with so much force it lengthens like a spine. Look up to the point of it and beyond. There. That tiny patch of the world, no bigger than the tip of your finger. At first glance, it might just look like one flat color. Blue, or gray, or maybe even orange.

But it’s much more complex than that. Squint. See the daubs of lilac. The streak of sage no wider than a hyphen. That butterscotch smear and the faint wash of carnelian. All of them coming together to swirl at the point just above your finger.

Breathe them in. Let them settle in your lungs. Those are the colors of right now.’

-Emily X.R. Pan, The Astonishing Colour of After