There is No Monochrome

 The saleslady was tall.

 Red lipstick was pasted on her lips.

“Now little girl, choose pink, yellow or green” she said.

“None” the little girl replied. “I want a blue shorts” the little girl demanded.

“But girls wear pink” the red lips quipped.

 Mama said “No lady, no! Let her have her favourite blue”

The girl starts chanting “I want orange, yellow, red and blue. Pink, green and purple and the varying hues”.

And the girl said “There is no monochrome”

Different voices were heard, in varying timbre and tone.

Different stories were told.

Some stories were retold.

Some stories were rebuked.

And all stories were heard.

And different dreams were pursued.

Both girls and boys running the path they chose,

Some divergent, sometimes straight.

An elder brother an entrepreneur, the other one an engineer

An elder sister a communist, the other one a capitalist and the younger one

A Christian doc, that’s me!

Brothers and sisters chanting “We want grey suite, pristine white lab coat and a red running suite.   We want orange, purple, green and all the varying hues”

The chanting voices drowned the room.

Orange, yellow, red and blue. Pink, green and purple and the varying hues starts to colour the room.

 Mom and Dad speak in unison, “There is no monochrome.”

I traveled far.

“Namaste” she greeted me.

She is enveloped with a tapestry of colours

From red vermillion on her head, to her colourful saree.

“You traveled alone?” “Your parents allowed you?”, “You’re not married”

Questions, questions and more questions

Confronted Me.

She started chanting “Red vermilion on your head, red bangles in your arms and red on your feet”

And she said “There is a monochrome”

“Life is a monochrome”

“No” I said. “There is no monochrome”.

And “life is not a monochrome”

The parallel worlds do exist,

Of varying hues, going in divergent roads

And a single colour going in a linear road

Does a part of your world and mine exist in a monochrome?

Which parts of our worlds are in monochrome?

Which parts of our worlds are in varying hues?

And proclaiming “There is no monochrome.”

Echoes continued in my mind

Which parts of our worlds exist in monochrome?

Which parts of our worlds are in varying hues?

And proclaiming “There is no monochrome.”

The day of I do’s came.

We were happy.

We were sure.

The reality of Genesis 1:27-28 start to unfold.

Can we both proclaim “There is no monochrome.”

The first breakfast,

Omelette was served.

“Where is the coriander and green chilies?” he asked.

I said “None, at home, we do not put coriander and green chilies”.

The first breakfast the bubble burst!

Can we in unison proclaim “There is no monochrome.”

Can we deny the existence of omelette stuffed with onions?

“No!” we agreed in unison.

Can we deny the existence of omelette stuffed with coriander and chilies?

“No!” we agreed in unison.

So a bit of his cultural mono chrome and my own monochrome

Meets and blends

And starts to colour the room with our own varying hues.

And in unison we proclaim,

“There is no monochrome.”