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.”
