Ever since I began with crayons, I was intrigued by my inability to count the number of colours in my collection [then 12 of them]. As I grew older [and mature, if I may add], my palette grew bigger and denser. Inadvertently, the colours just spilled over from my drawing paper onto my toys, clothes, shoes, bags, pens, stationery, cycle, cricket bat, tennis balls, watches, computer, motorcycles, laptop, cell phones, car, camera and bedroom. I became finicky about colour.
The mental perception of colour dramatically changes based on geography, culture, age group and time. I don’t like the stigmas associated with each of them- like black is evil, white is pure, red is vigor, blue is loyal. If the rules are so simple, can I commit a crime, wear a white suit to court and manipulate the judgement? By wearing black to a wedding will the marriage end in a doom? No, it is just the apparent feeling and not the feeling itself. Probably such profiling of colour choice happened in a period when people had nothing to do outdoors [like Chicago, in winter] and probably indulged in idle talk that transpired into such baseless notions of colour choice.
On thinking deeper, such colour profiling didn’t develop in one part of the world, it has happened in several parts of the world and has developed in complete isolation. Western women wear all white in their wedding, but Indian women don’t wear white at all. So this means, people in different hemispheres had nothing to do at several points in time. This didn’t stop with one colour, but also spread to colour combinations. Infact, the spelling of colour varies within the same language on the two sides of the Atlantic.
According to me, do what YOU like best! No sticking to conventions like buying a grey car because my boss has a white one and that I cant outdo him in brightness- I bought one in blazing red! Not wearing a light shirt- dark trousers because they are formal and the other way round is considered callous- I prefer to wear what I look formal in. I never cared about matching my belt, with watch strap and shoe leather colour. My ties always were the ones that help me stand out- rather than go with the crowd. My motorcycles were always blue and my cars red. I am not being ignorant of such rules, I merely know them inorder to break them. Trust me, I know my colours though I cant count them!
The festival of colour, Holi, when Indians celebrate with joy [mischief mongers apart], and get colourfully dirty without a care. A person who wears well-ironed pale coloured clothes can be seen in ‘once white’ clothes dabbed with pinks, reds, blues and greens and a face lit with a wide smile. What transforms this otherwise dull-looking persona into a vivacious being?- colour and lots of it.
So, next time you see that yellow tshirt, blue watch, fluorescent green back pack, bloody red tie, tan leather shoe, funky belt don’t worry about convention, just defy it. Don’t mind about what the world thinks about you, care about what you feel about the world. Today we don’t worry about 12-colour crayons, but have 2billion colour formats. Go on chase your ‘bright’ dreams, take risks with colour choice, draw inspiration from nature, make that boardroom more exciting, design that corporate logo in non-blue, think outside that ‘light’ box, paint your bedroom orange, draw inspiration and creative energy,
Make your life COLOUR-FULL…
Click HERE to view all my PICS OF COLOUR and revitalize your senses.
