Filter Coffee #066

On Life as a Colourful Collage

Dear Readers,

FC #65 on abbreviations etc. was well received. I got some interesting responses, and none of them were abbreviated or emojis!

Krupa Murthy is opposed to using abbreviations and emojis. She feels that the person using them is either in a hurry or does not know the spelling!

We all know that an imp is a mischievous devil, and we use it to describe a kid who is very naughty. If ‘imp’ is used as an abbreviation for important you may end up saying to someone “ URimp4me”.

October 2nd marked the birth anniversary of Gandhiji and Lal Bahadur Shastriji. I have spoken much about Gandhiji in FC #14.

For those keen on revisiting the story of Shastriji, click here.

Life has so much to offer all of us. People in my age group have seen the ups and downs of life and younger people are bracing themselves to face and live in this ever-changing and challenging world. So I thought, why not write about this?

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🎨 Is Life a Colourful Collage?

If someone reads this title as ‘Life is a College’, it would not be off the mark. The lessons one learns in life make life a learning institution. We learn from our mistakes, experiences, failures and from people around us. But, do we learn anything from our success or achievements? We tend to see them as the product of our learning and be content. But there are some more learnings coming out of those achievements as well, like ‘could I have done better than others?’, ‘what do I need to do to better myself?’ ‘what went not so well?’ and so on. 

A collage is a piece of art made by sticking bits and pieces of different colours and themes on a paper, board or fabric. When I talk of life as a collage, I am referring to all those moments in our life,  good or bad, that are etched in our memory. If one gave some thought to all the good moments one would feel grateful to the power above and the collage seems vibrant and colourful. If one were to dwell on all the ‘lows’ of life, the collage will look dark and dismal. Life as a collage will surely be a mix of all things happy and sad.

When we look at life in all its dimensions we see moments of joy, accomplishments, and defeats — the birth of a child, the death of kin or a friend, marriage, separation, love, disappointment, anger, hatred and a number of other emotions that may have taken control of us.

Some would characterise life to be as colourful as a rainbow. This may be true in a transitory sense when people are euphoric and are enjoying all the good things that are happening to them. But just as the rainbow is an illusion life too can be illusory at times.

However, the interesting aspect is that the rainbow occurs when sunlight strikes raindrops. Similarly, when life is full of sunshine and droplets of rain make it romantic or exhilarating, one could allegorically call life a rainbow.

There’s another aspect of the rainbow that makes interesting reading. Its colours are arranged from longest to the shortest wavelength, Red being the longest and violet being the shortest.

If life were to be compared to a rainbow it would follow that life too has colours that represent different facets of life.

In school, we were taught to remember the colours of the rainbow by memorising what seemed like an acronym: VIBGYOR. Of course, Indigo is very close to Blue and often cannot be seen clearly on a rainbow. So, what are the colours of life and what do they represent? Let us go in the same sequence as Vibgyor.

💜 Violet: This is believed to represent spirituality, the subconscious, inspiration, mystical awareness, etc. If I venture to make this one of life’s many colours, I would be tempted to link it to ‘vanaprastha’ meaning ‘retiring to the forest’ which in today's context means detaching oneself from the materialistic world and living in a spiritual bubble. I can relate to this phase of life, as my own father became a ‘violet person’ when he embraced spirituality and detachment.

Not an easy thing to do, but nevertheless an attainable phase of life. The Romans were said to bring violet flowers to funerals which sort of ties in with material detachment and emancipation.

👖Indigo: This was the name given to a dye that was exported from India to Europe. As a likely colour of life, it can be perceived to represent intuition, integrity, wisdom with a focus on structure, order and continuity. Indigo is relatable to one’s professional life when all these attributes assume significance. They also represent the values one ought to uphold in one’s life.

🦋 Blue: It represents that time in life when one is cool, calm and grounded; not letting the mind get clouded by unanticipated events. Blue, being the colour of the sea and sky, is associated with that phase of life when people want to travel, trek or take a cruise — to be out in the open which is symbolic of freedom and expansiveness. 

🍃 Green: This colour is truly the most lively of all the colours. In fact, when one looks at the plants, trees and other forms of vegetation one can easily conclude that Green is truly a colour of life. It has a pleasing and healing effect on everyone. It represents that stage in life when one is acutely aware of the flora and fauna in the environment which must be preserved. The phrase ‘green energy’ should make all realise how our lives, and the lives of our children and grandchildren, can be in serious jeopardy if one does not pay heed to the cries of climate change and global warming. Green does also have a more negative connotation. You may have heard the phrase green with envy. It is a way to describe a person who covets what another person has. Don’t we all, at some point or the other in our life.

🌻 Yellow: This is the colour of the sun and its radiance brightens up all things around us. In my view, yellow represents the youth phase of life when energy levels are high and the youth passionately pursue their interests. Yellow also represents the fire in the belly that drives people to persevere and accomplish their objectives in life.

🍊 Orange: I have tried to imagine what this colour could represent. I am tempted to put it in the category of saffron, a colour obtained by mixing orange with yellow. To the naked eye, orange seems to be closer to saffron. This colour represents the ascetic phase of life — saffron robes are worn by people with certain religious beliefs and who have decided to be part of a religious denomination. It can also represent sacrifice or renouncement.

🩸 Red: This colour is indeed fraught with contradiction. Red basically represents passion. But passion has many vents. At one end of the spectrum, it gives vent to anger and at the other end, it represents love. People see red when something annoys them. It is the colour of blood and is the colour of the heart. Valentine’s cards are clear evidence of how red is used to convey emotions using the heart symbol.

‘Painting the town red’ is a popular expression and can be equated to the energetic phase of life when the youth of the world went out to town and had an enjoyable time, typically by visiting bars, restaurants and clubs — another expression of passion all together! 

🐼 Black & White: These are not found in the rainbow but usually represent night and day. They are, however, relatable to our life. In one interpretation, black represents darkness or evil and white represents purity and good. We, as humans, go through many alternating phases where we have dark and noble thoughts. When we say ‘I want it in black and white’ we are expressing our preference not to rely on word of mouth but to have something given to us in writing. This sort of represents a trust deficit. Someone's word is sometimes not enough. Black is considered to represent solemnity and authority. The colour of the gowns that judges and lawyers wear. White, on the contrary, indicates purity (white as snow) and compassion and is worn by Doctors and other health workers. While in the west black is worn to mourn a death, white is worn to do that in India.

🔘 Grey: Why do I need to say about this colour? Going grey is part of life. But I am referring to it as ‘uncertainty’. The bright-line test is used to determine if two propositions or positions are clearly distinguishable and that there is no room for any confusion or interpretation.

All the colours of life which I have discussed are my own understanding of them and my own interpretation of their relevance to life. But my readers may or may not subscribe to what I have said. There could be grey areas, which is an area that is between black and white, where the bright-line test cannot be applied.

My views in this edition may not, in the eyes of my readers, pass the bright-line test and I would be very interested in knowing from them what they think. Do they see many shades of grey?  Take care and enjoy the colours of life. See you next week!