I see Red!

I was in the front seat and the bus suddenly stopped! I realized I was in the busiest crossing of south Kolkata. But I didn’t look up as I had no intentions of viewing the pole ahead with three different colours and symbols in four different directions as if it is exerting it’s control on my life and forcing me to believe that it prioritizes others over me…

This signal is invariably turning red again and again but that is not my concern but my concern is I’m seeing red! My interest in wave-optics forces me to tell you that we humans don’t see colours of the wavelength greater than red. So there is definitely a bit more to it when you go ‘red-faced’ as it is nothing but an extreme beyond which you can’t go. Guess what is it about ‘red’ which scares me the most? It’s extreme limit? It’s overwhelming control in my life? Or is it because ‘red’ also happens to represent ‘wrath’, one of the seven deadly sins as the Roman-Catholics believe? Frankly speaking I’m searching for the answers as I write this post!

Every morning as I head towards my college I see the roads littered with garbage, I stop by to get up in the rickety public transport buses which vibrate more than they move, when I see those forever-open water-taps on streets with streams of treated-water flowing down the drain I feel nothing but I simply go RED…

But how can I forget the contribution of this matrix called life? All the worldly problems that it gives, all the fingers that it points, all the question-marks that it puts, all the faith that it destroys , all the smiles which it takes away, all the false promises which it makes, all the warnings which it poses, all the times when it forces those tears…I know when you think of this you are bound to go RED..

In human color psychology, red is associated with emotions that "stir the blood", including anger, passion, pain, and sacrifice. So Kolkata turned red in those days of Naxalite movements of late 60s and early 70s as it did when it’s favourite son, Jyoti Basu died but the ‘reds’ were different. The communists had infact chosen the colour red as it represented ‘the blood of the workers’ which again reminds me of the other ‘red’ within me.

Apart from the five and a half litres of blood circulating within my body there is also something distinctly red or so it seems! It is the fire which is raging inside. The fire which has been ignited by this conspicuous life! It has always been a dragon and has spit fires in those very sensitive corners. Corners which didn’t deserve them..Burnt? Yes, maybe they are burnt forever! But at least I take pride that it hasn’t been a dragon and spit the fires raging inside on someone else. It is still burning all inside!

In the end among all other things which are indeed ‘red’ as I see some notable ones are champion teams like ‘Manchester United’, ‘Ferrari’, ‘Spanish football team’ and a host of others! They are indeed ‘red’. Hard to understand why but nevertheless they are CHAMPIONS! So there is light at the end of the tunnel..

But one question is still unanswered-Why are roses red??