Colour Colour which colour do you see ?

     Alright.. If you are expecting that I am racist , you are wrong ! If you think you have read this book and still skeptical about reading this , then better read at your own risk ! This is not about any philosophy professed by Socrates or if you think am trying to be another then please do not , Yes I said do not read it ! 

     I was having a good read after quite a long time - "The Immortals of Meluha" by debutant Amish. Great piece of work indeed. As I was cruising through the book , I was really stunned at the point where a priest asks Shiva "What is the colour of the leaf?" 

 And the conversation continues ...

'The colour?It's green"

'Is it?'

'Isn't it?'

'Why do you think it appears green to you?'

'Because,' said Shiva,amused.'its is green.'

'No.That wasn't what I was trying to ask. You had a conversation with one of the Brahaspati's scientists about how your eyes, you see the object.'

'Oh that. right' said Shiva slapping his forehead.Light falls on an object.And when it reflects back from that object to your eyes, you see that object.'

'Correct! Now put these two theories together and answer my question. Why does that leaf appear green to you?'

Shiva frowned as his mind worked the problem out. 'white sunlight falls on the leaf. the leaf's physical properties are such that it absorbs the colours violet, indigo, blue, yellow, orange and red.It doesn't absorb the green colour which is then reflected back. hence I see the leaf as green.'

'Exactly!', beamed the Pandit. 'So think about the colour of that leaf from the perspective of the leaf. What colour it absorbs and what colour it rejects. Is its colour green? Or is it every single colour in the world , except green?'

Shiva was stunned into silence by the simplicity of the argument being presented to him.'There are many realities. There are many versions of what may appear obvious,' continued the Pandit. 'Whatever appears as the unshakable truth, the exact oppostie may also be true in another context.It is the context or perspective that you're looking from that moulds which particular reality you see'.

     I was just relating this concept to few other aspects in life. Generally we have a tendency to relate to people from what is obviously visible of them viz. their anger , or some peculiar behavior and we say -" That guy is short tempered / he is so and so". Applying the same concept we can say that , the anger is manifested as the rejection to some particular entity. 

     We never make an attempt to see what the person absorbs or has absorbed i.e. the good things in that person. We differentiate people  based on the colour of their skin , we never see their hearts / mind , sad enough ! The differences between the people arise  because of the differences in the context to which people relate to one another. 

     Here is how I sum it up : 

     It's only what you see ,

     That makes you think of me;

     You never see what I really  am ,

     And don't know through what I swam.

     You never made any effort,

     To Build with my other side , a  rapport,

     The day you see the inside of  me ,

     My face would glow with glee.

     

     Do not just see the outside,

     Without knowing what's inside,

      And then decide am so and so ,

      And create a huge row.     

     Who I am is not what I show,

     I am the feelings inside me that flow,

     

    

     

Language

First things first ; I respect all languages 'cause every language is great in its own sense ! I am just trying to narrate an incident which made me think seriously about the language which we use and the circumstances that makes us speak that language. 

       It was a long and tiresome day which had sucked my energy and was  feeling as if I did barely exist ; clinging on to the rod in the overcrowded bus. I was lazy enough even to move forward all by myself  and alight at my destination. "Three rupees Change do bhaiya"  is what I heard in a local dialect by conductor who ofcourse  was a kannadiga. Generally the typical reply would be a stern "change illa re" or "nahi hain bhaiya" and my ear canals were too lazy to receive the reply that day except for one  this unusual reply "yako kannada baralva ? Modlu kannada matadu . Nimantavarinda ne kannada yaaru balasalla." by a fair, tall , young man about 24 years of age , which made me think about the diachrony. The conductor just kept his mouth shut since he didn't want to get into a fight , which one could sense from his calm and composed stature. By then I realized that I have to alight and rushed through the crowd and got down. 

      Somehow for some reason unknown , I started thinking about the incident that happened. "What made the conductor speak in Hindi? What made the passenger to give such a stern reply?"  Then I realized that , the passenger did ask for a ticket to a place which was very close to an Engineering college which is quite well known not only for being a landmark since ages but also for the huge Hindi speaking population which the surrounding environment that it has , which is because of the huge number of North Indian Students pursuing their studies in that college.

      Then it struck me "Did by any chance the conductor assumed the young passenger to be a north Indian ? Did he speak in Hindi to make that passenger's transaction more comfortable? What is that made the young man react like that ? Was it the conductor speaking in Hindi " . For a moment , a brief one though , I put myself in the conductors shoes and thought " What would have I done if  I were in the same position? ".

     There are three things : One , If the conductor's intention was to make the young man's transaction more comfortable ; is it justified ? Is the conductor is right in doing so ? . Given the condition that the conductor assumed the young man to be a North Indian just by his sheer experience , he is right on his part. Second , Was the conductor supposed to speak in Kannada (Local Language) first and then in case did the young man not understand the language then the conductor had spoken in Hindi ?  Was the young man's behaviour  justified ? If so ; then why ?

       For a moment I thought that the young man's behaviour was justified . His behaviour made me understand his love for the mother tongue , and the very next moment I felt it was unnecessary for the guy to behave the way he did.

      Nevertheless , it left me confused on deciding who was right as I made my way to my place through the busy street. Bangalore is a huge cosmopolitan city and not to mention about the lifestyle of the people , especially the young ones. I believe that everyone must respect every language , for it has paved the way the people live in that particular society. I also believe that the love and respect for the mother tongue starts right at home ! 

     However , there have been instances where I have seen the parents especially the fathers (Software Engineers , though I myself am one , a software engineer (Not a father yet ;))  communicating to their children in English instead of their mother tongue. I am not against communicating in English or a pro-mother tongue activist , but just think if the love towards the mother tongue is not cultivated and nurtured at this level will any number of protests and any number of kannada sanghas can change the state of affairs?

     I am yet to figure out who is right and who is wrong. But what I feel is that the Love and respect and the feeling of continuing the legacy of the mother tongue starts at home not in any language's sangha / Group.  Above all , there is a language which requires no words to communicate , it lets to reach the person whom you are communicating to , "The Human Language" , which has humane touch to it , which is missing in the languages which we speak for our mere existence. All we do is just interact with the man or woman and never see the being side of the person 'being' !The day we put that humane side in our communication there wont be any boundaries , colour  , race , creed . It will be just the Holy Place for the Human Beings. We will feel the feel of "being" !!

Disclaimer: I am not against any sangha / groups of any language or nor do I hate any language or profess to speak in any particular language. Its just the thoughts that crossed my mind that I feel should be shared. If anyone feels that I have a disregard to any language  it is purely unintentional.