Rainbows with Mumma
Mrach 30, 2020
Mumma? Why does the rainbow have seven colors?
Each color has its importance beta.
What importance mumma?
Come sit here and I’ll tell you. Let’s start with red. Can you name somethings that are red?
Oh yes yes. My toy is car is red. And when I fell down last month, the blood coming out of my
knee was also red. And papa’s shirt, the one that he wore yesterday.
Hmm. Anything else that you can think of?
Ummmmm. Yes mumma! The roses in the school gardens.
Well done beta. Red stands for beauty, like the soft and pretty roses. And because our blood
is also red, it means that we all have beauty inside of us. We should always remember that
nobody is ugly but all are beautiful. Can you tell me which color comes next?
Blue!
No beta. After red, there is orange.
Orange like the leaves outside na mumma?
Yes. Exactly. Orange is the color that comes between red and yellow. It is the color of
saturation.
That’s a big word mumma. What does it mean?
Orange reminds us that we should set limits to whatever it is that we do. Doing anything
beyond, anything extreme, will not be good for us. We should know our boundaries and cross
them only if we are absolutely sure.
Oh. I understand. You said orange comes between red and yellow, so the next color is yellow,
isn’t it?
Yes, it is. Now tell me, which is the big yellow ball that hangs in the sky every day?
The sun!
And just like the sun, we should always be yellow and positive, and if we are positive, we
will be happy and shining. Remember, the sun rises after every night, it fights the dark and
brings light.
And then I can be like the sun and bring so much light that you won’t need to turn on the
switch.
(Laughs) Yes, beta. I won’t need to turn on the switch. Now, which color?
Blue!
No beta. Not blue.
When will blue come mumma? I want you to do blue.
It will come soon beta. Be patient. After yellow, there is green. Have you seen green in our
flag?
Yes mumma, I have. It’s below the blue wheel na?
Very good. Now green is courage. It tells us to be strong and fearless all throughout life.
Whatever may happen, we should believe in ourselves and keep trying.
Like the time when I got hurt but still continued to play?
Exactly like that time beta.
Do blue now please mumma. Blue. Blue. Blue.
Okay, okay. It is anyways blue’s turn. Now for this, I have a little hint for you. This blue
thing is friends with the sun. can you guess/
Is it a bird mumma?
No. Think more.
The sky!
The sky. And is there any place that you have seen that has no sky over it?
No mumma. Whenever I look, I always see the sky, everywhere.
same.
No mumma. That’s not true. I am a boy but didi is a girl, we are not the same.
Yes, you are beta. You both have two eyes and two ears and one mouth. You both cry when I
scold you and feel happy when we make pakodas, don’t you? Remember the red blood that
we all have? And that is how we are all same, all humans. We should never discriminate
against anyone based on any reason because it will be baseless.
I get it now mumma. I am not so different from didi and she is not so different from me. We
have already done five colors mumma and my friends are calling me out to play. Can you
please do the two colors left quickly?
Sure beta. After blue, we have indigo. Blueberries are indigo. Tell me beta, do you always get
sweet berries?
No mumma. Sometimes I get a sour berry too.
That is my point beta. We never know what life will serve us but this doesn’t mean that we
stop taking chances. With the indigo, we learn to take risks and go on new adventures. And
now violet. How many violet crayons are there in your color box?
Only one mumma.
And just like that, you are also the only one. You are unique and you should always be proud
of the things that make you stand out.
Mumma, didn’t you say that we are all the same and not different at all. And now you are
saying this.
Listen beta. These seven colors of the rainbow always go together. If even one is missing, the
rainbow is incomplete. The red tells us that we all are beautiful and the blue binds us
together. But in our hearts, we are ourselves, each different, the only one, like the violet. And
to be ourselves we need courage from the green and positivity from the yellow. Life always
has ups and downs, like the indigo berries and the orange helps us stay safe, not feel any
emotion extremely, be too saddened by failure, or too proud of our achievements. Follow
these seven paths of the rainbow beta and you will surely find the pot of gold.
COLOURS OF HOPE
DECEMBER 20. 2019
The other day while the kids were engrossed in completing their worksheet, I looked around when suddenly something caught my attention. Every bench had differently-colored bags, each resonating its’ own uniqueness and importance for the kids. The only companion that they have starting right from 7am to 6pm is their bag. They carry it around from school to their tuitions symbolizing the amount of work they have to accomplish that day. Sometimes it’s light and sometimes a tad bit heavy to carry for even the adults. But one thing that remains constant is the amalgam of the vibrant dreams of these little minds. Dreams of conquering the world, dreams of living in a house made of chocolate or being able to fly like the superman. And with their dreams, associated is the hope of people like me. A hope that one day every child will be able to carry school bags of his/her favourite colour rather than carrying sacks of cement on a construction site. A hope of a world where all kids are brought up in an environment to dream and opportunities for their dreams to be fulfilled. The light in their eyes aspires to be a part of the best universities around the world. And a hope that their religion, colour, gender or lack of finances never hold them back from choosing the path that they want for themselves. A hope that one day they will break from all the shackles holding them back and succeed in whatever they want to do in life.
Hope is not simply a four-lettered word. As rightly written by Emily Dickinson,
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
It is an Illuminating beam of confidence in the soul. It never stops. Hope is perhaps the only thing that keeps us going. Once, I asked the kids about what they think of hope and one of the answers gave me chills. The 10-year-old said, ‘Didi for me hope feels like giving a tight hug to a rainbow. Mumma says that whenever there are lots of fights or sadness on Earth, God creates a rainbow which envelops us in its different colours that calms the chaos of our minds and spreads his divine light which fills our homes with the hope of more positive things to come.’ It is astonishing to know how a natural phenomenon turns out to be a symbol of strength to a little child. If we look at it closely all children are the ones who fill us up with strength and power like no other. They bring with them love and hope and encompass everyone within their purity and light.
Providing them with the environment and opportunities to find their own colour and stick by them amidst all that goes wrong is what we owe to them. Owe to them for sprinkling that bright sunshine in the dark and finally owe them for making adults believe in miracles and blessings.
- Vibhuti Sikand
The Wordsworth Project 