“Would you like to see the pictures I clicked?” she asked me as I sat at a restaurant somewhere up near the Fox Glacier in New Zealand. I looked at her, she had been sitting alone at the next table and had waited for this opportunity to speak with me once my family had decided to visit the stores outside. She was in her seventies and I saw her holding out her camera phone with eyes that pleaded for someone to see what she had taken.
I took her phone and stared amazed at different pictures she’d clicked. Amazed not at the stark beauty she had managed to capture, not at the places she had visited, but at the pictures, all in black and white.
“You only like taking them in black and white?” I asked, trying to smile.
“Is there any other color?” she asked, puzzled.
I turned to her settings and changed the mode to colour. She took the camera phone from me and walked to the window. Her gnarled fingers aimed the camera at a couple sitting outside and she clicked. Her face broke into a smile as she looked at the picture and then came to me. “They are in love!” she giggled. “I can see their love in the colour!”
I watched as she bounded out of the restaurant clicking at everything she could focus on. Suddenly her world had changed.
My family had not come back yet, and I sat awhile and pondered on people who only saw the world in black and white: Refugees from Syria, whose children shared in their misery, only seeing a bleak, black world devoid of love, bereft of colour! Women in fanatical societies, chained to the medieval ages by insecure men hiding behind convenient religious beliefs! Minorities living in intolerance in lands ruled by democratically elected leaders from the majority community.
Did they deserve a world of black and white?
Why couldn’t their settings be changed to colour?
She was still happily clicking photos as I walked out into the sunshine outside. It was a new world that had been opened for her, with just a small adjustment on her phone.
Isn’t it our responsibility to do so with all those who see the world thus? To turn their world into colour?
———————————–
Would love to hear from you in the COMMENTS section below…and IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE BOB’S BANTER EVERYDAY, PLEASE SEND YOUR NAME AND WHATSAPP PHONE NO TO [email protected]
————————————————–
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Yes Bob, very true. Changing a camera’s settings from black and white to colour, draws a parallel to the need for empathy and understanding in the world. The elderly woman’s joy at seeing the world in colour serves as a potential to bring hope into the lives of those who see only darkness and despair.
Someone in my family remarked that white looked very beautiful n indeed he was right until I realised that the world God bequeath to us is in colour. We see everything as they are. And it’s so very beautiful. Thank you Lord.
God bless you Bobby for enlightening the senior citizen, contributing to the simple joy she enjoyed and adding colour to her life that you enhanced by not looking at colours in a store and wasting time.
Bob, wonderful column, reminds me of Lord Byron’s words “A drop of ink may make a million think”. Today, we are living in a society where everything is thought in terms of “ONE”. One nation One language, one religion, one color dress and the latest is One Nation One election. All is ideal but is it real in a pluralistic country like India? I loved your column and the message it convey to all humans that as there are multiple colors, there are multiple cultures that we have to appreciate and admire, to make India a better place to live and let live.
From the US to NZ! Till i realised from the comments this was from 2024!
Nothing has changed. Perhaps just got worse
Hi Lawrence, I am not sure if you will see this reply, but it may help others who do. India had its first general election after independence in 1952. At that time the elections for MPs at the centre and MLAs in the states where always held together. So elections for both the sates and the centre took place together in 1957, 1962 , and 1967. But this symmetry was broken due to early dissolutions of several state legislatures in 1968 – 69 and also at the Centre in 1970.
Synchronising ALL the elections will save on overall election cost, both for the Govt. as well as the political parties. Once the elections are done with, all the govts. would be able to buckle down to doing some serious work for the next 5 years. The threat of impending elections anywhere in India – which currently seems to be going to elections all the time – will mean that political parties will not need to be constantly and continuously handing out sops, freebies and inducements to the voter. That will be a HUGE change … a very badly needed change indeed. So one natino one election is a GOOD thing and to be welcomed.
I was particularly struck by this sentence in your article “Minorities living in intolerance in lands ruled by democratically elected leaders from the majority community”. If nothing else it points clearly at India where we have a democratically elected govt. from the majority community. But I do not agree with the first half …. minorities living in intolerance. If anything the minorities have it sooooo good in India. Even though India is a secular country with equal rights for ALL, there is a minorities commission and ministries for minorities in the central and state cabinets and with huge outlay of state and central budgets ( 3400 crores ) for these so called “minorities”.
The funny part is there is no mention of the word “minority” in our constitution anywhere. And if EVERYONE is equal under the law then who is a minority and why? The UN defines minority on the basis of race, culture, language or religion when that population is SMALLER than 1.5% of the nation’s population. The govt. notified population of “so called’ minorities in India as per 2011 census is as follows:
Muslims: 14.2%
Christians: 2.3%
Sikhs: 1.7%
Buddhists: 0.7%
Jains: 0.4%
Parsis (Zoroastrians): 0.006%
So by the UN’s definition only the Buddhists , Jains and Parsis are REAL minorities in India. The Muslims IN FACT are the second largest MAJORITY, but generally hog all the benefits under the garb of being a minority. You also have the other strange phenomenon. Not only is the word MINORITY not defined by the govt. or the courts, but the geographical area to which such a measurement is to be applied is also not defined. So though muslims form 90%+ of the population in Kashmir, the muslims continue to be a minority and get over 300 crores in benefits every year from the centre for “minority” welfare. Ideally that money should go to the Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Jains in Kashmir. But does it ? Similarly in the North East , Christians form an overwhelming percentage of the population. Hindus are by contrast only around 6-7% of the population. But do you think they get priority in govt. jobs or any benefits from the govt. for being in the minority? You guessed right.
Not only do the so called Minorities get preferential treatment through job reservation and other special schemes, their religious institutions – Churches and Mosques – are left strictly alone while Hindu temples are ALL regulated by state govt. appointed committees leading to such anomalies as Muslims and Christians determining how Hindu temple money will be used. This practice also leads to Hindu temple money being diverted for non Hindus purposes. Until P.M. Modi put an end to it, for 60+ years , money from Hindu temples was used to subsidise Haj pilgrimage for Muslims, while thousands of small Hindu temples did not have the money for essential repairs or to pay a salary to the priest.
Coming to the present, Muslims, inspite of being around 18% of the population, have been beneficiaries of over 33% of pucca houses under the PM Awas Yojana. They get more than 37% of all govt. educational scholarships. I could go on. But this should suffice to prove my point that the minorities in India, in particular the Muslims, have it ever so good, and by no means are being discriminated against , though they continuously play the victim card for political and monetary benefits.
A column that reminds us that just a change in settings and perspectives can bring about hope, new joy and better understanding.