"Onion color sari"..and the world of colors!

We can understand if there is disagreement related to the recent Indian-budget or over the US presidential candidate. These are complicated topics and subject to interpretation. Surprisingly, even a topic as commonplace as the ‘world of colors’, there is such divergence- of both opinion and nomenclature.

“I like this white-color dress,” you mention at the clothes shop. “Actually, this is not white, this is off-white!” you hear back. The next time you go shopping, you are alert. “I like this off-white dress!” “You mean the cream-colored one?” asks the salesman. You get it now?  The vocabulary changes, with subtle variations in the same color. From “white”, you travel to “off-white”, from “off-white” to “cream”, from “cream” to “peach” and from “peach” …to grandma’s version called “biscuit-color”!  I like grandma’s version the best- it is clear, and we know exactly what color it is.

A visit to the sari-shop is an excellent opportunity to learn your colors all over again. “Look at this new sari- It is kanchivaram silk and in ‘Rama’s-green’ (raamar-pachhai)!”  says the salesman. What is this “Rama’s-green”? For the uninitiated, while the rest of India thinks Lord Rama’s skin-tone is blue, in South-India, especially in Tamil Nadu, Rama’s skin-tone is green. When the dashaavataara dolls are brought out during Navaratri, Rama’s idol stands out. He is truly “aprameya”- his color defies easy classification. Some call it peacock-blue, others call it peacock-green, but women understand it perfectly. When they say “raamar-pachhai sari”, they know exactly what color it is!

When women refer to sari-colors, the colors are expressed in terms of well-known objects. This ensures all women are on the same page and there is absolutely no confusion. A dark-brown sari is called “coffee-color sari”. If the border of the sari is reddish-brown, it is called “arakku border sari” (color of ‘lac’). If the sari is "shocking-pink", you call it “mutai color” (“mithai color”) or alternately as “rose color”, if the shade is lighter. Colors with complicated names like “lavender” are a total no-no. A sari in lavender is easily described by the term “onion-color sari”. (Of course, when someone says onion-color sari, you often wonder if the sari will inherit the smell too!) If it is yellow, it becomes “chandana-color sari”, the color of sandalwood. And if it is orange, it becomes “saamanti color”, the color of marigold flowers. And if there are multiple colors, it is easy- it is simply called a “color-color sari”! If the sari is in today’s much touted “pastel shades”, in earlier times, you made a face and kept it aside, saying, “romba dull adikaradhu” (it is too dull and unsightly)!

For centuries, women have successfully communicated (among themselves), colors and their subtle differences with this easy classification model. Now, let’s take men (only men could have come up with these names), for their car colors. “Burgundy”, “Beige”, “Rust”, “Teal Metallic” and “Sand”- are some common car colors. What do these color-codes convey to the common man? Zilch! Also, compared to the rich hues in the world of saris, cars have got stuck to a tiny palette of nondescript colors. We await the day when we will have a “chandana color car” to break out of this monotony.

In India, you find reference to some colors that are unique to its cultural milieu. The matrimonial columns advertise prospective bride/grooms as “wheat colored”. It is amazing. We can visualize an entire person through a single grain of wheat! (Perhaps, this is what William Blake meant when he wrote, “to see the world in a grain of sand”). Later, when these families met, we surmise, they carried some wheat grains in the pocket, and carefully checked the person against the grain, to ensure the description was accurate, and they weren’t taken for a ride!

In South-India, after attending a wedding, you often had to describe the bride and the groom to family members who couldn’t attend the function. In today’s day and age, the topic would be construed as “lacking sensitivity”. However, in the past, conversation was easy and direct. For the groom, you borrowed the English word, “personality”. You typically said, “The boy has an impressive personality” (“paiyyan…nalla ‘personality’ aa irukaan” in Tamil). And for the bride, the expression was- “impressive color” (“ponnu…nalla color”)!  

You didn’t have to cross-question, “Which color? Did you mean red or green or yellow?” Everyone understood. “Personality” and “color”, with their contextual meanings here, said it all…clearly and unambiguously!