Indigo is the new red

This post is part of the Chennai Bloggers Club's CBC VIBGYOR BLOG TAG 2 where some of us will write a post on the colours of VIBGYOR each day starting 1st of May to the 7th of May, 2020.


The colour theme for today's post is Indigo. 

Indigo was a relatively unknown colour to me in terms of utility. I knew the colour only as the reason for the British to trade in India. The dye started it all. Until recently, say ten years or more, Indigo was not a colour that I would think in terms of garment, or any other product and then the whole barrage of the garment-induced craze for indigo - Was it Fabindia? Perhaps. Then the entire apparel industry started promoting the colour and the people lapped up the colour almost to the point of dizziness. It wasn't common to hear:

"Indigo is my favourite colour."

"Indigo is love."

"Indigo goes with any colour"

"Indigo is Indigo and nothing can beat it." 

Then the world of commerce banked on the popularity of the colour and unfolded many items in this colour - Curtains, towels, home decor, and as they commonly say, the rest is history.

Then Indigo airlines was born in 2006 as a tribute to this colour which has its roots firm in history and has travelled from being the reason for India's bondage to the favourite colour of its people.

Now, I like Indigo too for its earthiness but what I dislike about this colour is that it bleeds too much
and I always have to take utmost care while washing any Indigo coloured fabric.


Please do visit the blogs of Kaushik, Clement and Kumuta and Pratip who are also
participants of the #CBCVIBGYORBLOGTAG2.

Violet hues in the time of Lockdown

This post is part of the Chennai Bloggers Club's CBC VIBGYOR BLOG TAG 2 where
some of us will write a post on the colours of VIBGYOR each day
starting 1st of May to the 7th of May, 2020.

The colour theme for today's post is Violet.

One cannot see the colour violet, I read. No, it's not purple but a different shade of purple. It is confusing for me who always used violet as a synonym for purple. Alas! My professor used to say that there are no synonyms. Coleridge said that first and my professor led me to that. I still believe that there are no synonyms. Every word is distinct and could fit a particular context so yes, violet is NOT purple. I think we are a species who always like to group similarities and tag them/it with a generic word which is often suitable to the context with minuscule degree of difference but then how do others even spot the differences. Instead we stick to the easy way of grouping similar characteristics together like substituting violet for purple.

We do it all the time, we have set words for different aspects of life: Cool, sexy, hot, woke, feminism and so on. We use these these words over and over until we think whether we are limited to these alone. Our vocabulary stunts rather allowed to stunt by us because we don't care to notice. We JUST want to throw our thoughts and words out there - this explains why blogging has taken a back seat for many who were active few years ago. The patience to engage with newer outlooks and perceptions are slowly but definitely disappearing. Some of us seem like the last species of bloggers who are often seen as artifacts who rightfully belong to a bygone era. But then aren't museums and history fascinating? Like the colour Violet which is not purple but like purple liked by many.

I used to know a member in the church named Violet. Her lips were affected by leucoderma. She was called Violet aunty.

Did you see Violet aunty?

Violet aunty was looking for you!

She used to talk fast and loud, forcing herself close to you. Being diminutive, she was oddly funny. She had two daughters who fortunately weren't as colourful, meaning they weren't named after colours. Isn't it a bit funny to imagine South Indian Christians sporting colour and flower names but having personalities quite contrary. Well, don't be harsh on my passing judgement. Violet aunty is no more and we no longer go to that church.

So much so, for violet memories.