As a small kid, I remember playing a game in which the diner would ask, Colour Colour? To which we would customarily reply – Which colour? Then, the diner would go on to name a random colour and send us all running around to touch that colour in any thing around us that contained it. So like for example, a 'green' would see us running towards a tree or a 'yellow' call would see us sprinting towards a flower. The slowest one to do so would be eliminated.

This tag 'Capture The Colour' passed on to me by Magiceye of Mumbai Daily took me back to those childhood memories of mine and hence, for a change, I decided to take it up. The challenge was to touch 5 colors namely red, white, blue, green and yellow from your travel album and bring them out. So there I went, running around my image folders, looking for 5 photos that really did capture the colors. And here’s what I found –

Blue

How many shots that we capture force us to stop, ponder and contemplate on the various elements in its frames? This one did.

Varanasi - The city of Life and Death
Varanasi - The City of Life ... And Death

The sacredness of the waters of the River Ganga below and the oneness of the covering of the heavenly skies above – With the help of these two oars in blue, a boat full of people crosses the huge ocean of life in an attempt to make it to their final destination of salvation or Moksha.

That’s how I saw it in those moments with Her (read: Ganga River). I still wonder if it was meant to be seen that way. May be it simply was a case of my imagination taking its wings, or was it the magic of the city – the City of Life... and death, Varanasi - playing on me? I will never know.

Green

I had never planned to be here.

Green waters of the River Ganga in Harsil, Himalayas
The Magic of the River Ganga - Harsil

The attraction of the sacred and the clear waters of the River Ganga is what took me to a narrow dirt path in a small town by the name of Harsil during my chance halt en route to Badrinath. Not only did I come here but I also met a sweet village woman and returned back enriched, with lessons for life. For these reasons and some more, this nostalgic picture from my travel album will always remain a special memory for me.


Yellow

Think of Rani Sati Temple in Jhunjhunu, and red is the first colour that comes to mind, the colour of Rani Sati Dadi - a manifestation of Ma Shakti. The second colour that comes in mind is white, the colour of the marble the entire temple is built in. These thoughts, is what makes this pictureof  a burning diya (lamp) with the temple in the background, all the more special for me. After the prayers, the diya is brought out in the compound so that everyone can receive the blessings of the Goddess.

Arti in the Rani Sati Temple in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan
Rani Sati Temple in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan

Although its an everyday ritual, but the real beauty lies in those few moments of prayer - when you circulate your palms over the divine lights in a clockwise direction three times, close your eyes and warm your face with its heat - that is the moment when rest of the colours slowly fade away in the background and all that remains before you is Yellow - the divine light.

White

Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad was a place washed in white. Be it the loin dhoti in His various oil paintings and photographs, the humble setting in His personal room, the cotton yarn He spun on the charkha wheel, His three monkeys sitting in a significant posture or the canvas which carried the entire message of his life - Everywhere I saw, the colour white strikingly stood out so much so that even the history of the place was seeped in white!

A Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Sabarmati Ashram
Mahatma Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad

White, I realized was not a mere colour here but the very soul of a place resonating in righteousness, ahimsa and truth... the essence that painted the entire life and character of a man we fondly call Bapu - The Father of Our Nation – Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Red

It's called the Pink City of India but the more I traveled to this beautiful part of India and observed its people and their culture, I realized that red is actually the dominating color here. Jaipur is home to numerous celebrations and festivals, ingrained in the very life of people and red being the color of auspiciousness forms an important part of it.

Colorful pots in the Pink City -Jaipur
Pots - A Symbol of Celebrations and Togetherness

These red coloured pots with religious inscriptions of faith are sold in many parts of the city and I learnt that they are used in colorful festivals like Teej and Gangaur when people come together to partake in various rites and rituals. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that these pots represent the very spirit of the city – that of joy, celebration and togetherness.

According to the rules of the game, I am passing this forward to 5 of my fellow buddy bloggers -

1. Rupam Sarma @ http://www.rupamsarma.blogspot.com
2. Richa Kholkute @ http://richaroams.com
4. Mareta Kusumaningrum @ http://thecinnamonjourney.blogspot.in

But the good part is that anyone can take this up even without the tag; the last date is 29th August and there are some cool prizes up for grabs! So, if you find this interesting, go ahead and take it up. Show me the colours from your travel lens. I am eagerly waiting to see them!