Mr. Red’s come back in my mind

Our brain is biased in its very own way. Have you ever noticed how colours attract your attention and eventually change your perception? RED is a strong colour that conjures up a range of seemingly conflicting emotions from passionate love to violence and warfare. Red is Cupid and the Devil.

Red is power. Remember the red carpet for celebrity and red tie for a business presentation? It is also the colour of joy; your birthday sure has a red balloon. Red is pure so is Santa’s garb … the most important ingredient of a human body ‘blood’ is read. Thus, justified all important things in life are RED!

If I had to personify colour RED how do I make him look! A lean short man walking with his head low on a horribly crowded street but still has every head turning back on him. That’s Mr. Red – small but strong.

P.S.: Researchers say our brain notices the colour red first than any other colour. So, the next time your girlfriend comes to you wearing a ravishing red dress; the ‘lady in red’ is surely aware of the charisma of RED!

The Circle of Change

Red lends royalty to purple and majesty to orange, it lends love to roses and danger to road signs. It brings passion to a mind in love and rage to a mind in pain. Why have we given so much importance to one colour?

Why is the colour of our blood the colour of power too? Is there a subliminal connection between our modern day perception of the connotations of Red and what we saw as we evolved?


Long before we made Red the connoisseur of passion, love and danger; Red was perceived as the colour of magic. Civilisations painted everything from earns to weapons in red to ward of the effects of the evil. Red was used to drape kings of old and even biblical texts have Hebrews in ancient Egypt painting their doors in Red to ward off evil spirits. Ancient Greek texts have Red being portrayed as the only colour to symbolise the complete circle of both life and death. All this only reaffirms our modern day obsession with the revered colour as one which brings the circle of change to a conclusive start of all things.

Big Mr. RED

Grandmamma spoke a lot about Big Mr. RED

It must have been a figment of her imagination, or maybe, I’ll never know. Whenever she remembered her days at the institute, where she met grandpa, she’d talk about Big Mr. RED. She was always haunted by the words “I told you……aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”. It echoed throughout the corridor. Big Mr. Red lurked the corridors spreading the RED.

RED was the colour blazing around the ward’s necks, whenever they were touched by him. It almost seemed like an inferno growing within them igniting their dreams, waiting to escape and capture the world. The ones who didn’t believe in him & had spread rumours about, “Big Mr. RED” were the first ones to go down with RED, that’s what grandma’s friends said. Whenever, the wards heard the words, “I TOLD YOU ……aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”, they knew someone had gotten the RED.

They say it got them driven, excited about challenges and bringing incredible energy with them. Grandma, never got to see the lights of Big Mr. RED as she never disobeyed and lurked the corridors aimlessly. Now, I see her regretting not being one of those who did roam the lonely corridor.

What was the reason this myth still haunted her?
What kept her going on and on about him?
Why did she still want to meet him?

I needed these questions answered. And quick! I needed to find him. Grandma wanted to meet him once before she passed into the after life. I set out on a quest to find him and make grandma’s wish come true.

All I knew about Big Mr. RED was, he haunted the corridors whenever the wind blew from east to west, taking the salty sea breeze through the institute releasing a stale smell of dead fish.

The Tinge of RED

Sitting at my couch on the Sunday afternoon, doing nothing, I looked at the color of my bedroom wall, painted with carnelian red.

My mind started boggling and it went on a completely different tangent.


I started thinking red. What is red? I questioned my curiosity.
Red is a fire burning as hard as a passionate desire.
Red is an afterglow of the sunset.
Red is feeling brave with all your might.
Red is the heart of every lover and a dead end sign after every fight.

Hmm… red is a running nose, when you are down with cold after getting drenched in the first monsoon shower.

Red is a hotness, you get inside when you burn with anger or blush with grace.
Red is a lipstick. Red is a shout. Red is a signal that says, “Watch out!”

Whatever it is, we just can’t imagine our lives without it.

While my mind is still pondering over the after effects of red, the conscious part of me brought me back and gave me a drastic thought.

I instantly pulled out my laptop and keyed in the words, ‘The tinge of Red’.

Now you know why you are reading this!