chillies!) each pick a red chilli in their red beaks. You look at the red hibiscuses in full bloom this morning, standing by the banana trees. Parrot green trees, overhanging with yellow fruits. Some of the trees that have not fruited yet, dangle conical maroon banana flowers, which look like giant mehendi cones that Hidimba would have used for her wedding. Her palms patterned in exquisite designs, in maroon and dark brown, her feet lined with a red mercury solution and her lips reddened with pomegranate juice, her saree, a saffron orange, dyed with the stem of shefali flowers (night-flowering jasmines). She would have worn a garland of pink lotuses and bracelets made of bright orange marigolds, and a crown of blue lilies would have adorned her dark black hair. And the great hero Bheema would have come wearing a golden dhoti, with his brother Arjuna. Arjuna means white, and he was dressed in white just as the other Pandavas, for it was their year of exile in the forest.
White is the colour of the sages, of simplicity, of purity. White reminds one of fragrant jasmine flowers, the rich aroma of hot rice and the

subtle sweet taste of coconut. White is the colour of magnificent structures such as some palaces, places of worship and of course, the mesmerisingly beautiful and solemn Taj Mahal. Chalk white is the colour of education; paper white is the colour of endeavour. A white flag and a white dove (in a flock of grey pigeons) are symbols of peace.
You come so close to the earth that you can see the dark brown fibres of coconut tree trunks. The mango tree is full of lively crows, poking their beaks into ripe mangoes, golden-ochre hidden in green foliage. You sweep over the rusty, brick-tiled roofs. The wooden boats on serpentine rivers. The red-brown Jama Masjid, the clay-red Jantar Mantar. The sandstone pink city in the midst of a pale brown desert. You see the dark brown of the wood, ready to be used in the homa of temples and kitchen fires.

There is magic in the cooking,
The box of spices — a
delight to see
The aroma of foods teasing
the belly
The brown puri and the purple
brinjal curry,
The yellow turmeric and the
fiery red chili,

Bhavan's Journal,May 15, 2022∎ 58