Red comes next to orange at the end of the visible spectrum of light.

Red is the color of danger and passion, of blood, of traffic lights that signal you to a stop, rubies, strawberries, communism, tomatoes, and fire-engines. It is also the color of anger and hatred. How some faces redden in anger! But anger is not the only emotion that does it, embarrassment and shyness also suffuses the face in shades of red. Red attracts attention like no other. The red hibiscus, birds with bright red plumage, red flags, they all immediately catch your eye. “Surveys show it is the color most frequently associated with visibility, proximity, and extroverts. It is also the color most associated with dynamism and activity.” (Wiki).

When I was around seven years of age, and my sister around 5, both of us had identical red pattu pavada (silk skirt) with a black border bought for us by our parents. It remains the one and only one that I have ever owned, and while I did, I loved and treasured it dearly. But of course that red pavada was chosen for us sisters by our parents. In the ensuing years, when selection rested in my own hands, red was allowed only very rare entries to my wardrobe. I stuck faithfully to pastel shades most of the time.

Once I got married, it was always off whites (my fav color) and other lighter shades or blacks and grays. Yeah, that latter  had been the L & M’s influence. He loved what are called ‘sober’ colors and I went along, even to the extent that my two small children also ended up wearing blues and grays. One day while buying wool for knitting a sweater for my second born, the Second-in-Command’s wife asked me, ‘Why the dull colors? Why not red? Children look so good in bright colors!’ That’s it. I bought bright red wool, and I must say the son looked a sweet cherub in it.

By the time I was in my 40s it had been ages since I had worn red. I had decided I was too old for such a bright color as red. Talking to an older cousin one day, it dawned on me that SHE always wore red and it did not out of place. Why was I then shying away from the color? So tentatively, I got myself one dress in a shade of red, and from then on I have never looked back. I have now grown to like the color quite a lot.

Red has plenty of idioms and phrases to its credit too like the other colors: a red herring, red-blooded, red carpet treatment, be in the red, a red letter day, in the red, see red, red-light district, red-tape, catch red-handed, be like a red rag to the bull, go beet red, so on and so forth.

Though it not a sight that I cannot behold where I live, I love the red leaves of autumn that I have seen in pictures and on television. May be one day I will see it for myself. So ends the Red Day on a wishful note. And this also ends the series on colors of the rainbow for the Write Tribe Festival of Words.

I am taking part in 

The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st – 7th September 2013.