Interpretation relies heavily on the senses of the beholder. You and I could go about interpreting the same object and yet, at the end of the day, our interpretations would be unique, merely because our view points are different. The black and the white have intrigued me relentlessly; they seem more symbolic than they were probably meant to be, and more difficult and easier, simultaneously, than the others to comprehend.
Black, most would say, doesn’t signify anything. It’s vast, empty, without life. But how then would one determine the worth of life if it isn’t weighed against lifelessness? Black gives emptiness substance, and in the process, serenades vitality, gives it reason and comprehension. It gives life a place which otherwise it would not have attained, or deserved, for that matter. The beauty of company lies in the despondency of isolation. It is when the good and the bad are juxtaposed, that the goodness in good is manifested more vividly than earlier. So, for whatever else it is not, black is integral, complementary.
Can white then be defined as the antithesis of black? One would feel tempted to, but then that would be similar to treating white like the moon, saying it is radiant because of the sun, and questioning its ability. White is independent because it signifies that which is desirable, that which is worthy of the virtue involved in desiring. It is seemingly perfect, almost spotless to the observer; it is elusive. But it is not a mirage because its radiance doesn’t disappear even on approaching it, but it remains elusive nevertheless. The impossibility of achievement of that which is desired makes the desired further desirable. The elusiveness further enhances the greatness of white, and stamps it with unquestionable superiority.
Black is blind, white is pure. A black on white is not the same as a white on black. The former becomes dirty white but the latter still remains black. Black tries to absorb all, nurturing mediocrity and contagion. White tries to reflect all. The resilient and the determined strive, and in that struggle, become a part of the greatness that is white. That sense of greatness, though, becomes more perceptibly clear when seen alongside the depths of black.
7 comments:
Thought provoking i'd say and well written ravi. The parallel u ve drawn of white with the desirable and elusive is beautiful. Nice attempt to dilenate black and white in a world which is all grey.
Thought provoking i'd say and well written Ravi. The theme is all the more interesting because there is no limit to which one could think or write about this!! The parallel u ve drawn of white with the desirable and elusive is beautiful. Nice attempt to dilenate black and white in a world which is all grey.
A nice, mature analysis. However, the last paragraph doesn't seem to fit in, especially the black-absorbs-all and white-reflects-all theory.
The rest of the article was a delightful read.
Uph! Would fit in brilliantly as a RC passage in CAT '08 and I still bet you would get some of those answers wrong. Great clarity of thought, mate!
Ok..this might be bit long..
I am glad you wrote this, because I’ve thought about this theme before in relation to ‘prejudice’; how prejudices of some people become accepted norms over a period of time. How we have defined benchmarks for success and with it the inevitable concept of mediocrity; the unnecesaary brandings of the contemporary world which are made to sound universal, but infact are mere yardsticks based on the very prejudices that the world has defined for itself. My ‘belief’ against ‘prejudice’ stems from the philosophy of ‘question’; that anything can be questioned; that there is nothing like an absolute sin.
So, I am afraid that in this matter, I am at the other end of the rope. I would’ve been happier had you left your thoughts at ‘vast, empty and without life’, but you attempt to give vitality to black by ridiculing it. I would choose my subject as ‘darkness’, a target of even greater prejudice with black being its defining characteristic. The prejudgment against darkness is I believe just the fear of the coward for the unknown. Its what the darkness might have in store that we fear and not the darkness itself; for after all Darkness doesn’t kill anyone, Fire does. For in the moment of our biggest ‘triumph’, we want to be under the most brilliant of arch lights, but afterwards when we want to sleep off an aching body in the safe confines of our room, we want it to be pitch black.
It might sound ironic, but I am not against belief. You need something to hold on to. Prejudice is something you accept, whereas beliefs are something you develop yourself. Your prejudices might make you irrational and rigid, your beliefs make you a man. I only urge myself to have an open mind, to not to be caught in an unreasonable warp. Black is unwanted in a holy ceremony, but there’s nothing mediocre in having a spanking black Mercedes.
P.S. If it doesn’t make any sense at all, please attribute it to the remnants of the high.
Grey paradoxes, subtly phrased, yet powerfully expressed!! I found the paradoxes both ironic and thoughtful!! Way to go!!
@Shivam, why the hell don't u own a blog [:P]
Good for people to know.
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