Do you like playing with colours on Holi? But have you wondered what colours mean to those who can’t see them? We talked to a few people from the National Blind Association in Delhi and asked them what different colours mean to them.
Anita Goyal, a volunteer who has been working there for the last 30 years and teaches personality grooming classes, told InUth how the blind are taught how to differentiate between colours,
“For a person who is totally blind, it is difficult to explain the colours. But still, with emotions, you can still explain. People who got blinded a little late or who have semi-vision, they can perceive a little bit of colour or the tones.”
Goyal planned the sessions after she took a batch to an art exhibition where they were feeling each painting or sculpture through their fingers. But she realised that they would not know their colours.
“So I thought of taking an art class for them. So that at least they can use their imagination to figure out, for example, that a tree’s bark is brown and its leaves are green.”
However, Goyal says her students are able to attach emotional meaning to the colours.
“I asked one girl what colours do you shop for. She said, ‘that guy was giving me purple and blue and I told him no, I want red'”
Farheen, who lives in Noida, says that she is fond of colours because she can sense them. Monica, who suffers from total blindness, elaborates,
“We like colours because our world is very colourful. We feel happy when we think about colours, sometimes we are angry or even sad. Like when I’m angry, my eyes go red, that’s how I know red is the colour of fury.”
However, most of them don’t like to play with colours on Holi. Ritu, one of the pupils at the blind school, said,
“I like Holi because of the food that is cooked, not so much because of the colours. Because playing with colours is messy.”
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