If Colors Had Sounds: The Winning Essays (2)

The little girl picked up a red block and examined it. She frowned and picked up a green block this time, examining both the blocks in her hands. She knew they looked different but all she could see were varying shades of grey. She knew she was different too. Mrs. Claudia, her favorite doctor, told her so. 

She had said,"Ella, you're different. There are colors you cannot see but that doesn't mean you're weird. You are a special type of different."

Ella put down the blocks and remembered how sad her Mommy and Daddy had been that she was different. They did not tell her out loud of course, but she heard her Mommy crying at her bedside that night. A sudden question flashed in her mind and she picked up as many blocks as she could in her tiny hands; and skipped over to her Mother, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen. Her Mother was humming a tune under her breath and swaying her hips. Ella loved music; maybe it was because her Mommy sang to her every night. She quietly placed all the blocks on the table and called to her Mother, "Mommy?"

"Hmm?"

"If colors had sounds, what would they sound like?"

Her Mother turned around surprised and gave her an almost pitiful smile before she turned off the stove and sat across from her. "Hmm...let's see, which color do you want to know about?"

Ella tried to pick the most interesting shade of grey she could see among the blocks. "What about this?" she asked tentatively. 

"Oh! Red! Well, that's brilliant!" her Mother gasped.

"It is?" she asked cautiously. 

"Yes, of course! If red was a sound, it would be a very loud sound! Like your Daddy's snores!" 

Ella giggled while her Mother picked up another block and held it up.

"And this is yellow! If yellow was a sound, it would be your uncontrollable laughter!"
Ella clapped gleefully. She liked how the colors sounded.

"Pink! Oh, I love Pink!" her Mother said showing her a block.

"Then it can be the sound of your singing Mommy! I love it when you sing!"

Her Mother laughed gently and kissed her forehead.

"What about this Mommy?"

"Green! Let's see, it could be the sound of leaves dancing in the wind."

Ella tried to remember everything her Mother was saying. She did not want to forget these sounds of the colors. They sounded beautiful.

"And this is blue," her Mother continued,"It has a very sad sound because it is the sound of you crying." Ella made a mental note to not cry too much in the future. She did not want to be blue.

"And what about this Mommy?"

"Oh, that's orange. It is the sound of your Daddy's car! Vroom Vroom!"

"Is Daddy's car orange Mommy?"

"Yes."

And so, by the time her Father came back home in his orange car, Ella had learnt all the sounds of the colors.

                                                           
                                                                                               - Mounica Alamuri,
                                                                                                  B.A. 2nd Year.