Colors of India

When an Indian bride puts red on her forehead, it means a lifetime of trust, hope and commitment.

Red is called sindoor.

When a believer smears yellow on his forehead, he gives in to the Almighty’s mighty Command.

Turmeric Yellow is our glorious tradition.

When a doting mother dots a black on her beautiful born’s smiling cheek, she prays it’ll ward away evil from her young little one.

Black is a mother’s guard.

For a country of many ways, many tongues and many Gods, we remain united within our divided pursuits.

Khakhi is the protector of our unique way of life.

Our brothers and sisters, separated from us due to a partition, but still united to us at some level.

Green is our long lost sibling next door, who sadly still seems to be lost.

While grey symbolizes old the world over, it also reminds us how young we are – over half of our great population is under 25.

Grey lets us know that we will remain as one of the youngest countries in the world for a long while to come.

Between three wickets, a ball, a bat and now a cup, the hopes of a billion souls rest with the Blue.

Blue is our national pride.

Holi, Diwali, Onam, Christmas, Id, Pongal, Durga Puja and a hundred other celebrations of colors, love and happiness.

All celebrating the spirit of humanity. All celebrating the spirit of being Indian. All celebrating with color.

A mini color palate within a larger color canvas where a million dreams are given color.

A crescendo of colors called Bollywood.

One chakra. Tricolored. 28 states. A billion shades. United.

Every dream On. Every color On. Everybody On.

On a rainbow known as India.

Never Black and White.

Ever.

Sometime back in our office, we got a photo catalog of a reputed photographer with the topic ‘India in Black and White’. They displayed some brilliant shots depicting everyday images of India- tree troves, mandis, children going to school, temples – but all in Black and White . Photographic brilliance aside, after a while almost everyone felt that there was something missing in those pictures. In hindsight, we realized that the pictures depicting India missed one very important trait of India - color. Color paints a very important shade in our collective consciousness that is India – it’s part of our tradition, our heritage, our festivals, our arts, our crafts, our movies, our folklore, our Gods, our Goddesses, our prayers, our hopes, our dreams, our lives, ourselves.

There are some things that can be only in color. India was never in black and white. India will never be in black and white.

A billion colors reside united in a dream that known as India.

HP is a world leader in bringing color to life. See how the colors of India can take flight with HP Laserjet printers here.

Now, like the Indian men in white say, "Vote for me here"

:)