Color Of Soil

Colors Of Soil

My early childhood was spent in my ancestral village in the remote corner of Northern Hills of India, which is now named the State of Uttarakhand.

As a student of primary school, like clouds, my imagination took me to many places. I do not know why but somehow I was convinced that the soil color of each country will be different from my country. So far I had seen some colors of soil around me which were predominantly brown, and black, red, and white at some places.

My childhood fantasy convinced me that most of us were brown in color because the color of the soil is brown. Accordingly, the color of the soil in America, Britain, Russia, and Europe should be white similar to the color of people living there. Similarly, soil color in African countries will be black matching the color of people living there. I had seen the photos of these people and that was proof enough.

There was no reference in the books we were given at the primary school level. It was not likely to be, above all what is so big about soil?

For the first time, around 1980, I had the opportunity to visit the neighboring countries Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Goa. A passport was not needed anyway. For information, Sikkim and Goa were not part of India at the time of Independence in 1947. Goa was liberated in 1961 under the Prime Ministership of Nehru and Sikkim became the 22nd State of India in 1975 under the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi. There was no difference in soil color. I thought since they are the extension of the same land, so soil color will also be the same!

By this time I had traveled a lot, seen a lot, and read a lot. Somehow my childish thinking was not ready to accept that the color of the soil of a place or country has nothing to do with the color of people living there. It may have something to do with genes or maybe with the distance of the country from the equator. Fair colored children are born to dark-colored parents or vice versa!

In the year 1992, I visited Thailand and Singapore. The soil was predominantly brown as were the people in those countries. My fantasy was further confirmed. Above all these countries were also an extension of Indian land and soil. How can the color of the people be different?

The dilemma stayed. The soil color of the countries on the other side of the planet divided by oceans must be different. It certainly cannot be brown! How is it possible that people born on brown soil could rule over the people born on brown soil on the other side of the earth? Never! Most certainly the soil is pink, red, or white. That is the reason they could rule over us for over 800 years! Muslims or Christians, who came from beyond the oceans were of very fair color if not all white! It is another issue that some of them took the land root or both.

The time clock never stops. Over the period I had the opportunity of visiting the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Italy, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi, and various states of North America. Everywhere the soil was predominantly brown if I exclude the beaches! In places, it was black, red, or white. But lo and behold, the color of most of the people was very fair or nearly white, migrants excluded!

There was however one similarity where ever I went. People were struggling to survive irrespective of the color of their skin. The cardinal truth! Coupled with that were the bitter truth-I, Me and Mine, I am great, you are nothing, Rich-poor, men-women, white-black, my religion-your religion, east-west!

The more I talked to them, the more the color of their skin changed, sometimes bright with hope, sometimes pale with hopelessness.

I wish humans could accept the ultimate truth-dust to dust! All differences of religion, caste, class, color, east-west, Hindu, Muslim, Christian will vanish.