Close your eyes for an instant and imagine the blackness. Now imagine whiteness instead of that blackness. Let white fill your being, the tips of your eyes, the palms of your hands and the toes of your feet. There was a time when the world was white, glistening in its paleness and reflecting the lusterless existence of its beings in the timeless perspective that white affords.
The trees stood like death-eaters out of popular fiction. The birds and animals were transfixed by an apparent vision of white. One fine morning in late August, as the earth stood transfixed as if the mighty God Thor himself had cursed her, one little leaf wondered to herself if somewhere in the universe there didn’t exist a non-white world. The thought was radical simply because it was like trying to see a world where breath didn’t exist. Her ‘white’ cells began to work madly as she yearned for change. Word about the little leaf’s wish spread and soon there were chants of ‘down with the white’ in the plant kingdom.
Soon, it was time for all the matrons in the plant kingdom to come together to decide upon a plant ball where all the flowers met, fell in love and got married. They fixed a date with the wind who looked upon his job as the facilitator as some sort of benevolent philanthropy that helped propagation on the Earth. The little leaf had by now realized that she had to do something if the bud that flowered on her branch had to find a mate.
On the day of the Ball, every single leaf in the plant kingdom was abuzz as rumors floated around wildly about the liaisons of different flower pairs. White Flower was in love with the White Flower that grew beside the Pale white flower. But the Pale white flower was in love with the first white flower. As the fixed time drew nearer, the wind started a tune that was bland and pleasant at the same time.
Suddenly, the little leaf made a fashionably late entry and she was a sight for the color-starved leaves. She still possessed her original white color but that had specks of golden red in it. The matrons were agape as the color momentarily blinded them. They had never seen anything like it before. The golden red leaf’s bud was showered with attention from all kinds of flowers. But she would have none of them for they were white.
The wise men say that change is either a very violent or a very peaceful process. So was also the case in the plant kingdom. They marveled at the beauty of it all and at the same time thought that the leaf was enchanted. The matrons of the plant kingdom came together in a hasty meeting that was convened in the wake of the gathering storm in the plant kingdom. It was decided unanimously that the little golden red leaf should be banished from the plant kingdom. The branch on which hung the little red leaf stopped the flow of nutrients and the leaf withered away falling to the ground where sprang a little offshoot. As the leaf died, it cursed the plant kingdom to extinction. It would be relieved of its white existence and only the colorful plant would grow displaying its full splendor and beauty, the beauty that comes of color. Color is the silk curtain that stands between the perception of beauty and ugliness.
Soon all the plants began to die as a mysterious illness afflicted them. The matrons wrung their hands in despair not knowing what to do. The only plant that grew tall and strong, was the plant with the golden red leaves, standing tall in spite of the wind. Summer came and the plant grew tender green leaves. The next autumn there was another offshoot with similar golden red leaves till an entire region of the Earth was filled with nature’s color. Soon, the earth became bright, interesting, colorful, dashing in a way only the presence of color can bring.
Since that day, many years back, the leaves change color in autumn in memory of the one, whose single act of defiance brought fire to the earth.
