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An unexpected blackout because of a load shedding at night! Although I’ve grown past the age of ghost-fear and the like, I’m or rather many would be ashamed to admit we still are a party to this to some extent. For, fear you see is not just an abstract noun, but a threatening verb as well. In the pitch darkness of the room I was losing my foothold, as one would have felt such levity only in space. Compelled as I was, I gingerly walked past the objects in the room in search of a candle. A reflector toy on the mantelpiece enacted my North Star at that moment. ‘This little guiding light of mine’ led me to wherein lay one tenth blob of a candle stuck to a candle stand. Meditating before this flickering light, I imagined a bed with bed linen which was entirely black! Cut outs of ghosts and all spooky beings appeared to emerge from there and post themselves at strategic points around the room. Heavens, I fail to understand how innately conditioned we are to faithfully dread the darkness, to shun all objects that are black, right from childhood. Blackmail, black market, black sheep, black money; are never the things that deserve adulation. They are the bloodsucking monsters of society. Black is inauspicious, the colour of hell. Black can never be the order of the day, for it is shrouded with mystery. This very aspect makes one take a second look, wondering. The challenging mind, as one grows, becomes inclined to delve deep into the entity. Science has it that black cannot be categorised as a singular colour. It is the result of absorption of the seven visible rays of the spectrum, letting out none. Apparently, it is all consuming, inclusive of blemishes and scars. Black, on having experienced the perceptions of all shades, has finally reached the stage of conceptualisation, the stage of defining itself. A black skyline against a twilit sky is the sign of profound urbanity. Black letters on a white piece of paper are the scripts and structures of intellectuality. Distinguished is the man in a black outfit. Elegant is the lady in black-she is an enigma! Sculptures in black are awe inspiring. Dark glasses make one carry an air of snobbishness, cutting the person off from a direct gaze either way. Black photo- frames are defining and keep the picture contained from the walls. Black may not evoke, but it enriches all right. The brash and brazen, the outspoken, the snob, the kind and benevolent, the docile; people of all traits abound at every juncture. While we walk the road of life, it is unwise to discriminate, to judge people point blank. If we happen to indulge in it, we become vulnerable to those predators ready to peck at us at every move. Taking the cues from black, let us be magnanimous enough to absorb all the scars and blemishes; till they betray their innate potencies at some point of time and glitter like sequins in the vast night sky.