Pink - A colour of many stories...


Don't you just love this colour? It does not have to be the legally blonde hue you would normally see on Paris Hilton, it can be anything from the colour of someone's blushing cheek to the colour of itchy rashes :p Pink roses, pink flamingoes, pink peaches to even the salmony pink sky during sunset… There are not just one but more than 100 shades of pink (see here), from blush to fuchsia, baby pink to shell pink, rose to magenta, hot pink to salmon… Each have their own place in the world, their own qualities and their own memories in a person' heart… Now tell me ladies if that ain't true???


Studies have shown that when some prisoners were kept in cells that were completely painted pink, they tend to get more calm and peaceful (however short-termed it was). TRUE STORY…


I am not crazy about pink as such but when I see the colour, it reminds me of being a child again. The young innocent times just like the colour appears to me. The colour of embarrassment, shyness and even the colour of the bum after a spank from mum for being naughty XD... Yes, pink means a lot to me in many ways. It is associated not only with my childhood, it is also the colour of the time when we change from a child to teen and then teen to adult… 

Teenage was the time when most girls my age loved pink - pink hair sprays, pink greeting cards, love letters and what not… The innocent silly times of giggles and doltish tears… When they loved watching "Malcolm in the Middle" and chick-flicks… and craved for pink dresses for socials and proms. In fact it was and still is the favourite colour of two of my best friends… May be it stuck with my teen era because of the pop bands like Spice girls, and artists like Pink, Britney and Christina Aguilera who had more than a few things in pink in most of their videos.

Also all the TV commercials and beauty products always associated pink with girls. You would NEVER find any hair or care products for men in pink! Apparently there is a big reason why...

Back in my teens I was kind of put off by the colour... Probably a lot to do with my then tom-boyish persona. For me, pink meant girlish and fragile. REVOLTING!!! I liked blue and green shades (still do) way over any thing that remotely looked pinkish and preferred not getting anything in pink for myself. As a matter of fact, since a toddler my parents always bought me blue things like toothbrush, comb, frocks, etc., and for my sister, pink.

But as time passed and I grew up to be a young adult (from 18-20 years old), things changed, I changed. Slowly but surely I started perceiving the colour differently. I became more conscious about how I looked, how people saw me, how "boys" saw me. I became more feminine and shy. This changed me into making more feminine choices such as in clothes and accessories…


My best friend's wedding...






When I fully turned in to an adult, metamorphosed from a naive little girl to a woman, a lot of my friends started to get married including one of my closest most treasured friend. That was a cherished moment indeed…Even at her wedding, at least one of the bride's main outfits was in pink. Still keeps me nonplused with disbelief that the very same girl I knew about 10 years ago, a little girl with a very long plaits, with whom I shared tremendous secrets of my childhood, with whom I played, laughed, cried, celebrated, is now a fully grown woman and has taken a step into a whole new journey with a companion, has now a family of her own… Oh how time flies… This all seemed just yesterday...


I'll tell you some stories to let you know how pink has influenced my life... I had always heard of magnolias in May, never did I know for 22 years of my life what it looked like and how it smelled or anything about it. In India you don't grow them normally. So, when I came to UK, I had no idea that the beautiful flowers that were growing in the compound of our university cafe, the big pink buds of big pink flowers, were in fact Magnolias. And once I knew, I felt as if one of my very big questions I have had since long in my heart had been answered. It may sound cocky but here you go, little things in life…  The mere joy of discovery never ceases to thrill me and I burst up like a child discovering for the first time the wonders of candy. 

So, no matter how small the incident, it is still a milestone in my life… And it is rooted in pink… :)

My first encounter with magnolias

Another story: A little coincidence here... One day I was just window shopping at a market that is known for its wholesale in fabrics when I caught the glance of this out-of-the-world fabric piece for a salwar set, together with the fabric for the bottom part and the shawl, and I just fell in love. I knew it would be expensive but I HAD to get it and so, I DID! (of course, what else right!?!)

It was so delicate to look at, made of silk, a dual toned fabric of salmon pink with a tinge of gold that would give it an extraordinary sheen… and hand crafted sequin embroidery so fine, it could literally make you smile... I didn't want to ruin it by making whatever. It had a limited quantity of fabric for only one midi length dress. Plus a golden-beige fabric piece for bottom half… So I left it… Saved it for when I will finally have something good for it. That was about 4 years ago...

3 years later I finally did!!! I came up with my very first design idea that was actually going to materialise all thanks to my wonderful mom who offered to help me make my dream dress. We toiled and worked together for one whole week. You see, I didn't know sewing AT ALL and my mom was new to "fancy" designs as such. She's a great taylor and made most of my college outfits but she likes to keep them simple and so did her customers (she did tailoring for a while) and hence, never had the chance to experiment or work on new things. But hard work paid off, and I still marvel at my mom's craftsmanship, and patience through my bickering :p And we finally made my very 1st dress. Here it is:

My very own first design - salmony gold!
I know it is very very VERY simple to look but there you go, it has a story of its own to tell, and is a prized possession to me :)

(Also read about it in: http://pridenstyle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/my-designs.html)

Here is another little story about something pink. I was moving out from my shared house in my 2nd year of UK to a nearby place that was slightly away from the Uni and hence I thought of getting myself a push-bike, also my guy also had a bike and we could totally go biking on weekends in to the woods… So I looked for some bikes online and even asked around among my friends.

One day, a friend of mine offers to help me find some houses/flats online, along with other 2nd hand things we might fancy. She looked into a Chinese website that she often finds a lot of things for a very good price, sold by other Chinese students studying in UK, going back to China, hence leaving a lot of their things behind… (Very helpful to have diverse friend circle ;) ) 

And there, she found a seller who was selling his bike for £40. It was in pristine condition and came with a helmet and not one but two padlocks!!! I mean WOW! "I must have it" I told her, and we immediately contacted the seller, arranged a meeting, had a look at the bike and bought it… All within a weekend… And guess what the bike's colour was? PINK!!!

My 1st bike in UK… Coincidentally pink!!!

So you see, pink makes me nostalgic... Every time I see it somewhere, or on someone, like a pretty pink dress, a pair of pink shoes, pink flowers or even posters I am taken back in time to all the memories written in pink… 


Pink is not just a colour on a colour wheel  it is a colour of time, a colour of love, a colour of childhood, a colour of teens, a colour of womanhood, a colour of my life. Love it or hate it, it will forever be a part of my so far amazing life


Much S,

Make it glitter like the starts in a clear night sky…

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