Red Label, Blue label and Green label (!)

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Weird combo or an interesting title! Well, the article is about the 3 'primary' (RBG) colours and how they look in the world of the colorblind i.e mine. 

I have  partial  color-blindness, Red green - Anomalous trichromacy. (Self- diagnosis :))

The first question anyone asks me is, when they hear about my 'condition' is, "So, does that mean you live in a black and white world?" I laugh and say, "No! I just can't identify certain colours. My condition is not that serious (partial, i point out)." I have cones present on my retina, but they are less in number, i think. I cite wiki for definition - 

"Color blindness or color vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under lighting conditions when color vision is not normally impaired"

Ummm..There is red, green, blue etc. Don't ask me where!

 I discovered this thing way back in primary school. I remember never being able to pick up colours appropriately myself and always relying on my partner to do it for me. If I had to colour a brinjal, i would ask the next guy to pick a purple crayon up for me. So this is what is interesting, i cover up for my lack of identification by learning up or this is how i became tuned. For example, when somebody asks me the colour of a red-brick building, i don't identify the colour there and then because i am not sure, but i reply 'red' because i know that brick is red in colour. I know colours because i have created a database of colours and objects for myself which i refer to as and when i require. 

Through out school i have been an object of  fascination and 'time-pass' for my friends. Many people are fascinated and find it very interesting, me being one of the 7-10%(very low incidence) of the population suffering from this. And the latter group resort to me for fun when their daily dosage of fun/masti is deficient. They used to go like, "Chal konki bata, woh colour kaun sa hai?" I used to sportingly play along as it did not matter to me. So, when i used to call grey as pink or purple as blue, they had their laugh and so did I. They used to to tell me to go back tonursery and learn my colours again and the thing is, many people believe so but sorry to disappoint you but i 'Can' not do such a thing. 

Even though i had it, i never felt the predicament. But, when i could not apply to AFMC (Armed Forces Medical College) during entrance exams for MBBS, that was the first time i felt 'handicapped'. The thorough physical check-ups would have filtered me out even if i had cleared the exam. So, i never took the exam. Being in the Armed Forces had always attracted me, sentiments of 'pride, honour and duty' were worth everything in else. My first setback..

So, even when I had got through AIIMS,  was very afraid of what will happen in the medical exam. So, it was me and dad who visited AIIMS before the counselling and clear out this doubt with the registrar at that time, Mr. Gupta. He made us wait quite some time but after consulting many professors, he had assured us that it was not going to be a hurdle. A sigh of relief! Also, i had found a partner in crime in Navdeep Kahlia. 

But school was never a problem, the main difficulty arose in 2nd Professional of MBBS where we had Pathology as a subject. Oh you can not possibly imagine the colours they used to ask me to identify and based on that differentiate between normal and the 'diseased' portions of the slide! It was so bloody difficult! I never used to see a pink or a purple, it was all bloody 'blue' for me. So, soon my interest in 'micro' sessions of Path dwindled. 

My family physician recommended a book named, 'The Island of the Colour Blind' by Oliver Sacks and i recommend every other colour blind and and non colour blind folks to read it as well. Reading about the islands of Pingelap, Pompeii in Micronesia where total colour blindness i.e achromatopsia is endemic was thrilling and enlightening. People had changed their daily routines in such a way that their exposure to Sun was at a minimum. They could not handle it. they used to wear black cloth over their eyes or any such 'indigenous' thing to shield from the bright sunshine. Children, or infants were identified right at birth if their baby got irritated or became crankyon sun exposure and thus were handled differently. It is not an island where 100% of the population was colour blind, but the author said, it was the knowledge of such a condition since birth and the ways it is to be handled made it truly 'endemic'. Dr. Oliver Sacks, in this book details his journey to these islands and his experiences. He is a world renowned Neurologist specialising in Experimental Neurosciences in NYC and is best seller too. His other publications include Musicophilia, The man who considered his wife to be a hat etc. 

Coming back to me, the ishihara charts were how i was officially diagnosed. These colour charts, widely available on net too were pretty brilliant. My mom would make me sit and identfy numbers as it was hard for her to digest that the number written so clearly was not visible. She would point out to me and trace it for me, but to no avail. CB is a 'X- linked recessive' genetic disease which is inherited from the mother's side in boys. Many a times have i tried to trace this thing but landed no where and amazingly what i discovered was that my father was colour blind too. This inheritance pattern was beyond my understanding! So me and my father, just for kicks, used to attempt solving 'colour-matching' assignments that my mother prepared for her play school pupils. Ah, It was fun! 

So, this was a sneak peek into the common life of a colour blind. 

Please feel free to ask any questions or queries, i will be happy to attend to them, if i can that is. :)