The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy, #1)

by Amish Tripathi

‘All right,’ laughed the Pandit. ‘Tell me. What is the colour of that leaf?’ ‘The colour? It’s green.’ ‘Is it?’ ‘Isn’t it? ‘Why do you think it appears green to you?’ ‘Because,’ said Shiva, amused, ‘it is green.’ ‘No. That wasn’t what I was trying to ask. You had a conversation with one of Brahaspati’s scientists about how the eyes see. Didn’t you?’ ‘Oh that, right,’ said Shiva slapping his forehead. ‘Light falls on an object. And when it reflects back from that object to your eyes, you see that object.’ ‘Exactly! And you had another conversation with another scientist about what normal white sunlight is made of.’ ‘Yes, I did. White light is nothing but the confluence of seven different colours. That is why the rainbow is made up of seven colours since it is formed when raindrops disperse sunlight.’ ‘Correct! Now put these two theories together and answer my question. Why does that leaf appear green to you? Shiva frowned as his mind worked the problem out. ‘White sunlight falls on that leaf. The leaf’s physical properties are such that it absorbs the colours violet, indigo, blue, yellow, orange and red. It doesn’t absorb the colour green, which is then reflected back to my eyes. Hence I see the leaf as green.’ ‘Exactly!’ beamed the Pandit. ‘So think about the colour of that leaf from the perspective of the leaf itself. What colour it absorbs and what it rejects. Is its colour green? Or is it every single colour in the world, except green?’ Shiva was stunned into silence by...