Lingering Colours
By Ministhy S
Yellow for Hobbes and a secret smile
Black for gallows humour ;
Violet, there is no violet only purple bruises
Blue for seas, skies and melancholy
Green meshes with water and turns brooding
And the brush falters a bit …and queries,
Should I move on?
Beige mixed with burnt sienna,
Aquamarine finish, a touch of amaryllis
White tuberosa, thunderstorm black ?
Amethyst brilliance, sapphire blue
Opal colours, jasper stone glimmer…
When stones turn colours,
An afternoon painting
Starts with an aching head
Ends with stained fingers
And few lines of lingering colours.
Ministhy S. is an IAS officer working in the Uttar Pradesh cadre. She translates between three languages: Malayalam, English and Hindi. Her translations have featured in the Green Book Award longlist (Dattapaharam, V. J. James, 2024); JCB Prize for Literature shortlist (Anti-Clock, V. J. James, 2021), Crossword Book Jury award shortlist (The Unseeing Idol of Light, K. R. Meera, 2018) and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature longlist (The Poison of Love, K. R. Meera, 2017). Apart from these, she has translated Do Not Ask the River Her Name by Sheela Tomy, which was named the 1st runner up at The Wise Owl Literary Awards 2026 (Fiction). She was recently also awarded the V Abdullah award or her book The Second Book of Prophets