COLOUR BLIND PASSES COLOUR VISION TEST WITH FLYING COLOURS

 

Talk about a sailor less qualified, here is an amazing true story.

I was undergoing my Sub Lt’s courses in Cochin in 1960 and was on duty one evening under the Officer of the Day (OOD), Lt BR Bakshi. The duty room was facing the Ernakulam Channel and I noticed a vessel displaying some coloured lights passing by. I pointed this out to Lt Bakshi and asked him if he knew whether the lights signified anything or were just for decoration. His reply, “I can only see white!”

I was a bit flabbergasted and asked him if he could not see the colours and he replied “No, I can’t.” I then asked him how he managed to be in the Navy and that too in the Executive Branch where colour vision is of the utmost importance for night watches at sea where the entire Rules of the Road (Sea traffic rules) are based on distinguishing between colours particularly red and green. Here is Lt Bakshi’s story.

Bakshi joined the Navy as a non-commissioned sailor. He was very intelligent and his talents were recognized early by his seniors. He was made a CW (Commission Worthy) candidate and he passed all tests required to qualify to become an officer of the Executive branch. Finally, there was the medical examination which included a colour vision test.

To recap how a colour vision test is conducted, the doctor has a book of about 50-60 pages. On each page which are as usual numbered in black and white, there is a diagram of multi-coloured dots enclosing a random number in one particular colour which the candidate has to read out.  If the reader is colour blind, he would not be able to discern the number.

Bakshi knew he was colour blind. So he got hold of the book that was going to be used for his test and got someone to write the coloured number and memorized it corresponding to the page number. For example, he committed to memory that on page 15, the coloured number was, say, 23. During the test, he read the page number and rattled off the memorized coloured number! As you would appreciate, an excellent memory was required to perform this task which Bakshi obviously possessed and he passed the test with ease.

The cat was out of the bag when Bakshi was posted on a ship for his watchkeeping ticket. He had then to confess that he could not see colours. I guess the Navy could have dismissed him but recognizing his other good qualities and taking a benevolent view, the authorities decided to use his talents elsewhere. So Bakshi was not sent to sea and branched off to become a Physical Training Instructor ashore.