The Touch

Greetings!

The little girl was bored in the bus journey...  and seemed little tired...

Her brother (about 10 years old) was sitting next to her and the grandmother at the corner of the seat. The girl had played some version of stone paper scissors with; fought with; ate snacks with; sung songs with; complained about; then shared some secrets in the ear of - her elder brother.

Grandma was already exhausted and was sleeping. Her brother started reading a book. The girl was now looking forward to put her head onto something... no not something but someone... She was looking forward to a lap or a shoulder to rest her head. But did not find anything and bent and put her head on her own lap...

The moving bus made it very awkward and the jerks were making her get up. Still she would not sleep like elders, resting her head on the back of seat. The poor child kept on drifting into and out of sleep, trying to rest her head on her own lap but ending up with head hung between her legs which banged on the seat ahead a couple of times... Still she did not try the grown up option of resting head on head rest behind her and kept trying to rest her head on her lap...

My mind drifted to childhood... As children we all look forward to the lap of a parent to put our head on or a shoulder to rest. Most of us are fortunate enough to have someone play that role in our life. Some are even lucky to have a life partner who they can rely on to rest a tired head.



I remember visiting an orphanage where there were few children less than 6 years of age and rest from 7 to the late teens. While other older children were interested in the goodies that we brought, I saw that those little ones were only interested in touching the visitors. It felt as if they wanted to wrap themselves with the warmth of our touch. The sparkling gifts were of no value to them. Nor were the chocolates and other eating stuff that the older children were enjoying. All they wanted was the warmth of touch and a human place to rest their head.

Even though that same child grows up to act as per social norms and won't ask for the touch directly- I feel this need for touch always exists. I have seen it in the eyes of people of all ages, cultures and social statuses. Or may be, their eyes were just reflecting the need that I myself felt at that time. Who knows? Perhaps we too try to awkwardly support ourselves by putting our head on our own lap and keep trying to find a place to rest but don't...

Meanwhile... the elder brother nudged the little girl to rest her head on his shoulder and he was patting her head. Of course his own head was already on the shoulder of their grandma...

The grandma was now awake and patting her grandson with a glint of special pride in her eyes. And why not? Today he had learnt an ancient yet unwritten tenet of providing support and nurture to the younger ones.  The Touch!


Sincerely Mine!
Anand Kulkarni

Comments

Rajiv said…
Not just children, we also need shoulder but we stop ourself.
Saturday, May 11, 2019
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