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
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The envelope

Image
Greetings! "Do I look like a beggar to you?" bellowed the Sir. The bewildered boy was at a loss of words. He started trembling and I thought he may fall down. "No... Sir..." He managed to mutter while clutching the tuition fee money in his hand. The Sir had an imposing personality and commanding voice. Getting a seat at his tuition was considered to be a one way ticket to get into the "meritorious students club". He used to nudge, cajole, incite and drive students towards fending off and getting victory over those nightmarish adversaries of every middle school child. The deadly trio of Audacious Algebra, Gigantic Geometry and Sneaky Science. It was the first day of this boy in this prestigious tuition class. (And mine too). He was facing the wrath of Sir as he went to pay the fee with currency notes in his hand. The boy looked at the ground as if he desperately wished the earth to swallow him. He felt the glowering gaze of Sir in front and t...
Read more

Staging Sagely

Image
Greetings! In rocketry, "staging" means mounting multiple separable parts (with their own engines and propellants) to create a multistage rocket. These stages might be in tandem (that is one above other) or in parallel to each other. The most popular is a 2-stage rocket but there could be 5 (or even more) stages.  For a rocket, the ultimate aim is to put the payload in orbit. Each of the stage plays it's part in giving it the right speed and proper height. These parts do their "part" (literally), and then usually get jettisoned away, with explosive bolts. The rocket launch is successful, when each of these stages fire up, burn out, remain attached, as well as get detached, in the right place and at the right time (which is usually not a moment before nor a moment after they are supposed to do so) You may say, this is all good, but why write a blog on it? Well, because i think this entire process maps to life and growth as each one of us experiences it. As we gro...
Read more

The unscathed frog metaphor

Image
Greetings! One thing common among Zoologists and Management Gurus (and perhaps the rare amphibian-cuisine-connoisseurs) is their fascination with the boiled frog! So, what is this oft-repeated sordid tale of the poor and ultimately scathed amphibian?  The pop version goes as follows -  "A frog is let into a pot with water. It makes itself comfy and takes to it like a fish (or rather like a frog) in water. Then the pot is very slowly heated. The frog ignores this slow, gradual, incremental change. But then, at one point of time, the water starts boiling and it is too late for the frog to get out of situation. The frog gets boiled eventually." Morale of this pop version of story is clear - beware of slow, gradual, incremental changes. Watch out for tell-tale signs, lest the situation worsens to the doomsday scenario.  They even have a name for this condition where people, organizations and societies go on ignoring gradual change and then eventually face their doom on accoun...
Read more

Rescuing the Romeo

Image
Greetings! Everyone (well, at least everyone who knows a little about English Literature), knows the plot of a play named 'Romeo and Juliet', written by that gifted prolific playwright - William Shakespeare.  It is a tragedy that has been played on stage for centuries and adapted into most of the languages. This tale has inspired countless adaptations, musicals and movies.  It has also been analyzed, critiqued and discussed over perhaps millions of conversations.  Still, as is the case with such timeless tales, once in a while someone sees one or more dimensions of this story and cannot help sharing what has been glimpsed. (Now, that I have given justification of writing once more about this oft written about tale - let me get on with it ..)  So, in the dimension that I glimpsed, I see Romeo as the intelligent, idealistic but impulsive and immature force of passion that lies within all of us. Romeo is the part within us that climbs the walls, jumps the balconies and ...
Read more

Deadly Seeds of "False Dichotomy"

Image
Greetings! Here is an anecdote that made me think about an insidious infliction that affects humanity. A 'normal' shepherd is chatting with an 'educated' shepherd. Let's call them Norm and Ed. Norm: How many sheep do you have? Ed: White or Black? Norm: White? Ed: 50. By the way I have 50 Black sheep too. Wonder what you have against the Black sheep? Norm: But I asked about all the sheep? Ed: Oh! Did you? You just said, "White?" Norm: Hey Buddy, I don't have anything against any of the sheep. By the way, do you get enough wool ? Ed: From which one? White or Black? Norm: Black? (Thinking he won't repeat the mistake this time!) Ed: Well I get enough from Black ones. By the way I get enough from white ones too. Wonder why are you bent on exploiting the Black sheep for their wool? Norm: (Gives up) I call Ed's infliction as "False Dichotomy". This has been a cognitive conditioning for gullible ones, usually perpetuated by those with ulterio...
Read more