ITCH

 ITCH

Itch is a universal irritant. What?  Yes, itch irritates the person undergoing the agony and the on-looker gets irritated that the other person scratches every now and then and throws up a signal of ‘disrespect’ to the guest/ visitor. Honestly the sufferer never intends any disrespect to anyone; but the social disposition steps in uninvited and causes dislocations to interpersonal equations. Everyone, every now and then keeps scratching parts of self as a plain routine with no ‘conscious’ feeling that ‘I am scratching’. It does happen more or less unnoticed. But when the event turns ‘intense’, the victim suffers ‘stigmatization’ for unsociable behavior.

I place a hypothetical challenge.

Sit on the floor facing east. Watch the clock for ‘time now’. Take a pledge that for the next 5 minutes, “I shall stay steady and would not scratch my person, come what may”.  In a few seconds from the vow, you are shaken to your roots by the abrupt ‘itch’ on the tip of your nose. For a few initial moments your vow demands your sticking to determination. But, itch is more determined to knock off you and your vow together with consummate ease. Alas, you cave in; but re-register your vow to stay stoic for the next three minutes. Gladly you pass an eventless 2 minutes plus, when a ‘mega itch’ throws up on your chin and turns intolerable. With about 35 seconds to go, you succumb to the demand and liberally scratch your chin with all 4 fingers [minus the thumb] of your right hand. The moral is “never take a bet with Itch’. It can destabilize you, your pride, social status and anything else that you stand for.

If you wish to brand anything as an ‘inopportune intruder’, you can right away confer it on to itch.

Why do I suggest so?

Quite often we witness people passing through the agony of itch that tries to compete with the solemnity of the moment. In a gathering after the proceedings when National; Anthem is sung, at least a few  manage to take a few seconds of ‘scratching’ if they are in some invisible pocket in the audience. But those vulnerable to be ‘seen’ by dignitaries, soon after the session  run to a hideout to ‘kill’ the itch. The same plight had already been showcased In a COMMERCIAL CLIPPING’ promoting the sale of some ointment to quell itch; when the umpire in a play session is unable to display the intended signal , himself being under the nasty grip of itch. Such is the omnipresence of itch, that is omnipotent in killing both solemnity and personal dignity in one stroke and disappear for long thereafter.

The agony / frequency gets worse while travelling in humid crowded trains or buses , where one needs to have a hold somewhere to keep self from being thrown off balance for want of grip. Whether or not one scratches his/her head for solving some problem, [s]he scratches self almost next to breathing. That is the unanticipated arrival and unintended display of solution [scratching]  to itch.

Prof. K.Raman