Hands and the Man

Amod called. He is a childhood friend for me. We studied in the same school from 2nd grade to the 10th. For others, he is a story writer Amod Dev Bhattarai.  Thanks to the 'superb call quality of the phone call, I could make out some of the words he said,

"Brazesh…hissssss…editor……mute…..New Yorker magazine….silence….get together..hissss….Bhoomi, Lazimapt….noise..Tues….silence….2nd……hissss….Sept……five..hisssss…..thirty….silence."

And, then the line was disconnected. Cool enough, rest was for me to put two and two together to get four. After all if you can understand what is being said, the purpose of the communication is achieved. People accuse our telecom service providers for nothing. It’s a miracle in itself that a person speaking to me from almost 17 kilometers away was able to convey his message to me. 

Well, I thought I should get some information about the person I was going to meet. Who else would be better than uncle Google? I typed 'editor, New Yorker Magazine' and pop came up the information. I went through till I was confident that I have enough to converse for at least twenty minutes. When I reached the venue, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The person was not the editor but the former editor of The New Yorker. I had familiarized myself with someone else but was facing Daniel Manekar. Even an over optimist like me could not refrain myself from cursing the telephone service then.

However, meeting Daniel Manekar for a brief period was quite pleasant. We talked about general interests. I talked about my love for football, which they call soccer. I was aware that Americans were not that fascinated with the game. Manekar, confirming it, pointed out some very interesting reasons behind it. As per his analysis, Americans only love high scoring games. Soccer, has a very low scoring ratio for the ninety minutes of hard physical effort; sometimes nil. That, according to him, is disappointing. His other point was more interesting. Soccer, he said, restricted use of hands. Americans find it unacceptable as they are proud of being inventors and creators.

"Imagine, without use of your hands, how monotonous the world would be?"

I found it to be very interesting and true. So it is quite natural that American's are obsessed with hands and its use if what Manekar said is true. Their hands are behind many things. Some find it beneficial-some not, depending upon their ideology, thinking and perspective.

Indeed, hands play a vital role in our life. To eat, drink, create masterpiece of arts, communicate, salute, to make love would be disaster if hands could not be used. Think about it, we would be deprived of so many wonderful things. We would not be able to drive, fly an airplane, launch rockets and satellites. Our race of development would not have been what it is today if our hands were restricted. We operate machines which change the face of the world with hands. We write history, literature and paint with hands. But, like everything else in the world, there are two sides of this coin too. Improper use of hands creates havoc in life. People have also invented weapons of mass destruction with hands. Hands sow the seeds, cultivate and grow foods. They are responsible for surgery but they can strangle too.

Ironically, hands are also credited for things they are not responsible for. A person committing crime gets caught 'red handed' even if he has not used it to commit the crime. A person in the background of success or failure, creation or destruction is ignored and his hands are mentioned as 'his/her hand was behind it.' However, if we forget some negativity of what hands have done, we should be happy that we have hands. Therefore, use of hands should be practiced with utmost care and sensitivity. They can caress or they can slap. They can heal and they can hurt.

Hence, those obsessed with the use of their hands need to be more sensitive and cautious. Hope Daniel Manekar agrees with me.