Put your hands together, say a silent prayer

The other day while washing my hands, the sparkling soap bubbles fascinated me. Watching them, my thoughts wandered to the composition and construction of the human body: A complex, complicated, intriguing grand machine – a model of one’s own. Thank you, God!

Do we understand and appreciate the magnificence of this model? Do we know of its functioning or of its limbs, organs and systems? In case of any disruption or breakdown in either of these, our entire attention is riveted there. Don’t take these for granted. Have some basic knowledge of the model, work for its maintenance and fitness. A healthy body is necessary for a healthy mind.

Revert to the hands, an integral part of our daily life, language and gestures. A majority of us are right-handed. Our fingers are unequal in size; the thumb is placed at an opposite angle; it is the real virtuous; provides the grip. Think of a hand without the thumb, and imagine how daily life gets impeded.

As you read this, I can visualise some of you folding your thumb into the palm and trying out different functions such as picking a cup of coffee or pen or moving the mouse.

We use the thumb to convey, communicate: thumb our nose, give a thumbs up or down sign; seek lift from motorists; put a thumb impression on a document; or simply twiddle it. There is the rule of the thumb, and you know what a sore thumb means. You may not have a green thumb, yet love gardening. And yes, governments put their thumb on our freedom of speech and expression. Who is not familiar with thumbnail sketches?

Browsing through Know Your Body, a Reader’s Digest compilation, I found hands have amazing features and characteristics; a compact machinery pack for a small space. There are eight wrist bones in the palm, 14 in the digits – a total of 27 in each hand. There are hundreds of nerve endings, per square centimetre, with a heavy concentration in the finger tips. Each time we use our hands, hundreds of tendons, ligaments and muscles begin to work to contract, expand, turn or twist, grasp or release.

Hands are sensitive. These can detect heat, cold, touch; sweat when we face fear or anxiety; we stretch them while groping in the dark! Hands convey emotions: Agony, ecstasy, hatred, anger, and love; indifferent or dismissive attitude. We use hands to pat or clench fists to fight; wring hands in shame; put up our hands in defeat, surrender. We hold hands, walk hand-in-hand or choose to be hand in glove. We raise hands in prayer; extend hands for alms or arm twisting! We may know someone like the back of our hand; yet, the left hand doesn’t know what the right does.

We have some things on our finger tips; these tips are used for finger prints, an indelible identity mark of an individual; an identity formed in the fourth month in the womb! Fingers enable a sightless person to read Braille, identify coins in the pocket; a deaf person to use as sign language; a farmer to determine the texture of the soil, a housewife to judge the quality of a fabric.

The 10 digits on our hands help count and calculate. We may raise a finger, point a finger or not lift a finger. We may have a finger in every pie.

So put your hands together, say a silent prayer; and keep your fingers crossed.

DON’T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED. HAVE SOME BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE MODEL, WORK FOR ITS MAINTENANCE AND FITNESS