Pair of hands

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Just be a pair of hands, no more no less,” is the advice my elder daughter gave when I was about to leave for to assist my younger daughter in taking care of her newborn baby overseas. She further elaborated that her sister has been reading various parenting books, taking classes in parenting and so on, hence I should not impose my old-fashioned ideas on her about bringing up her child.

Now, this idiom ‘be a pair of hands’ implies that our hands are used only for manual labour and not for any communication skills or emotional and intellectual quests. If only my hands could speak out, they would certainly express their dismay.

Scientifically speaking, the hand is simply a puppet of the forearm which controls it through the attached ligaments. Yet, it gives the powerful grip on the rocks to a mountain climber as well as the great finesse to the performance of a concert pianist, a violin virtuoso or a veena player in creating melodies. Indeed the hand is one of the most complex and beautiful pieces of natural engineering in the human body.

The world of hearing impaired is brightened due to sign language with a pair of hands communicating effectively. In the arena of sports, umpires declare results with hand-signals from the middle of the field to the rest of the world. When traffic needs to be regulated, constables use a pair of hands admirably at road junctions. Blessing gestures, crossing fingers, palms together postures are part of everyday life. Shh… the forefinger on the lips ensures silence in hospitals, movie theatres or classrooms.

Dwelling into the artistic realm, ‘abhinaya’ is used as an integral part of all Indian classical dance styles. The dancer communicates with the audience through extensive use of hands in conjunction with face, head, eyes, waist and so on. Mudras are symbolic gestures that use palms and fingers. These ‘mudras’ are part of the rituals in several Indian religions.

Millennials and Gen Z kids will vouch for the use of ‘mudras’ in the form of emojis for communication. Two fingers held up in one hand making a ‘V’ for peace, thumbs up for appreciation, thumbs down for denouncement, clapping hands emoji to applaud, shaking hands to convey congratulations are commonly used in messages. Divers use the OK gesture underwater where the thumb and index finger together form a circle.

Wait, what’s that my hands are doing? Flipping the bird, oh, right, they are registering their dissent that I am being asked to be ‘just be a pair of hands’!