Perhaps no other physical sensation can compete with an itch in demanding immediate attention — through a scratch. Where there is an itch, there will be a scratch.
“Happiness is having a scratch for every itch,” wrote Ogden Nash. What a gem! In one of his comic pieces, Charlie Chaplin, while sleeping with his shoes on, kept on scratching the sole of his shoe involuntarily, and continued to sleep with a sense of smug satisfaction.
Although one instantly needs to scratch to relieve an itch, people have different styles to deal with their itching sensations. All this hinges on their upbringing.
The first and foremost is performed universally at the back of the head, when a student or a guilty husband is foxed by the question the teacher or wife would ask, when they know the answers themselves.
Before today’s technology that enables money to be electronically transferred at the drop of a hat, banking instruments such as cheques and demand drafts retained pride of place, and the simplest among them was the money order. Some cunning postmen bringing a money order, after surrendering the cash craftily including small denomination notes, used to scratch the nape of their neck giving more than a hint about his commission.
If you asked any man whether he had had a shave, his quickreaction would be to place his hand on his cheeks and chin, followed by an investigative scratch.
In order to know what amount of pleasure an animal derives out of scratching, you should pay heed to a dog. Its paw will come to its rescue and do the needful. Resting on its haunches, it would raise one of the forelegs in a yogic posture, and scratch the spot that felt the sensation. The depth of canine expressions of satisfaction would vary from dog to dog and on the basis of the time and place. Once the session is over, the dog would stand up and turn in small circles, wagging the tail in self-adulation.
One can choose to scratch just the surface when one is busy but has a bout of itching. No book on itching etiquette will suggest a rash scratch in polite company, especially in the presence of ladies.
Smothering your itch with one finger is a skill. Many newsreaders who perform before TV cameras, may do it when they know that Camera No. 1 is not on, and the voice-over footage is streaming. I wonder if we have any spray available in the market to nip the itch in the bud when the tip of the nose and the adjoining areas itch.
In the catagory of the performing artistes I admire the Kathakali performers, who, having spent hours for the make-up, have to be immune to calls for a scratch on the face during a spirited performance.
A scratch is not always a solution for an itch. When the palms of those who look for bribe money itches, a scratch will not do. Rather, in order to receive quick service, only a proverbial greasing of the palm will relieve the figurative itch.
nikhiljaiswl2013@yahoo.com
