Whenever I see a left handed person drinking tea, or for that matter any one drinking with his/her left hand, I am reminded of my friend Nanya (Swar)
We were at hotel Sunshine, situated at Deccan, opposite Natraj theatre. After ordering our chai, with Bun maska (Bread with butter) we decided on the usual number “Pop Corn” to be played on the juke box, which could be played at a quarter of a rupee. (even though the anna system was abolished, people still referred to it as char anna) After finishing the bun maska, the tea arrived and Nanya as usual picked up his cup with his left hand (even though he was not a lefty) When I asked him about this peculiar habit he said “most of the people are right handed and they use their right hand to pick up a cup, by which one side of the cup touches their lips. If we use the left hand then the other side touches our lips by which the chances of being infected through the cup is minimized” Talk about the slip between the cup and the lip !! Somehow at that time I was impressed by his logic and started following suit.
Now Natraj theatre is not there nor is the hotel Sunshine (and the juke box) but the habit of using the left hand is stuck with me.
Another habit that got stuck with me (I don’t know how) was to use my left hand to comb my hair !! You see I had that big puff in the front like Dev Anand and maybe to keep the hair standing that way I had to use my left hand. The irony is that now I don’t have much hair left but when ever I reach out for the hair brush (to comb that little patch on the sides) it’s the left hand.
I wonder how Amitabh combs his hair (or what others think is HIS hair)
