“Touch” is a
beautiful English word. It is used as a verb and also as a noun. Generally we
touch a liquid – water, milk, and oil – to see whether it is hot or cold. The
touch gives us the feeling of hotness or coldness. Touching with hand is a
common practice. We do touch the forehead of a person to see whether he/she has
fever. We shake hands with friends and newly introduced people as a mark of
affection and friendship. The feeling of touch gives a sort of comfort. In
fact, touching a pet animal is a common habit with all of us. The pets feel
happy when they are touched and they too try to touch us with their body parts.
‘Touch me
not’ is a plant known as Mimosa pudica. If
we touch the leaf-lets, they fold and fade automatically. Of course you can
touch either with your finger or any other object, the plant responds. Nowadays
we have touch screens everywhere. The smart phones, tablet computers,
electronic voting machines and automated teller machines (ATMs) are all
operated through touch screens. A user can give input or control the
information processing system through simple or multi-touch gestures by touching
the screen with one or more fingers or a special stylus/pen. I use a stylus
instead of my finger to operate my devices because it works like a pen with
which I am attached for a very long time in my life.
Apart from
the recent developments, ‘finger print’ is one of the oldest signatures used by
human beings. Even now to register a land or property, the registrar office
uses one’s finger print as the best identification mark. Also finger print is
used as passwords in the latest smart phones and tablet computers. Even in Aadhar id. card accounts, our finger
print is recorded and stored.
Visually
impaired people read a text touching the raised symbols in the Braille book.
They touch and read the text. It is one of the most useful things for the
visually impaired people. So by touch alone one can learn things.
In sports,
one should not touch the ball with hands in a foot ball game. Players touch
each other and hug each other as a mark of appreciation. There are songs and
books about ‘touch.’ At the same time one has to be very careful in touching
others. If we touch a stranger accidentally, we have to say ‘sorry.’
I cannot
forget the word ‘untouchables’ in Indian society. It was a social custom
prevailed in our society for a very long time. A certain group of people were
considered by another group as low caste and they were the untouchables. These
untouchables cannot use the streets or wells of the upper caste people. It was
unbearable. Many reformers tried to remove this social curse over time. Abolition
of untouchability was one of the best policies adopted by the government itself,
although still here and there this disease is there.
A caution for everyone finally is: ‘Do not touch a live electric wire.’
