The “sense” of touch

By Sidra Gufran

It was a “farigh” day at the university when after the Math paper I was perched on a bench at the smoker’s corner talking, to some class-fellows about regional politics, coffee and organ donation. Across the glass door, inside the department, there was another group sitting, discussing “Aafia Siddiqui”. It was one heated discussion. On the stairs by the canteen a blog meeting was going on. And somewhere (I heard) a group of girls with a complaint about a teacher was vowing to go to the chair person and get its rightful share of marks which they thought they deserved.

As the clock struck twelve, (the sub-continental superstition attaches special meaning to this) a “kho kho” wave spread through the department. Within seconds two teams were formed, queries about the rules and “what is kho kho?” to Bengali born friends were answered, and people were dragged to positions.

The game began.

“Kho per kho” was the strategy adopted by the standing team. The kho was passed on to the “plan starter bhai”, then a short guy who is also famous as my twin, and then a fair, spiked dude. He reached out to grab a tall, bespectacled girl and then stopped in mid air and declared, “Isko pakrun kaisay?”

There were torrents of laughter. And then a well respected senior solemnly proclaimed that he could pat her on the head. Like Muslims comply to Mufti sahibs we nodded our heads in unison and got back to our positions. The game resumed.

The same spiked fair dude was running. Amidst the hullabaloo of people shouting “kho karo” he stood behind a girl and announced “kho!”.

She remained unmoved.

He shouted “kho” again, this time louder.

She did not budge.

 “Why are you not poking me?” came the innocent reply.

Laughter broke again. While the former remained adamant on the fact that he will not touch a female the latter insisted that this was against the rules.

Negotiations began. To touch or not to touch, that was the question! Suggestions of using a ruler and handkerchief were thrown at the poor guy. After much hue and cry the game began with renewed fervor...and then the “guardians of faith” propped up  and declared “kho kho” was “fahash”.

We all dispersed.