I was not shocked, but definitely more than surprised. I had not thought any woman would hold my arm (other than my mother when I was small and my wife when I grew up and married her). I did not think so because of many reasons. First of all, in our culture women do not do so. Then no woman had done so when I was young; so the chances were quite small that anyone would do so now. The third reason was that I had never done so to any woman (except the two mentioned above), so no woman should want to do such a thing to me. The fourth reason (some people would put it higher on the list) was that I had always behaved maintaining a certain distance from people, and people had reciprocated. Why would anyone change anything now?
“This is a nice shirt” said one of our junior colleague, who had left the institute long ago, and was attending a function in our institute. She held my arm for a few moments after saying so. A number of staff members were present, but no one said anything.
When I narrated this to my wife, she laughed and said, “it is the effect of the shirt I bought for you.” She had bought that shirt, which was quite different from my choice.
“I hope it is not catching or something” I said. “Anyway, I did not reciprocate in any way.”
“I know you would not” she said.
The next time it happened in a wedding party. One of our relatives, herself a doctor, grabbed my arm ( I don’t recall if it was the same one or the other one) right in front of my wife and a lot of other relatives. She held it almost until I was ready to break her grip. I was wearing the same shirt. She had not done any such thing any time in the past.
“I think we should dump the shirt” I said to my wife. “what with people grabbing my arm …”
“It is a nice shirt. You cannot throw it away” she said.
“Perhaps I may wear at home” I said.
“No way. It is for functions and outdoors.”
I kept it hidden for a long time. Today I had to attend a meeting, where 5 or 6 specialists from different fields were going to interact. We had had a few meetings in the past, and knew one another. My wife found that hidden shirt and suggested I wear it. I good husband takes all suggestions of the wife on such issues seriously, and I complied.
“Oh, hello” said one of the specialists. “This is the second time we meet!” She was as old as I was, or perhaps older.
“We have met more than once before” I said with surprise. “I have been attending meetings with you for the last two years or so.” Then I had a thought. “Perhaps you did not notice me then.”
“Oh, um… uh…that is not so” she mumbled.
It was that shirt again. She had not noticed me because of my knowledge and technical expertise in the past. But she noticed me when I had that shirt on.
My readers may think I am loony, not wanting to make the best use of an almost magic shirt I have been gifted. Well, I could not do it before, and I won’t be able to do it now or later. I could give it away to someone who could put it to better use, but that would hurt the feelings of the person who gave it to me. Tough situation, what? :-)
