I have always been a fan of people who are left-handed whether they are players, writers or artists. The really ambidextrous people who are not there in great numbers also fascinate me. A psychoanalyst may attribute this fancy of mine to the reason that I am an extremely right handed person whose left hand is practically useless and the complex inherent in me because of this. But the fact remains that I am an ardent fan of people who really use their left hand gracefully and stylishly.
The medical experts in the field of anatomy would explain the predominance of the use of left limbs to the extra ordinary development of motor control centre on the right side of the brain. But once again there is a school of experts that a child is born as an ambidextrous human being who when allowed to favour the right side does so and finally develops to become a right handed person.
Earlier it was believed that the life of left hand person is short. People used to discourage the use of left hand by the children since was considered a bad practice.
Hence there were not many lefthanders around. Now the myth surrounding the use left hand has disappeared and the parents generally encourage the children to any hand they favour in their growing stage. As a result these days children grow up with confidence and are not ashamed of their ‘psychic invalidity’.
They develop to become aggressively competitive in their chosen field and realise their potential once they realise the true merits of being a southpaw.
I have always watched with great awe and admiration the left-handed grace of Sir Gary Sobers, David Gower, Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasurya and our own Saurav Ganguly in cricket and John McEnroe and Martin Navaratilova in the field of tennis and various other personalities in the field of sports and games. Imagine yourself in the boxing ring with a boxer who packs a real left-handed punch while you are always watching his right. You are likely to be on the floor with a bruise on your right cheek.
The road to success is not a bed of roses for the lefties. The path is full of thorns from the moment the child steps in to this world of right-handers. The world is unfortunately cruel to the left-handers. Everything in this world is meant for righthanded person. For example, the handle of the door, the knobs on the water taps and faucets act in the reverse for the left handed person. My daughter and nephew always used to increase the volume of the stereo when told to reduce it (they are left-handers). Similarly any control with clockwise operation gets rotated the other way creating very funny and embarrassing situations. Imagine sitting with a left handed person for a written examination and the discomfort of having to rub your elbow.
I do not whether how it has come about; but the word ‘left’ sometimes has a very negative and derogatory meaning.
For example people who give a ‘left-handed compliment’ do so without meaning it people say they lost their ‘right hand’ when they lose their favourite friend or aid and not the left hand. True, the world has preference for the right-handed person but balance can be tilted by the emergence of true lefties. I wish I could change the motto of the Sports Authority Of India from ‘catch them young’ to ‘Catch them left and right’ in that order.
US president Barack Obama is a ‘lefty’ and that is great.