Thumbprint

 

I cut my thumb. Blood ran profusely for a couple of months- finding pleasure in finding a new outlet each time. It looked ugly, damn ugly! No amount of bandages, tapes, ointments, powders worked. My initial goal was to make it alright soonest. But as days went by, I gave up hope and concentrated on beautifying it. Forget the pain - I thought - Then I applied turmeric, my father's all time favourite home-medicine. All I ended up doing was making everything around me yellow. Yellow which would not disappear in one wash, two wash, three wash...people around me who were, up till now sympathetic towards me, or rather my my thumb, started giving me weird looks to begin with. and then settled on getting angry outright. - Dear father, please come down from heaven. We have scores to settle. And please take this thumb away on your way up. treat it as gurudakshina-

Finally. my brother-in-law advised me to keep it open and bear the brunt of onlookers. It was so simple but turned out to be genius of an idea. For a few days even I couldn't look at my thumb but then I got used to it. Made people get used to it and bingo! thumb took its original shape and look. The soft, glowing new skin was back on it. Or rather the same skin but it took so much time to heal that I had forgotten what it looked like till I looked at his brother, the right thumb. The thumb seemed to tell me -  better take extra care next time around - 

It looked beautiful. I twisted it up, down, sideways and it was perfect. Sometimes walking on the street I looked at it so admiringly that people thought I had gone mad. Anyways, everyone accepted it but my cell phone - which had a locking system and would open only after reading my thumb. The phone seemed to say - that's not the skin by which I will let you in. No ways. sorry! - 

Wow! the whole world seemed to accept it but this bloody man-made machine. The skin of my thumb looked perfectly normal. I sat back, took deep breaths, and thought, and thought, and thought. The answer came back with a thumping clarity. While all the while I thought that the cell phone wasn't accepting it, it was my thumb that refused to acknowledge it -  the software, the system, or whatever crap. Nature seemed to say - just hold on mate. I am still working it. I will give your thumb a perfect dressing, Just chill for few days - 

Well -  I had been fuming, getting irritated, coming to terms, and finally chilling all these days, it wasn't much to ask for. So I waited, and waited, Waited for nature to works its magic. I didn't try to break into the phone by some devious strategy. I trusted nature completely, always did, and more so now. And true to my faith, and the power of nature, one fine day I held my phone, pressed my, now new thumb, and said - knock! knock! open sesame! And the cell phone opened.