Scratch and itch

The houses baking in the scorching sun, the explosive excitement of the festivities in cities, and the peace in rural countryside; the people’s faces vivid and dark even after hiding under the shadows of the sun. The truth about things is locked in the smallest actions it engenders. It is what we do without conscious and deliberate thought, like scratching one’s itch in public.
In a country where plenty of sunshine is the only delight of youth who play with gay abandon in the sun, sweaty gatherings of male adolescence greets one at every street corner. Men whose bodies, in the summer pants, a bit worn at the groin by habitual caresses, of rough dusty hands, are a freedom they take for granted.
It is unfortunate that civilization has taken a firm position against the institution of public scratching. The Indian male especially the North Indian variety has refused to submit to the arcane ways of civilization, and continues to scratch away at himself with some diligence. It points to a larger comfort with our bodies – witness the ease with which we relieve ourselves of our various burdens in public.-Pious Mother India – The day after Ramadan and Ganesh Chaturthi
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