by Tarini Tandon
~
One question that I have been asked since even before I can remember is “Since when are you a left-hander?” This question is laced with a variety of emotions- surprise, shock, astonishment. The fact that I’m a left-hander surprises people and this question surprises me because there’s actually no point to the question. A person who is left-handed is obviously so by birth, because parents actually won’t force their child to switch to the left hand if he/she is using their right hand to work. Though the reverse is often true. There are many instances where children are converted to a right-hander because they are born left-handed.
Michel Foucault’s argument on the dominant discourse highlights how power structures and the politics of tradition assert subversions of that which is not the norm. This authority invalidates everything that dissents and opposes the “normative” and forms the minority. This minority is demonised as it goes against those norms which are internalised to an extent where they become that ideology which people do not ever think of challenging.
The word ‘left’ has always had negative connotations. Left-handedness is commonly associated with everything bad, evil, malicious, unlucky, unclean and sinister, and is invalidated as a result. In fact, the word “sinister” means the left-hand side or the unlucky in Latin. This Foucauldian idea is observed in many traditions and cultures, including our own, which are always associated with the right, never with the left. The left-hand is perpetually considered unclean because it is used to clean your excreta. As a result, performing puja with the left-hand is considered impious as is giving money from the left-hand. Public transport drivers often refuse to take money from the left-hand of a passenger if it is their first earning of the day thinking it to be inauspicious. Because the majority of people are right-handers, the sinistrality associated with left-handedness has now become a tradition which is strongly ingrained within each culture.
In a predominantly right-handed world, people who are left-handed have to face a lot of inconveniences. The culture that marginalises the left-handed can be observed in every object of daily use- for example a pair of scissors, a knife, a nail-cutter, a pen, and even the door handle- is designed in a way so as to cater to the right-handed person. The necessity of using these objects is similar for each one of us but the comfort with which we use them differs vastly from a right-handed to a left-handed person.
Classrooms can also be a constant source of frustration for a left-hander. Sit next to a right-hander and very often we’d be the reason of discomfort our partner would face. Chairs having an attached desk will always have the desk on the right side and never on the left side, because, after all, who’s going to keep count of the left-handers and provide chairs and desks that would be comfortable for them. Spiral notebooks and binders can also prove to be exasperating because they are built essentially for the use of the right-hander.
Children who are deliberately and forcefully made to switch to using their right-hand are generally left in the lurch as they no longer remain sure of what to do. The strength that naturally comes to people is often found lacking in such children. Paul Tabori in his book ‘The Book of the Hand’ says- “Children do not understand the difference between left or right until they are about 6 years old. However, a baby at its seventh month of life begins to favour one or the other hand. Until that age they are bimanual… There are no perfectly “ambidextrous” people in the world. No matter what they may claim, they always have a bias for one hand or the other”.
Forcing something upon them which goes against the grain of their nature will always lead to negative consequences. Not only should a left-handed child not be forced into using his/her right-hand, the right-handers have to be taught to not distinguish left-handers as “different”.
The left-handers are not different from the right-handers in any sense other than their preference for naturally using their left-hand as opposed to the general and dominant right. The handedness of a person is in no way indicative of the way one behaves or reacts to things and circumstances. In fact, left-handers are made to adapt in a world which is predominantly right-handed, and where every facility available is created in a way such as to ease the workings of a right-hander.
The hegemony created by the dominant right-handers is not only internalised by right-handers themselves, but also by the left-handed people. We are so attuned to power politics, consciously and unconsciously, that despite the discomfort we face in simple day-to-day tasks, we adhere to norms set by those in positions of authority and which everyone is expected to obey and follow.
~
Image source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/39959997.cms
Bricolage 