As righteous hashtag activists of the 21st century, we don't hesitate to tweet our displeasure on social problems. People are finally discussing issues like racism, casteism, sexism, nepotism over breakfast without anyone losing their appetite.
But there's one group of people who remain overlooked, regardless of the century they're in. They're so used to suffering in silence that we don't even realise that they exist until we are literally hit by an elbow in the face during dinner. I am talking about our ever adaptable, ever uncomplaining, ever compromising, elbow knocking friends – the Left Handers.
Though they make up only 10 percent of the world population, I've met my fair share of left handers. My cousin, who I often play video games with, is one and it's ridiculously easy to beat him. At first, I dismissed him as a poor player but on further scrutiny, I spotted his hand preference as the reason for his ineptness. The quick action buttons are all on the right side of the game controller, putting left handed gamers like my cousin at a disadvantage.
In fact, the vast majority of products are made keeping the right-handed people in mind. Some are nearly impossible to be used by left-handed people. Can openers, wrap-around desks, computer mouses and scissors are just a few of them. While there are left handed scissors available, one can be sure not to find them in a classroom, especially in India. Children have to either use their right hand and do their best to avoid slashing their artwork to bits or turn the scissors upside down and risk getting arthritis well before their time. The overwhelming majority of right-handed students makes schools unwilling to spend on the occasional lefty. This leaves left-handed children with uncomfortable right-handed equipment that are sometimes even painful to use.
Seeing the lefties' time immemorial struggle with writing without smearing the ink on the sheet or their hands, it's a fair guess that the right handed people created the English alphabet. If only the letters flowed from right to left, the lefties would not have to worry about their words morphing into a psychological inkblot test whenever they write.
Lefties are often relegated to the sidelines when playing games like baseball due to lack of left handed baseball gloves. The same can be said for aspiring left handed guitarists.
Jimi Hendrix, one of the most well known guitarists, was naturally left-handed. His father reportedly tried to force him to play right handed, refusing to get him a left handed one. Young Jimi had to restrung guitars to be able to play with his preferred hand. However, he still had to play with his right hand whenever his father was around.
Day-to-day struggles in a world that doesn't cater to their demands are not the only problems that plague our minority friends. They are subjected to subtle yet systematic discrimination and discouragement from an early age.
I once saw my friend, who I knew to be right handed, draw skillfully with his left. Puzzled, I asked him about it.
He just shrugged in response, "I was born left-handed but my mother associated left-handedness with bad luck and forced me to use my right hand to write and eat. The habit stuck. Now I can use both hands equally well."
This bias is not surprising. History has not been kind to the left-handers. During Salem witch trials, being left handed was enough to condemn a woman to death.
Just looking at the English words 'Right' and 'Left' reflects this discrimination. A flip through your dictionary will tell you that 'Sinistrality' originating from the Latin word 'sinister' meaning 'left' is the medical term for left handedness. The word 'sinister' by the Classical Latin era took on meanings of 'evil' and 'ominous' owing to the perception that 'left' is unlucky and wicked. Even the word 'ambidextrous' doesn't do them any favour. Its intended meaning is "skillful on both sides" but the Latin root dexter conveys the idea of being "right handed on both sides." In Sanskrit, which is the mother of all languages, the word waama means both 'left' and 'wicked'.
Religious practices of Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and even ancient cultures of Greece and the Egypt all require the use of the right hand. God forbid if you use the left hand to receive prasad or communion. The priests look utterly scandalised and then proceed to lecture the entire congregation on the proper way to receive it. In Christianity, Jesus sits on God's right side. The Right Hand of God is the favoured hand while the Left Hand is known as the Hand of Judgment.
It was also believed that Eve developed from Adam's left side resulting in left-handedness being associated with femininity, which compared to the accusations of practicing witchcraft and black magic should have been a treat. But when our patriarchal society says femininity, it hardly ever means compassion, resilience or kindness. It means inferiority. Consequently, left-handed people came to be seen as weak and incompetent.
In the 19th century, the bias against the left handed was incorporated into schools. Little children who dared to lift their crayons with their left hand were severely punished, with teachers going as far as to tie their left hand to the back of their chairs or caning them until they could no longer write with them. Interestingly, even kings were not exempted from this persecution. England's King George IV (1895-1952) was left-handed. His father was infamous for being a strict disciplinarian, known to punish his children for the slightest things. Due to this harsh upbringing, the young prince became shy and was reluctant to ascend the throne. In his biography, Sir John Wheeler-Bennet wrote, "The King began to stutter during his 7th and 8th years. It has been attributed to his being compelled to write right-handed." The movie 'The King's Speech' is based on him.
Later in the 20th century, puzzled scientists looked at left handedness not as the mark of the devil but as the result of a biological abnormality – resulting in lefties being labelled as abnormal and primitive. Contemporary 'IQ wars' (Kamin, 1974) claimed that left-handedness resulted from obstetric trauma causing brain damage.
Even now in the 21st century, this bias lives on. I see aunties and uncles stop by unsuspecting lefties and give them a sermon on the usage of the proper hand, calling it rude to extend the left hand for even a practice as simple as a handshake. And the society I come from is rife with such aunties and uncles. The only job they see fit for the left hand is in the toilet.
Around two-third of the world still discriminates against Lefties. The worldwide average of left handed people is 10-13% but it is lesser in Asian and some African countries. China oddly reports that only 1% of its students are left handed.
We all know the ugly reason behind this discrepancy. School children are still forced into conversion in many parts of the world. Children who are coerced into using their right hand when they're naturally left handed can develop learning disorders like dyslexia and speech disorders like stuttering.
But despite all the challenges, despite being in such acute minority, the community has provided countless geniuses over time. Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marie Curie, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin and a whole bunch of people that I don't have the space to write about were all left handed. This suggested the idea that lefties are equally or perhaps more intelligent than the righties but since it's not a proven fact, the highly logical right-handed world doesn't quite agree.
Lefties have been around for thousands of years and are not going anywhere. They feel left out in a society that is adamant in its belief that the left is simply notright. While their adaptability can put a chameleon to shame, it needs to be understood that no one likes to compromise every single day of their lives. It's about time that we recognise their problems as real problems that need to be solved.