What is Peecha Kai? Never heard that before...
On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 3:06 PM, Deepa Mohan <mohande...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 6/9/09, Indrajit Gupta <bonoba...@yahoo.co.in> wrote: > > > > The South Indians were > > > extremely particular about the use of right hand. > > > > > > -- Raj Shekhar > > > > > > only SIs ate with their left hands limp to the side, whereas they, > > red-blooded and, er, earthy Punjabis, used both hands to get at their > food, > > and wouldn't have hesitated to use their feet either if required. Their > > statement. > > > > > This is one of the few practices for which I have found a logical and valid > reason. Since Indians use water and not toilet paper, the left hand is used > for such cleaning and hence never used for ingestion. Over a period of > years, by association, the left hand has become "unclean" and is never used > for accepting anything from anyone. There's even a superstition that if you > accept money with your left hand, you might lose it (er, not in the toilet, > but...) If you put down something with your left hand, you will not > remember > where you kept it....when you are searching for something, you are likely > to > hear (if you are from a TamBram family), "You must have put it down with > your left hand". The left hand is, indeed, denoted by the appellation > "peeccha kai" (I certainly don't have to translate that)...and using it for > food, writing, accepting gifts, and handing things to people, is frowned > upon. Thaths, Udhay...what's your input on this? Did you, when you were > growing up, find this anti-southpaw bias? > > Deepa. >
