One Sane

“Then the eyes of both of them became opened and they began to realize that they were naked. Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves.”  — Genesis 3:7

“I came up to you risking my reputation. They will call me insane, for I consulted you, a doctor for the mind. But for my sister, I can cross the any limit. I need to save her, her mind, I mean.”

When the young girl finished talking, the psychiatrist asked: “What is her problem?”

“She finds it pleasing to expose herself, especially her legs.”

“Why have you come alone, then?”

“She doesn’t think she is out of her mind, or what she does is against the norms of our culture.”

The doctor and the young girl took a long time to reach the S. N Park. It was high traffic hour in the Kannur city.

“There she is,” the young girl pointed to a girl, who was reading under the shade of a tree, in a frock that exposed her legs from the knees. She was sitting in a gentle way, with her legs crossed.

“I cannot see anything gross about her dressing,” said the psychiatrist.

“But her legs--“the young girl was about to say something. But the doctor cut in.

“Her legs are extremely beautiful,” he said. “Don’t worry about your sister.” The doctor continued, “Do you know why we prefer such dresses that cover most of our body? It had been fed into our minds that we should use such sort of dresses to be culturally acceptable. It happened in the great past when the women of the time did not feel their legs worth showing off; they had the best reasons to hide themselves behind a piece of cloth.”

The young girl stared at him embarrassed. She could not understand the doctor. To believe a new thought is to keep your sanity at stake, and that was what happened with my sister, thought the young girl. At the distance she noticed a beautiful pair of legs existing beyond anything normal.    

Also Published in Beyond Fair