Saving human extinction is right in your hands!

The dress code changes with time. A notable absentee nowadays is the handkerchief! Somehow, it has completely gone out of circulation! Back then, the handkerchief was your versatile Swiss-Army Knife- it served all purposes.

These days, after washing your hands, you can be in a real soup. Hands dripping with water, you look for a tissue paper and there is none! What do you do? You glance here and there and stealthily dry your palms by rubbing against your trousers! If you have a runny nose, the situation is worse. Lack of a handkerchief means using your fingers for relief and wiping the stain off on the lamppost! Despite such embarrassing situations, still, the handkerchief is not in vogue.

At school, the handkerchief came handy during the recess breaks. You divided the boys into two raucous groups to play the most engaging game of the “dog and the bone”. The handkerchief served as the bone. The spritely boy dodged his opponent, pocketed the bone, and ran off to safer shores!

There was a gender divide when it came to handkerchief designs. Girls carried kerchiefs that had floral patterns. Kerchiefs for boys were in plain color. If your kerchief was in the wash, you stoutly protested carrying a different kerchief, “I cannot carry my sister’s kerchief to school! I will be the laughingstock for everyone!”

A prominent Indian Cricketer stuffed a red handkerchief in his back pocket! It was his lucky charm, and he attributed the World-Cup victory to his kerchief! Roadside Romeos made better use of the kerchief. When Juliet was in tears, Romeo pacified her by offering his kerchief! It was the surest way into Juliet’s heart! And when it came to the street rowdy, you recognized him from a distance- the kerchief was tied around his neck.

Policemen had an easier time when it came to nabbing robbers. Invariably, these goons masked their face with a kerchief and the disguise was a giveaway!

If you had a bruise, the kerchief doubled up as a torniquet. If you ran a high temperature, ice-cubes wrapped in a kerchief kept the fever down! A steam engine driver looked smart- his head wrapped in a kerchief and knotted at the back! It kept the coal and the flying embers out of hair’s way!

How could the kerchief that served so many purposes disappear into oblivion? The domino effect is devastating. Saying no to handkerchiefs means saying yes to tissue paper. Saying yes to tissue paper means cutting down trees. Cutting down trees means rising temperatures. Rising temperatures means melting glaciers. Melting glaciers means rising ocean levels. Rising ocean levels means coastal cities getting submerged!

Please carry a handkerchief and save humankind from extinction!