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The dirty hidden secrets of a borrowed pen
So you have been waiting for hours in the queue which is just not moving ahead. After what seems like ages, its finally your turn at the desk and the impatient, irate officer barks at you to sign the register. So you reach for your pen and damn… there is no pen! You forgot! So you turn around and request to borrow your neighbor’s pen. Amidst annoyed glances from the officer and the others behind you, you
finally manage to sign and leave. Phew!
Sounds similar??
Almost every one of us at some point or the other have either borrowed a pen or lent it. While this was more common in our schooling days, with the advent of email/internet/online transactions, this practice has been limited to visits to a bank, post office or a govt office. More often than not, we forget to return the pen or collect it. The pen keeps changing owners/hands at alarming frequency. Have we ever wondered what dirty secrets is that innocent pen hiding? Where all has that pen been? What all has it been used for? How clean are the hands of the pen’s owner?
Maybe the pen has travelled to restrooms. Maybe picked up from a garbage strewn road.
Maybe the pen was used to clean one’s ear.. or to scratch one’s back..
Or the owner of the pen has a habit of biting the rear end of the pen while in deep thought or not wash hands after a washroom visit!
Or maybe the pen was.. well there is no end to one’s sordid imagination. The pen could have travelled anywhere and be used for anything other than for its simple purpose of writing.
So what’s the solution?
Never borrow a pen? Well that might a tad hard to do considering that the pen goes missing during important occasions.
Never lend a pen? You sure can do that and earn a reputation of a stuck-up prude!
Always carry 2 pens – One for personal use and another for lending purpose? It’s hard enough remembering to carry one pen let alone two.Always wash your pen or hand depending on whether you lent it or borrowed it? At the risk of
appearing paranoid, this is probably a more feasible solution. Remembering to do this every time might be the hard thing.
The most workable solution is irrespective of where you have and what you have touched, always ensure that you wash your hands before every meal. And freshen up once you get home in the evening.
That should take care of most of your hygiene needs. Meanwhile the poor pen continues on its tiring
journey hiding its dirty secrets.