Allergy season is here! Stocking up on tissues and remedies is essential. Sneezing can be sudden and uncontrollable, but it’s a human phenomenon unlike coughs or hiccups.
The sneezing season is here! People who are prone to allergies are buying tissues, lozenges and ayurvedic concoctions in bulk mode. A crisis could be just around the corner for them, you see. Unending bouts of sneezing uncontrollably can happen any moment to such ones.
Moreover, there’s something very human about a sneeze that a cough can never quite match up to. A sneeze enforces itself upon a human being quite suddenly and undeniably. Milder occurrences like coughs and hiccoughs are hardly as challenging. Hiccoughs or hiccups as they are popularly known, can also be quite unmanageable as we all know, but they tend to occur once in a blue moon. A cough can often be suppressed for a while and one can even leave the room to cough outdoors at times. Especially if one is in a movie or a meditation session where people do not appreciate even the slightest disturbance.
Sneezes are looked upon with more understanding by the neighbours in a bus or train. Unless the sneezer is an unusually loud exponent of the act! Some individuals, like my better half, sneeze so softly that one is left wondering whether she had sneezed or simply sniffed! Others like me can be heard in the next room and still others like my late grandpa could be heard down the street!
In fact, the manner in which grandpa used to sneeze was quite an electrifying phenomenon. He would come up with a loud shrill one out of the blue and people in his vicinity could end up shrieking just as loudly! Especially if they had heard him for the first time. My Nani would not be surprised by his sneezing cacophony, but she would definitely mutter words of mild complaint at times, which he would ignore!
Even the toughest of bosses are prone to succumbing to a bout of sneezing or even hiccuping. And they somehow lose their toughness once they have puckered up their nose and sneezed in full view of their subordinates. There is something innately human about a sneeze that makes even the most feared of men appear less formidable.
Hiccups can be even more embarrassing at times of course. During a recent high-powered meeting, the boss was grilling the attendees ad nauseum. He went on and on bellowing at the cringing juniors. But he started hiccuping midway through the meeting. And try as he might, his strongly worded and scathing statements lost their bite appreciably since a loud hiccup would interrupt them! Shielded smiles and sniggers worsened his mood and he really lost it. But having sensed that he had been ambushed by a force of nature, he called the meeting to an abrupt halt. Much to the delight of all concerned!
Sneezes are actually said to be the sign of good health in a way. While an infection or irritation may be the immediate cause, a sneezing person is not in bad health, say some experts. And despite some misapprehensions, the heart does not stop or malfunction when one sneezes.
Of course the old adage says that “someone is thinking of you” when you sneeze or hiccup (they haven’t decided which one is a stronger indicator!). Five sneezes in a row are even stronger signs of a loved one longing to be with the sneezer, it is said. Some people usually tend to sneeze twice, others at least three times, and rare ones only once.
I myself have found that I sneeze a lot in the morning during changing seasons and not so much later in the day. Homoeopathy has helped me get over a lot of sniffing issues but the sneezes remain a part of my mornings in temperate weather, come what may!
People usually bless the one who sneezes. One wonders why such blessings do not flow to someone coughing, hiccuping or even snoring! Perhaps the level of annoyance that sneezes cause is not as persistent to the company one keeps! Thus one might receive a blessing or two for each sneeze, subject to a maximum of three!
Be that as it may, please go ahead and sneeze once in a while. It is good for the health, I am told. And God bless!
