Whats wrong in Kissing ?

While I was reading newspaper this morning, an interesting article caught my eyes.

A Health Research Group did a study on how often people touch, kiss and hug each other in world. An experiment as part of the study consisted of going to cities around the world and simply counting how many times couple touched each other while sitting together in a cafe. In Paris, the average was 110 times an hour. In San Juan (a city in Puerto Rico) — the highest average of any city — people touched each other 180 times per hour. In Florida, it was twice per hour, which wasn't quite as bad as India where they didn't touch at all. In some Arabic countries, touching in public is illegal, so no question of any study. The research published the standings on world’s best and worst lovers. Of course, the top spots for former category went to Spain, Brazil, Italy and France. The top spots for latter category went to India (too shy), England (too lazy), and Sweden (too quick).

I got some food for thought and hence this blog… :)

I can’t help but wonder about why we Indians seem to keep our distance from others. Public physical contact between men and women is far less acceptable in India than in other parts of the world. Everywhere boys and girls are segregated. There are separate queues for ladies and gents. In the public buses and trains special seats are earmarked for women... Separate education at school and colleges, Sitting side by side, meeting and talking freely is treated as obscene. Forget about kissing, hugging and holding hands together in public. Even within a family, couples tend to shy away from touching each other in front of their kids, brothers/sisters, parents etc.
The gestures of greetings also differ greatly from west where this may include shaking hands, hugging, kissing, and rubbing noses etc. In India, it is just folding hands themselves. Surprisingly, the Indian KamaSutra describes the exotic use of touch and massage in love making, yet those practices have been suppressed over the years and it is believed to be consequence of rule of Arabic invaders in early 19th century.

Touch provides warmth, love, caring, reassurance and support to the person who reaches out for it - and to the person who gives it. When your spirits are low and you reach out to your mother, friend or lover for a hug, it has the effect of comforting them in return. It fulfills within them the basic desire to connect, strengthens the bonds. The thing I really love about the touch is, I can feel, not just the physical sensation of the hand on my skin, but also I can feel the emotional content of the touch…that sensation travels in both directions. And when you are both really in tune with that exchange of pleasure, it can be absolutely awesome. It is medically proven that, touching like hugging, kissing and holding hands with the people in your life releases a special hormones in brain called Oxytocin. The Oxytocin makes us feel calm and relaxed, trusting, generous, and affectionate. The experience of feeling loved and loving. Almost all human beings are born with a sense of touch, when a baby cries, it runs to mother who holds it in her hand and kisses it. The baby stops crying… its not bcas its pain disappeared suddenly, it is bcas of soothing effects of mom's touch. So hurry up and Kiss someone you love today :-)


If you are ever in doubt as to whether to kiss a pretty girl, always give her the benefit of the doubt. -Thomas Carlyle