| When Shabana Azmi greeted Nelson Mandela with a kiss, the following eulogy was written in praise of the act by Principal B.S. Bhatnagar of the Indian school A1 Ghubra, Sultanate of Oman. A kiss is that which you cannot give without taking, and cannot take without giving. It is a contraction of the mouth due to an enlargement of the heart. It is a course of procedure cunningly devised for the mutual stoppage of speech at a moment when words are superfluous. It is lip service to love and the anatomical juxtaposition of two orbicularis oris muscles in a state of contraction. A kiss is a peculiar proposition. Of no use to one, yet absolute bliss to two. The small boy gets it for nothing, the young man has to steal it, and the old man has to buy it. It is the baby`s right, the lover`s privilege, and the hypocrite`s mask. To a young girl, faith? A married woman -hope? To an old maid- charity. A kiss can be a comma, a quotation mark or an exclamation point. It is also a pleasant reminder that two heads are better than one. |