No one had heard of Priya Prakash Varrier until the 18-year-old in an attempt to grab attention of her classmate raises her eyebrow and winks, flooring not just the boy, but the entire nation. Overnight this upcoming star turned into a ‘National Crush’. And just recently, Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi after his impromptu hug to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under sharp criticism after his wink to fellow Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Parliament. Till this date the debate continues over who winked better, Priya Prakash Varrier or Rahul Gandhi.
Winking is an art, could be a debatable issue. But a wink does help grab attention of the person you are winking at along with that of some curious onlookers is proven umpteen times. Till this date I can’t wink, and it is one of the few disheartening reality of my life. But all is no lost when I see others do it with profound grace and sheer determination to convey what they have to.
A sportsperson winks at the opponent when he or she scores a point or two in a keenly fought battle. A child who successfully manages to do something without the parents’ knowledge winks at his partner in crime (mischievous prank) with immense joy. During exams the students wink at each other in acknowledgement to an exchange of a correct answer. In group outings when an individual settles the entire bill which was otherwise decided to be shared among all, winks at the rest conveying to his fellow mates ‘just chill’. Often when two individuals are at loggerheads, the third person who takes a neutral stance winks at one of the two indicating to take it low. And the most common and largely spoken about, is the wink from a boy to a girl and vice versa expressing liking for one another.
But if we try to go little deeper into the act of winking, we realise that some people wink as an uncontrollable nervous habit. And one can clearly see the person into the act looking stressed and nervous. Usually, one can expect a spy caught for espionage using the wink code language while having a video chat as a part of preliminary exercise between the two countries. Here it could be treated as secret code language which you and your intelligence unit has designed anticipating your capture by the enemy forces. In such a situation, a wink could get you back home alive or shut your eyes forever.
And lastly, there are winks that grabs our attention for a minute or two, makes all of us think why did the person do so? But till the end we never get an answer. I’m sure that as you read this piece, you too must have winked at least once or tried to wink being a complete novice to winking. I tried it a couple of times, but what I could only do is blink and not wink.