Sometime last year, and I have only a vague idea when, I felt a razor's edge inside my mouth, that sliced the side of my tongue. As I tasted blood, out of apparently nowhere, I felt around to understand what had nicked me. And I found out- I had a chipped tooth. The inside of my first bicuspid on the left side, studded in the side of the roof. I had no clue how it happened. I have heard of teeth being chipped in nasty car accidents or sports collisions. But its not often that you hear, much less experience, a chipped tooth from seemingly nothing. I didn't mention this to anyone because I didn't want to make a big deal. And, like the idiot I was, I thought this somehow take care of itself! But anyway, one day, out of nowhere, I had to reign in my tongue. For if I let it wag callously anymore, I would bleed. At times, even otherwise. I suspected the edge would blunt out in a few weeks time. But every now and then, since that evening, my tooth nicks my tongue and I can taste the fresh saltiness of my own blood. Its like when you accidentally bite your tongue and you run out of expletives to express yourself, only about 100 times more frequent.

Today, several months later, as I tasted blood again, I noticed that the edge had not blunted at all. Call me crazy, but it actually felt like it had somehow gotten sharper! And I think I have learned to maneuver my tongue to avoid that edge. It has led me to talking a little slowly, but no one is complaining about that. Apart from that, sometimes, when I am in the middle of a word-for-word rally, schooling someone idle enough to talk to me, I suddenly take a step back and realize that if I don't let go, soon, I am going to bleed. I wonder if a chipped tooth is sometimes possible from excessive speech...Hmmm...

Also, I have picked up a sort of a bad habit, where I keep running my now ulcered tongue, idly, over the chipped edge, skirting it lightly, trying to push my limits to see how far I can go. Before I begin to bleed again, and hate myself for doing what I have done.