Friday, September 14, 2007

Her Eyes...

Her eyes,

thats what stirred my interest in her...

Those coal lined eyes,

devoid of expression and emotions...



I was in a bus from Mysore to Bangalore and it was raining heavily. The bus stopped at Mandya for a tea break. I looked out of the window. The rain drops were coming down the glass pane in tiny droplets. Then a girl (may be 12 or 14 years old) entered the bus. Her gaze swept the entire bus in a jiffy.

She handed over a sheet of paper to all the passengers. I refused to take the paper and she ignored me just like that, putting the paper on my lap, she moved forward...

After distributing the paper to every passenger she came back and stood at the front of the bus. Its at that time i could get a good look on her. And its then that those eyes caught my attention.
There was no pain, no anger, no complaints ....
She wore a blue skirt and blouse, decent clothing with no wear nd tear....
and some grey dupatta over that.
Her hair was neatly braided and pleated on both sides....

Her eyes were lined with kajal and God they were beautiful. They could devour an ocean in their depths.... But they were blank.... Even if she had emotions, they were buried deep down in her eyes...

I was lost in thoughts about her that i hardly noticed her hands moving in a rhythmic fashion...
She will stop in front of every passenger and beg... Some will give money and some people will simply ignore her....
Whatever may be the reaction her face remained they same...
and her eyes...

She may be just another girl, among the millons below poverty line in our country...
But looking into those eyes reminded me of something...

They doesnot reveal anything... Thay are not trying to show that she is poor and needs money for her next meal.

They did not show any shame or self pity wen she begged...

They were just passionless, expressionless and livid...

And they intrigued me.....

8 comments:

Arun said...

in those eyes we find answer for our pain..

Anonymous said...

wht kind of expression you were looking from a 12 yr girl who doesn't have the means for a meal a day . wht suprise me is that the attitude of well educated guys like you being hepless or heartless for them.

Gauri Chandran said...

what do you mean by helplessness and heartlessness. Will my giving her some money get rid of all her problems? NO...

Anonymous said...

ridiculous . There is much more than money . Do you know that there are many NGO's working for children in india . You could have taken the child to them.

N i don;t know y ur zeroing on money while talking of help.Is that the only thing you hav??

Gauri Chandran said...

oh great, i will just ask her to cm with me to any NGO and she will easily do that as if im her messiha...
cmn b practical. this is India and here if i try to hlp her, her family(im sure der will b sm1 who wuld hav employed her into this business) wuld hav trashed me..
nd temme one more thng, other than this lecturing, hw many poor ppl's live's hav u refined...

and better publish your name in comments rather than being anonymous and just putting ur wandering thoughts...

Anonymous said...

Take it easy . Njoy . N i'm Aaryan Betro . An IPS officer under suspension :-) .Currently in cochin .

Vasanth TT said...

interesting

Anonymous said...

I could say that giving money wudnt be a help to that child...bcos she wont get card to beg for....somebody is behnd her and earning money by that poor child.she might get foood for a day.thats it..Even going to NGO that wudnt be practical solution.....you could have done some help by buy food that child....atleast that wud gone to her.