The Inner Eye

It was just another day for me, just another usual ordinary long day. A calm twilight had neatly unfolded itself before me as I stood in the bus stop waiting for a bus.Voila ! There arrived a bus that could take me home and I got into it without giving it a second thought.The bus was a bit crowded.The seats were all occupied and a few people were standing here and there, trying to keep themselves from twisting and turning along with the bus .I stood next to a Ladies two seater,next to a young girl who I thought was asleep,for her face was inclined downward and her eyes were closed.

You ask any Desi person about the roller-coasters....I mean the buses.....and they will have tales to tell you...tales about how they ended up with broken bones after losing balance when the 29C took a turn or about how they could not get down at thier destination because the jantha in the 23C did not budge ! Well, my journey towards home was one such typical Indian bus experience.People around me started grumbling and groaning as the bus took an unexpected turn or as someone stamped a dozen feet in the panic of successfully getting out of the bus in the correct place.However I noticed, the girl near whom i stood was not like the rest of the crowd. She had nothing to say ,nor did she seem to show the slightest signs of throwing an angry glance at the bus driver.She still had her face looking at her feet and there she was, quietly seated in a corner of the two seater.

My destination was nearing . So, I moved forward and stood ready to get out of the bus. The girl I had been watching so far went past me and she stood there grasping the rod nearest to her,very tight.It was then that I got to look at her face...and the first thing I noticed then was.....She was blind ! Her eyes were a light gray...there was no white or black ...plain gray.She spoke facing me "Are you going to get down here? If yes....Please help me cross the main road and reach the shop opposite to this street." I could not speak.After getting down,I held her hand and helped her cross the road.I learnt that her name was Gracy." Oh ! ", I thought...Life could have been more gracious to her.On asking what she did,she said she was undergoing a training on tailoring and handworks.When I questioned her why she had come out alone at this hour to such a busy place ,she immediately shooted the following words..."Its Christmas next week...aint it ? I managed to borrow Rs.50 and who else will buy my sister her favorite sweet?" I did not utter a word after that.We had reached the sweet shop she wished to go to.I asked her if she needed any more help...She only replied......"No thanks.Sorry for the trouble"

The night that followed was no longer an ordinary night.It made me realize that many of us who have big wide eyes fail to accept and live our life to the fullest.Gracy appears blind to others but deep within she sees her own world full of colors and her days begin and end with the phrase "It is my life...I have to live it.....who else will live it for me ?"