The Eyes: A Tale of Beauty and Disappointment.
In all of her, I liked her eyes the most. Her eyes were like shining headlights of a car in deep darkness, the most noticeable. Do not misunderstand them for being very beautiful eyes. No, they weren’t. I can differentiate between beauty and ugliness, and forgive me for saying this but those eyes were not beautiful at all. However, despite them being not beautiful, they were very attractive.
I saw those eyes in a hospital. I do not want to disclose the name of that hospital, because disclosing its name might not benefit my novelette. It is enough to disclose here that it was a hospital and one of my relative was taking last breaths of his life after he was being operated in that hospital. Usually, I am not in favor paying visits to ask for the health of patients, neither I know how to console and solace patients, however, due to my wife’s relentless insistence, I had to pay the visits to prove to my relative how much I care for them and how much I love them. Believe me! It is annoys me extremely. I hate hospitals — I don’t know why but I do. Perhaps because once I brought my neighbor who had broken to a hospital. She had broken her ankle. There I had to wait for almost two hours at the casualty department. There every person I met were cold as ice.
I was discussing those eyes which I was so attracted to. The matter of liking is individual preferences. It varies from person to person. It is more likely that if you had seen those eyes, you would’ve felt nothing. It is even possible that if someone had asked your opinion about them, you would’ve said, “They are very ugly!” but when I saw that girl for the first time, I was instantly attracted to her eyes.
She was wearing a veil but her face was uncovered. She had medicine in her hand and she was moving towards me with a small boy beside him in the veranda of the General ward. The moment I saw her, our eyes met. Her eyes shone instantly. They were neither big, nor small; neither black, nor brown; neither green, nor blue. I paused; she paused, too. She grabbed the boy’s hand and said in a shrieking voice, “Can’t you walk fast? The boy nudges his ankle free from her grip and loudly said, “Am I not walking, don’t you see?”
I looked again at her eyes once I heard this. It were only her eyes in her whole that attracted my attention.
I walked ahead and reached her. She saw me with her eyes wide open and asked, “Where is the X-ray done?” Coincidently, a friend of mine was working in X-Ray department those days and I had come to meet him. I told her, “Let me take you there, I, too, am going there.”
Thegirl grabbed the boy’s hand once again and started walking with me to the X-Ray department. In the X-Ray department, I asked for Dr. Sadiq. He was busy in taking X-rays.
The door was closed and there was a huge crowd of patients waiting outside. I knocked at the door, and a heavy noise asked from the inside, “Who is there…. Don’t knock at the door.” But I knocked again. The door opened, and Dr. Sadiq at the brink of cursing stopped himself and said, “Oh it’s you.”
“Yes dear, I had come to meet you. I reached at your office but was told that you were here.”
“Come inside”, he said. I looked at the girl and said, “Come… but leave the boy outside.”
Dr. Sadiq asked me in a whisper, “Who is she?”
“I don’t know… She was searching for X-Ray department. I brought her with me.”, I replied.
Dr. Sadiq opened the door a little more, and I and the girl entered.
There were four or five patients in the room. Dr. Sadiq examined them quickly and let them go. Only I along with the girl were now left with him in the room.
“What illness does she have?” Dr, Sadiq asked me.
“What illness have you got… Which doctor has recommended you for an X-Ray?”
“I don’t know what illness I have got… A doctor in our neighborhood told me to undergo an X-Ray.”
Dr. Sadiq pointed her to come in front of the X-Ray machine. Dr. Sadiq removed her veil and that made her stand in front of the X-Ray machine. Then he put the machine on. I saw her ribs and her heart beating in the screen.”
Dr. Sadiq kept looking at her ribs and bones for about five minutes, then he put the machine switch off and after putting the light on asked me, “Her chest is clear.” The girl shyly adjusted started searching for the veil to cover her large breasts after hearing this. The veil was on the table in one corner of the room. I took it and gave it to her. Dr. Sadiq wrote a report and asked, “What is your name?” The girl while covering herself with a veil said, “My name is Hanifa.”
Dr. Sadiq wrote her name on the receipt and told her, “Go show it to your doctor.”
The girl left the room, and I was following her, unconsciously. However, I was quite aware of the fact that Dr. Sadiq viewed this behavior on my part as very suspicious. As far as I comprehend, he was convinced that I have an affair with this girl. However, there wasn’t any such possibility, as you are well aware of, except the fact that I liked her eyes.
I was following her. she grabbed the boy’s finger again. As soon as she reached Tonga stop, I asked Hanifa, “Where do you intend to go?” She named a street and I lied to her that I, too, am going there. I will drop you at your home.
As I gave my held her hand to support her to mount a Tonga, I realized that my eyes had become an X-Ray machine’s screen. I could not see anything else in her but her ribs as were shown in the screen, except her eyes, which were perfect. They were tremendously attractive. I wanted to sit with her but the fear of being seen and noticed restricted me. I made the boy accompanying her sit along with her in the back seat of the Tonga and mounted the front seat myself.
“I am Saadat Hassan Manto”, I said.
“Manto?… What is this Manto?” she asked.
“Manto is a caste in Kashmir,” I explained.
“We, too, are Kashmiris,” She said.
“Oh, really”, I exclaimed.
“We are King-Vice,” she said.
I looked at her and said, “It is a very noble family.”
She smiled and her eyes became even more attractive.
I have seen a lot of beautiful eyes in my life but I have never seen such eyes as were on the face of Hanifa. I found them very attractive. I could not understand what was so beautiful in it that I was so attracted towards them. I have explained earlier that they were not beautiful at all. Instead of that they had found a place in my heart. I mustered up my courage and I put aside a strand of her hair over her forehead, which was covering one of her eye. She did not mind it. I mustered up even more courage and held her hand. She didn’t even hesitate on this and told the boy with her, “Why are you holding my hand?” I instantly let go of her hand and asked the boy, “Where is your home?”
The boy signaled to a place and said, “In that market.”
Tonga steered toward the market. There was a rush in the market, more than usual. The road was bumpy and the ride was rough, so her head frequently struck against my shoulders. I wished I could place her head on my thighs and keep staring at her eyes. A moments later we reached their home. The boy asked to stop the Tonga. He stepped off the Tonga as it stopped. Hanifa kept sitting. I told her, “Your home has arrived.”
Hanifa looked at me with estranged eyes and asked, “Where is Badru?”
“Who is Badru?” I asked.
“That boy who was with me,” she said.
I looked at the boy who was standing with the Tonga and said, “There he is.”
“Alright…” She said as ked Badru, “Badru help me get off the Tonga.”
Badru held her hand and got her off the Tonga with quite difficulty.
I asked Badru in astonishment, “What is the matter… Can’t she get off by herself?”
“No, she cannot see… She is blind,” Badru said.
