The Eyes Have It

ইংরাজি – দ্বাদশ শ্রেণি – The Eyes have it

The Eyes Have It Author’s Short Biography

“ I prefer to write about the people and place I have known and life of those whose path I have crossed”(Bond 9).

This is the ideology of Ruskin Bond. He is an Indian author with British descent and he is very popular for his versatile writing and elegant style. This made him one of the most successful writers of novels and short stories. Ruskin Bond has written more than 300 short stories, essays, novels and more than 30 books which mainly focus on children. In the year 1992, Bond was awarded “Sahitya Akademi” for English writing in India and received “Padmashree” in 1993 for his contribution to children’s literature.

The Eyes have it’s summary

The Eyes have it is a beautiful story about two blind people who had a brief encounter in a train journey towards Dehra. The story’s protagonist has a romantic and contemplative soul who is visionless and tries to trick his female companion by giving vivid description of the beautiful flora and fauna of the outside world through the train making her belief that she is viewing the world through his eyesight and this story has this appealing twist at the end and throughout story the readers find that both of them are visually impaired and none of them get a whiff of it until the conclusion.

The story goes on with the girl who is from Rohana and the only companion of the narrator in the compartment who was travelling towards Dehra. Though from the very beginning the narrator withheld about his blindness and his eyes were sensitive only towards light and darkness which actually helps him to give description of the outside beauty to the girl in a lucid way. He initiates the conversation with the girl by enquiring about his whereabouts which resulted that her destination is Saharanpur where she is visiting her aunt.

He flatters her beauty sensing her movement in and around the compartment. His vision may be devoid of colour and beauty but his imagination acts as a fodder to paint a beautiful image of a girl in his mind. The girl readily and heartily accepts his compliments and soon gets easily engaged with his conversation. She discovers that the man’s destination is Mussoorie and she couldn’t stop herself gushing about Mussoorie’s beauty which is popular among people. The narrator readily impressed the girl by giving vivid description of the October beauty of Mussoorie relying upon his imagination and memory. Beside that his expression of beauty of the nature provides fresh perspectives about outside beauty of the world which appeals the girl in a brief period.
Meanwhile, while the train neared her destination and the blows of engine whistle and carriage wheel prompt the girl to collect her belongings. Whilst the narrator imagined the girl’s hairstyle the short journey of the girl soon come to an end. She bids goodbye to the narrator leaving behind a whiff of sweet perfume that tempted the narrator to touch the girl’s hair.

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But the girl has already left. After her departure the pinch of a new co-passenger made him realize that the girl who he tried his best to woo with his magic of his words is owner of a pair of beautiful eyes which is actually useless for her. And here lies the irony of the story which marks the end of the game of deception, the game which the narrator has started by camouflaging himself and it was continued skillfully from both the side because on the other hand the girl also once never admitted about her visual impairment.

Throughout the story, Ruskin Bond deals with the symbiotic relation between man and nature and the blind man’s narration of landscape, the image which he has created in his mind actually depicts Bond’s proximity with nature. One cannot overlook the fact that how Bond has explored the theme of kindness under the cloak of Humor .While we delved into the story the narrator has displayed his kindness towards her girl passenger and Bond has been empathetic while dealing with his two visually impaired protagonists which is expressed in his words ”…… people who cannot see (or see very little) have to take in only the essentials, whatever registers most tellingly on their remaining senses. They depend much on other senses, especially ears”. He believes they dwell in the world of four senses and the fifth sense which is highly functional that is to be their power of imagination.