When The Blind Could See… Better!
I see the same person while I travel in the same local train day after day, month after month, selling the radium charts filled with stars and planets which glow at night. People were too busy to purchase the charts, they are either in a rush to reach their offices or in an anxiety to get back to their homes, once in a while a child gets interested in the product and looks at his parent who discourages him with a negative nod. No one seems to be in a mood to purchase and they have another reason for their disinterest, the man looked ugly with two white spots in the place of two eyes – he was blind! Whatever his past might be, it must have been painful or else you don’t choose to be a hawker as a career – life forces you to be.
A man who can’t see the sun in the broad day light was selling stars that can be seen in the darkness, but the shapes of the objects and the light emitted by them doesn't form a part of his senses. He could only interact with this world by feeling it, he can’t say whether you are white or black, but could estimate your character through your words. He could not differentiate between gold and steel, but could feel the pain of metal that trips him on his way.
That day I was traveling back on the train for the last time in my life, I was thrown out of the office not to come back. My world’s seemed to be filled in darkness at that moment as if I’ve lost everything else along with my job, and there he is in my bogie, offering people to see stars at night, not humiliated by the annoyance of the passengers, not obstructed by the stumbles he meet on his way, not feared of falling from the train…day after day, season after season moving through the crowd offering them to see stars which he can’t, but could feel the hunger of a human and desperate to satisfy it.
That day I took the chart from him and placed the money in his hands, his face glowed like the stars he sold, he conquered the life for one more day, and I said to him before I left the train – “ Thanks for showing me the stars in the darkness.”
K.L.SURYA.