The Eyes Have It!

I parked the bike in front of the eye care hospital. Showed the online registration invoice to the grumpy uncle in the reception. He was talking on the telephone, about some new eye surgeon’s arrival. I stood there well enough to disturb him, and for him to cut the call. He got straight into the job, asking questions.

“Name?”, he shrieked.

“Deepan, with an ‘n’ in the end”, I replied.

“Age?”, he looked at my hair, after asking.

“27!”, I said, as I adjusted my uncombed hair.

“Sex?”, he asked with his eyebrows up.

I looked at him in disappointment. I didn’t want to be there at all. And everything was frightening me a lot. Testing my eyes, wearing specs, and being questioned about my sexuality, everything was a first. I just wanted to run away from there, but I didn’t. I knew I had to buy glasses to save myself from the recurring migraine. 

“Male!”, I replied. Man, he thought a lot before ticking male.

He handed me a small water bottle before taking me upstairs, to the lab. I opened the glass door, to see a girl seated as if she was in a spa. The cucumbers were missing, because she looked straight out of a facial. I passed her and was asked to wait on the waiting sofa next to her. I kept looking at her until the doctor called me in for running tests.

I placed my chin on the machine, where they focussed the machine to show me a picture of a house, deep in a landscape, dominated by the fence. it was funny, and I think I even smiled a bit. They asked me to move into a separate room, with a LED TV showing random alphabets in different sizes. That was when things really hit me. Oh my God, I was getting blind, and I was trying to get some help. I started shivering once I realized I couldn’t read more than two lines.

The doctor came, and he didn’t really seem to be interested in his profession. He gave me the glasses and asked me to read out the letters. It was humiliating after a point, as I was just making a wild guess, thinking how the person who created would’ve wanted to put F after G, and R should come after IK. The doctor had to sit back to count how many lenses he had placed in my glasses and calculate all their powers. The funny thing is, my left eye had .75 more than my right eye.

I don’t know if he wanted to do that for a long time, or something, but he poked my right eye when he put some eye drops. And he abandoned me in that room, as his footsteps never returned. I couldn’t open my eyes, as it was basically useless. Everything seemed blur, with liquid flooded in my eyes. I tried to walk my way out of the room, with my hands wide spread, looking for obstacles. All was going well, until my hand reached out to a soft skin, with hair tresses on it.

Thank God, she wasn’t facing the opposite way. This was the first thought that hit my mind.

“Excuse me? Do you want something?”, a sweet voice asked. My reflex was to open my eyes, and the irritation increased once the liquid in my eyes made contact with oxygen. I couldn’t see her.

“Sorry, I cannot see. That’s why my hand hit you!”, I apologized. A soft, tender palm, held mine.

“Am sorry, really sorry for your loss”, she said, as she held my wrist tightly. I enjoyed it before I realized what was happening.

“No no, I mean I can see. It's just the drops. Completely blinded me out”, I told her. I didn’t let her hand go, though. She took me to the sofa again and helped me sit. She had this nice fragrance, that lingered around for a long time. Wondered if it was her hair or body deodorant. The steel sofa made noises when she sat beside me. She was scrolling through Instagram, as I was able to hear non-related songs, stopping in a few seconds.

Thajmola was ranting about doctors, and that nonsense went on for another 90 seconds. It was really irritating that you can hear anything, but can’t see anything. For a minute, I felt bad for Helen Keller, and how much she would’ve struggled. I had this wonderfully smelling, sweet-voiced, soft hands and not-on-heels girl beside me, and all I was able to see was water.

“Stupid!”, she scolded him before she went on to the next reel. Above the Romancham music from the reel, I heard thundering footsteps again. That doctor came again, and this time, he made me open my eyes, only for another opaque liquid drop. This went on for four times, with five minutes in between. After the final drop, he gave me some cotton to wipe the overflowing water. It was actual tears, that came out due to this foreign liquid’s reign. He told me to come back again in three days, for testing again.

“How will I go? I can’t drive with my eyes closed”, I screamed, in fright. I was genuinely scared that the doctor had something against me. The palm came in, for rescue again.

“I can drive you home”, she said. “Only if you don’t mind that, though.”

“Mine's a new bike. I can’t leave it here”, I said. Why didn't I buy a Vespa instead of Pulsar!

“I was going to drive you home on your bike. I came by bus”, she told. So she knows to drive a bike?

I really wanted to see her. I opened my eyes to take a peek. Water escaped, and I barely made out anything of her looks. The irritation was getting intense, so I had to close it again. Her hand took me down, to my bike. I gave her my keys and waited for her to start the vehicle. I put my hand on her shoulders (Not the Netflix series reference) to feel her warm skin under her light torso and lingerie strap.

“Such a beast, mister!”, she screamed as she pierced into the air with my Pulsar, top of the speed. More water came out of my eyes, and I couldn’t tolerate the liquid’s irritation. I directed her to my house, with all the landmarks she was giving me. Her hair flew up to my face. I was right, it was her shampoo that was filling that room with fragrance. It didn’t taste good tho. I had to pull some out of my mouth.

She stopped in front of my house. I got down, as I heard her park my vehicle. Her tender palms returned my keys and closed my fingers around them.

“You can wait at my house until you get an Uber. Don’t worry, I’ve got my mother up too!”, I blurted out.

“Nah, my house is walkable from here. I’ll walk with the moon.”, she told. Heck, romance was in the air.

“How do you look? Can’t resist thinking about how you look”, I told. Damn, do eye drops have drugs that make you blurt?

“Deepan, I look very beautiful in your mind. That is what I realized from our convo”, she laughed.

“What’s your name?”, I asked. “I know literally nothing about you!”

“World’s small. You’ll find me! Until then, bye Deepan!”, she said.

I'll find her, right? 

The title is inspired by Ruskin Bond's famous short.