Lost Eyes: a short story in Bengli by Banaphul translated into English
In the eyes of
an ordinary man she was not attractive. Even I could see she wasn't really pretty, but I loved
her. Because in her eyes – oh, I don't know what it
was. I had never in my life seen such dreamy, alluring
eyes.
Yes, she was
notorious for being naughty. But that clumsy and fidgety Mini had stolen my
heart. Seeing her eyes, I was captivated.
I remember one
day, after caressing her in a secluded place, I said to her, "I wish
I could keep those two eyes of yours."
"Why?"
"Those eyes of yours drive me
crazy. I love those eyes more than anything."
I felt so much love – in spite of that love, I couldn't have
her. A mysterious stranger arrived, and on a splendid occasion,
while music was playing, he took her away.
It hurt me deep in my soul.
Perhaps that pain would have gone away if, right
after it, another heartbreaking incident hadn't happened.
When Mini
returned to her father’s house, I saw she was
blind in both eyes.
I heard it was
because she was intending to rinse her eyes with rose
water but by mistake had splashed them with something caustic.
One day she met
with me in a secret place.
I said, ‘Both
your eyes were lost just because of carelessness."
She replied,
"If you can't understand why they were lost, then it's better for you not
to know."
[Translated from the original Bengali story entitled চোখ গেল by George Truett, Garberville, CA, USA and
Subhamay Ray]
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