The bus came at last! She was waiting in the stop for the past half hour. She took her heavy shopping bag and stepping into the cool air conditioned bus and took a deep breath in. It was a relief to be inside after the heat outside. She spotted an empty seat opposite a young man sitting by the window. She kept her bag below the seat and settled down for the ride home.

She wiped her face with her duppatta and relaxed a bit. She looked at the man opposite her and immediately became a bit alert.

He was a young man in his twenties. He was dressed in a cotton kurta and jeans. He was of medium build and decent looking. He had a pleasant smile on his face as he looked about.

All these  should not have made her nervous. His smile was making her uncomfortable.

He was looking at her without blinking. He was smiling too, as if he knew her. She smiled back hesitatingly. He did not say a word, but continued looking at her.

It felt as if he could see right through her, and could fathom all her secrets.

She felt he could see her struggles in life, how she was going through a rough patch and how he knew that sometimes felt it was all coming apart.

But how could he know? She had never met him before.

Nervously she pulled her dupatta more securely around her neck and looked around. Nobody else seemed to be bothered by this.

The bus stopped. The young man pulled out a stick, unfolded it and tapping it gently on the floor, got down and went away.

It was then that she realised that he was blind!!

Oh! God! How had she misunderstood the blameless young man!!

Written as a part of the blogathon conducted by good folks at Blog-A-Rhythm. 17th Jun 2017 for the prompt The Fault in our Stares.

barathon