On his way to Mussoorie, the narrator met a girl on the train who accompanied him till Saharanpur. The narrator was totally blind at that time. He started a conversation with the girl but was very tactful while interacting with her since he did not want her to discover that he was blind. The conversation became interesting and lively with the course of time but it was short-lived as the girl reached her destination soon. The girl bade the narrator goodbye and left the compartment. The parting of the girl from the narrator was like any other parting but the meeting had a profound effect on the narrator. The fragrance of the perfume that came from the girl’s hair seemed so tantalizing to the narrator that he wanted to touch her hair. The narrator remarked that the brief encounter is likely to forget by the girl but would stay with him for a long time thereafter.
What was the chain of thoughts that ran through the narrator’s mind when the train approached the station? How was it affected by the man’s conversation?
Throughout the train journey, the narrator had painted a picture of the girl in his mind and visualised every movement of hers. When the train journey was about to come to an end, he wanted it to continue forever. Her voice reminded him of the sparkle of a mountain stream and her clear, ringing laugh still rang in his ears. His curiosity regarding her hairstyle was increased by the tantalising smell of perfume from her hair. But his momentary lit up the world again plunged into darkness with the girl’s departure. Sitting beside the window, he could again play the fascinating game of guessing what went on outside.
At that very moment, a fellow-traveller broke into his reverie. The narrator asked him how did the girl wear her hair. The co-passenger said in a somewhat surprised tone that it was her eyes which he had noticed and not her hair. He added that, though her eyes were beautiful, they were of no use to her, because she was completely blind. This sudden revelation made the narrator speechless.