Sunaina

Have you ever seen a person who has a name literally befitting her appearance? Parents rarely make the right choice in naming their kids.

When I had first seen her I thought she could not be called anything but Sunaina. Later I was not much dismayed when somebody called her by that name. Her eyes were beautiful. Poetic eyes. Eyes which would continue to feed my imagination for times to come. I try and avoid adjectives but on seeing her I could not restrain myself in using one for her. I guessed from her demeanor that she did not care much about things such as personal appearances. I have never seen her dressed up especially for an occasion.

I have never talked to her. For the matter of fact she may not be aware that I even existed in this world. But did that seem to matter to me at any point of time? I do not think so. Was I attracted to her? I cannot say a definite “No”. No doubt she had beautiful eyes. My rationalist streak seemed to go for a toss when I saw her. But the idea of possession seemed abhorring to me. When a thing is beautiful the world should get to enjoy it. Why try to be the sole owner? One of the Moses’ commandments says, “Look thy not at neighbour’s wife”. But I ask why not? If she is beautiful why not? Will somebody’s looking at her diminish her charm? Pretty phoney stuff I guess.

So I kept looking at her ignoring Moses. And times passed as they had done always. But yes there was the presence of a certain sense of joy. A sense of joy emanating literally from her eyes.

I do not get to see her now. Good things do not last long.