The Eyes are Not Here is a Short Story by Ruskin Bond – Short Summary and Solved Questions

Ruskin Bond’s The Eyes are Not Here

About Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond was born on the 19th of May, 1934, in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, India. He is a well-known Indian author who is descended from British ancestors. Bond’s mother and father divorced in 1938 when Bond was a child. Following his father’s untimely death in 1944, he was raised by his maternal grandmother. Bishop Cotton School in Shimla was where he received his education. He graduated from Shimla in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree. After completing his high school education, he relocated to England, where he lived with his aunt for the next four years. For his first novel, The Room on the Roof, he was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957, which he used to fund his writing career. He was a journalist in Delhi and Dehradun for a number of years. In Mussoorie, he is employed as a freelance writer for various publications. The novel Vagrants in the Valley is a sequel to the novel The Room on the Peak. He is a prolific writer who has produced a large number of short stories, essays, novels, and approximately thirty children’s books. In 1992, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his contributions to literature.

Brief Summary of the Story

Ruskin Bond’s storey “The Eyes are Not Here” is a thought-provoking and delightful short story. It was first published in Contemporary Indian English Stories. Written in the first person, it is a short storey with a strong narrative voice. The storey is told by a blind narrator, who is himself blind. The narrative revolves around the narrator and a young lady who is his co-passenger on the train. The plot of the storey revolves around the trials and tribulations of blind people. It draws attention to the loneliness experienced by blind people, as well as Bond’s concern for them.

The narrator is on his way to Dehradun when the story begins. On the train, he meets a young lady. He strikes up a conversation with the young lady. He never tells the girl that he is visually impaired. He makes an attempt to impress her. He is extremely content when he is in the company of the girl. He finds the young lady to be very interesting. However, the girl is dropped off in Saharanpur. When it comes to remembering the girl, the narrator is unable to do so. Even after she has left, he can’t seem to get his mind off of the young lady. The narrator learns from a new co-passenger that the girl was visually impaired. It comes as a huge surprise to the narrator.

Thus, the story takes a surprising turn at the end. The fact that both the girl and the narrator are blind is a comical irony. The story is made more interesting by the shocking conclusion.

Theme of the story

There are a lot of themes in Ruskin Bond’s book “The Eyes Have It,” like kindness and determination. In this storey, a young blind man tells it from his point of view. After reading the storey, the reader realises that Bond may be focusing on kindness in it. Young woman: Then narrator is kind to her all through storey. When he can, he compliments her, which is ironic because he can’t see her, but he does it anyway. That the narrator thinks the woman has an interesting face may also be important, because it shows that the narrator wants to appeal to the woman’s intellect rather than her vanity, which is what most men do. Any time the narrator flirts with this young woman, it is in the storey. Which may explain why the narrator is being so kind to her. This is why. A young man and a young woman would make sense for him to be interested in each other. The narrator also doesn’t let the fact that he is physically disabled get in the way of what he wants to do at any point in the storey, which could be important.

There is nothing in this storey that shows that the man is not afraid or giving up when he is in love with the young woman. Something that the reader thinks the narrator thinks about life is like that. It doesn’t bother the narrator that the man is blind, though. People who aren’t like this might say they’re done and rely on other people. In the narrator, there is no way to know. He stays his own person. They also notice that the narrator is self-conscious when he’s inside. He doesn’t want the young woman to know that he is blind. Perhaps he was afraid that she would think less of him if she learned that he can’t see. Narrator: It is also possible that when he talks to the girl about the landscape, he is remembering what he said. If this is the case, it would show even more that the narrator wants to hide the fact that he is blind. People who are blind may be treated differently by other people in real life. It looks like people who are blind are seen as different.

It is also clear that Bond is using the narrator’s other senses, like smell, in the storey, as well. Also, it is clear that the narrator wants to touch the hair of the young woman. Such is the way he thinks of the young woman. It looks like the narrator is trying to picture the young woman for himself based on what she says and what he can smell. Because the narrator appears to be making up for not being able to see and doing so well, this might be important to know. Because the narrator is also trying to hide her blindness, it’s interesting that the young woman also is trying to do the same. In this case, the narrator wants the young woman to talk about the landscape with him, and she does. Before admitting to being blind, she tells him to look for himself. Because it shows how independent the narrator is being in the storey, this may be important. When the young woman is walking down the street, she doesn’t let the fact that she is blind stop her or make conversation. When it comes to the narrator, which is very much like her. Young woman, too, shows a lot of strength in this storey.

At the end of the storey, Bond seems to be adding even more irony to the storey. A few days after the young woman has gone away, the narrator learns that she too is blind. He has tried to hide his own blindness at every turn, but it’s all been for nothing The young woman would not have known that he was blind even if the narrator did something. The narrator might also want to make sure that he doesn’t change his mind about the young woman when he talks to the man in the next compartment. When the man said that he thought the young woman was pretty, I didn’t agree with him. The narrator still thinks that the young woman had an interesting face, even though he changed his mind. Because he couldn’t see her face, it was ironic that he couldn’t see her. Bond may be implying that the narrator is not only sure about what he has said to the woman but also about who he is. Because the narrator is physically disabled, the reader thinks that he or she can live a full and interesting life even though they can’t. Someone can tell because he’s alone when he’s on a trip. In this case, Bond may be trying to show the reader how independent the narrator is.

Questions and Answers

1.  Who boarded the train at Rohana?
Ans:  A girl boarded the train at Rohana.

2.   “It would take me some time to discover something about her looks, and perhaps I never would.” Why did the young man say so?
Ans: The young man said do because he is blind. Hence, he cannot see the girl.

3. Where was the girl going?
Ans: The girl was going to Saharanpur.

4. Where was the young man going?
Ans: The young man was going to Dehra, and then to Mussorie.

5. How did the young man describe the pleasant weather of Mussorie in October?
Ans: He praised Mussorie’s pleasant weather in October, claiming that it was the best time of year to be there. He stated that the hills are carpeted with wild dahlias, the sun is delicious, and log fires are available at night, that there are fewer tourists, that the roads are quiet, and that it is the best time to visit.

6. What was the young man’s remark about the girl’s face?
Ans: The young man remarked that the girl has an interesting face.

7.  What was the young man thinking about the girl’s hair?
Ans:  The young man was pondering whether the girl wore her hair in a bun, braided, or hung loosely over her shoulders, or if it was cut extremely short, among other things.

8.  “But her next question removed my doubts.” What were the doubts in the young man’s mind?

Ans: The young man was doubtful whether the girl noticed that he was blind.

9. Which fact came as a surprise to the young man from the new fellow traveller?

Ans:  The new travel companion revealed the girl’s surprising disability: she was blind. Her eyes were lovely, but they were useless. The young man was taken aback by this fact.