Like the stars that faded at the sight of the moon, all the people in the surrounding faded out with the
appearance of a Muslim girl, coming towards the café. She was young, maybe around 18 years old.
She was fully covered in burkha except her eyes. Siddharth’s eyes fell on her. As she approached him, he could see her clearly.After observing her eyes carefully for quite some time, he somehow felt that that she was not happy and was worried about something.
Are the Eamcet results out? Is she worried about the huge competition in the exam she is going to appear? Is
she unemployed? Is she worried about the studies of her younger siblings? Is she in love with a Hindu guy? Is her engagement fixed against her will? Is she not allowed to go to a movie or tour with her friends? Is she teased by some bunch of rogues near the bus stop? These never-ending list of problems faced by an average Indian girl filled his brain. “How many problems can I think of? After all, how many problems does an Indian girl have?” he thought.
Siddharth was still observing the girl who was now close to him. “Maaki kir kiri! One more wicket down,”
Ismail Bhai screamed due to which the attention of the girl turned towards the crowd watching the television in
the café. She approached the crowd and looked at the television. The score was 151/6 and there was a long way to go for the Indians to win the match. Now that she was very close to him, Siddharth could observe the growing worry in her eyes as she looked at the television for score. Suddenly some text scrolled at the bottom of the television but due to the crowd, she was not able to read it. She leaned forward with her eyes fully open revealing her round black eye balls magnified in beauty because of the beautifully-decorated eye lashes. As she read the required run rate as 8, her wide eyes now began closing down like a full moon to a half moon in a flash of a second. All her frustration and loss of hope was clearly visible in that moment. In her desperation, she turned around to move away from the crowd when she heard someone from the crowd screaming ‘Sachin.’ That one word lifted her spirits and like a flash, she moved towards the television. She
saw Sachin on the screen batting and all of a sudden, there was a glow in her eyes, the glow that made her forget for that instant, all her worries she had. The glow added more beauty to her eyes and made her eye lashes fade away. Siddharth felt he could never forget this glow for the rest of his life.
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Though he could not see her eyes now, he could not forget her eyes and the eye dynamics he witnessed minutes ego. “Eyes say it all, they say. Is this it? All of a sudden, how could she forget the worries she had before though it was for a few seconds? What role did Sachin play? Can I play the role of Sachin to her? Can I become Sachin to all the miseries of the world? How can I contribute myself to wipe out all the tears in the world? What should I do? The role played by Sachin is for a few minutes, how can the duration be
increased? Everyone should definitely have Sachin-like figures in their life which makes them forget all their
worries. It might be their husband, lover, child, friend,God, garden, country or anything for that matter. How
does one realize the significance of the same? Can I play a role in it? Will the busy modern world give me an
opportunity or will I perish in my search to find it? Can I become a reason for glow in everyone’s face or should I stick only to my Swetha.”
A passage from the novel 'Unrecognised Potential'
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