The Eyes have it Ruskin Bond (class

XII)
1.Why did the narrator pretend to be sighted?
The narrator loved to pretend that he was not blind. He developed this habit
since he had lost his sight.
2. What does the narrator refer to by the mistake he committed?
While in conversation with the girl, the narrator asked her how the landscape
outside look like. It was a blunder on his side because this question would have
stirred the girls suspicions. He had been pretending like an ordinary man with
sight but this question was unusual on the side of a man with sight.
3. Why was the narrator sure that his remark that the girl had an interesting
face was a safe one?
The narrator openly remarked that the girl had an interesting face and he knew
for sure that the girl would definitely like it few girls can resist flattery when it is
about their beauty.
4. How did the girl return the narrators flattery?
The girl was pleased by the narrators remark and laughed out loudly accepting
his remark. She paid him back for the good words said about her by returning a
similar remark about him as being a gallant young man.
5. Why did the narrator subdue his attempt to laugh for the girl?
The narrator was only happy to laugh for the girl who complained that he was a
serious character. When he thought of laughing, instantly the thought of losing
the pretty, vibrant girl at another station hit him hard. He felt like a philosopher
who meditates on the transient happiness and meeting.
6. The new passenger who got in at Saharanpur and the narrator differed in
terms of their looking at things. Explain.
A male passenger got in at Saharanpur Station where the girl had got down. The
man, on entering the train, noticed the girls eyes and sadly noticed that those
eyes were blind. Being a blind man himself, the narrator had failed to learn that
the girl was as blind as he was.

7. What leaves the reader spellbound at the end of the story?

Ruskin Bond kept the pulse of the reader high with the narrators attempts to
escape the chances of his being caught by the girls smart questions and
remarks. When she asks him why he could not look out for himself or when he
gave her a start from the dark corner of the compartment, he had to end his
dramatic show but chances favoured him. The reader realizes that it was not the
girl that the narrator had been fooling but it was the reader that the author had
just fooled and that realization leaves the reader spellbound.
8. The narrator had a personality so much different from the girls. What make
the two different?
Apart from their similarity in guarding their blindness from each other, the two
passengers were different. The narrator was a piece of butter ready to apply on a
pretty girl. He was a romantic fool who was ready to believe a girl by her ringing
laughter and vibrant voice. He was not altogether decent. A pervert who craves
women and her company, ready to travel to the end of the earth for the pleasure
of sharing his cabin with a seemingly beautiful girl, he exhibits a very base

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passion for lust. On the other hand, the girl was not glad to travel another mile to
enjoy a strangers company. She was well brought up and was wise.
Dipanbita Das