The Eyes Have It

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He decided to spend the Hindu festival of Dussehara in Varanasi. Dussehara is the festival of Victory of Good over Evil. Shri Ram, the 7th incarnation of Vishnu, killed the great demon Ravana who had abducted Ram's wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka aka 'Sri Lanka'. The war against Ravana lasted for ten days. The entire narrative can be read in the epic Ramayana, a Hindu scripture of immense significance.

Varanasi was one of Paul's favourite places. He looked up some old friends. Kahianya, a Varanasi boat wallah, invited him to come that night across the river to the Maharaja Fort. About ten local babas had booked the boat for a month of such nights, with one chapter of the Ramayana being enacted at a time, in the open and with great style. That particular night was the killing of Ravana.

On the way across, the men passed around a tiny circular tin box, applying the black cream, Kohl, to the inside of their lower eyelids. Kohl is an ancient cosmetic made by grinding galena or lead sulfide, and other substances. These days the trend is to make it without poisonous ingredients! It’s used to darken the eyelids and as mascara for the eyelashes. What he did not know was that it was also thought to be a great cleanser. When it gets to Paul's turn, one baba offers to apply it for him. What the fuck? In for a pound, in for a penny! And everyone else seemed cool with it.

Shit me dead! The stuff felt like tiger balm – and It stung like hell! He could not even open his eyes. Trying not to panic, he had visions of his eyes being irreversibly damaged. For a full thirty minutes, his nose ran, cleaning out the sinuses. His eyes were also watering. When he could finally slightly open his eyes, there was a cooling sensation definitely like tiger balm, and a need to just close them again for long intervals.

The whole crew on the boat thought it was a great joke, and exhorted him not to rub his eyes and to be patient and all would be OK. And handling it without panicking did at least seem to provide some symbolic ‘rite of passage’, nicely juxtaposed with the crossing of the Ganges. By the time they disembarked, had a bath in the river together, and wandered up to the hill for chai, he was just one of the guys!

But as for the Kohl? Been there, done that – never again, he thinks!

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