Burkhaa Beauty

The drizzle had just stopped. The skies were still overcast and grey. The cool moist wind blew into my face. As I trudged the long, narrow mud track towards the next village, I spotted a dark shape at a distance. It looked like a solitary man with a black umbrella. But as it got closer, I realized it was a closely huddled group of three women in black burkhas. The one is the centre was taller than the other two. The bellowing effect of the wind on the black burkhas combined with their fighter aircraft formation to create the visual effect of an umbrella from a distance. My Darwinian survival instincts immediately attracted me to the tallest. But experience had taught me that I should not stare too much, nor too early. So I bent my head down and walked into the wind. I looked up only when I heard their voices at a dozen feet. To my dismay, the tall one’s face was almost entirely wrapped in black. Only a small rectangular opening existed at her eyes. Even at this distance I could make out her fair skin and large black eyes. I immediately halted and stepped aside to the left to let them pass. Bowing my head respectfully, I watched their feet as they fell into a queue to cross me without brushing. She was at the end of the line. I counted one, I counted two… . I looked up just as the second one was crossing me – straight into the tall ones eyes. She was already looking at me – a close, curious look. We locked eyes. Neither blinked, neither looked away. I could feel my heart pumping in my chest. Touching distance. The wind brushed the silken burkha over my right arm. Her hand must have been under it very close somewhere. Inches away. Did I smell perfume? I tried to force a smile. Managed to just flex a cheek muscle. Her eyes were smiling. I could make out. So were mine…hopefully! Someone muttered about the mud in the local lingo. One of the two black shapes on my right. The spell was broken. The magic moment was dead. She hurriedly turned away, muttered a reply. Three black shapes moving away from me. Cold, inanimate. I waited. She will look back. Surely, she will. They had gone 5-6 steps. They were again spreading into their formation. Filling the width of the mud track. She stopped. Looked back. Saw me watching. Satisfied, she turned away. Rejoining her group to fade away into a distant black umbrella. I turned back to my track and trudged towards the next village.

Happy to have met her. Sad to have parted. A face I will never know. Smiling lips that I never saw. Expressive eyes that will linger in my memory for some time to come.