Eyes on Fire

Fume and smoke almost never lifts its veil here.. the far stretched rugged landscape unites with the beige and brown mud township, any other color here seems to stand out hurting the eye. Its impossible for someone who doesn’t live here to find anything at all in this maze.. Luckily however for him, the long wait was finally over, she was granted the permission to meet him. Was this the moment of truth? He followed the crowd, heart pacing..

17 long years ago, in Nasir bagh refugee camp, Pakistan, he spotted her in the sea of tents. 

"Inside the school tent he noticed her first. Sensing her shyness, he approached her last. She told him he could take her picture"

Since that day, her hauntingly beautiful green-eyes have captivated the world.

Yet, she had no name. No one knew her story, not even him.

As they wait in the courtyard, a woman comes out of the house, with a baby in her arms. Alam bibi – the girl of the world, so rightly resembled the photograph in his hands that it was uncanny. However the eyes lacked that blaze. Eye color may change in very rare situations. He was hopeful. When his research team confirmed that this was not the woman he was looking for, he sank into despair again. How would he be able to find her? In a place where lives change with the shift of sand.. How would he know if the little girl has even made it into womanhood?

While walking through the Nasir bagh cemetery, passing through thousands of unmarked graves, he decides to continue his search and see the end of this. New leads take him back to Afghanistan, to the mountains of Tora Bora. Sharbat Gula, a woman now a mother of 3 children is said to perfectly match the description of the girl he is looking for. “She remembers the day the photograph was taken” she says.. pointing at the red shawl wrapped around her head that got burnt. The reunion between the blazing green eyes and the photographer was quiet. She must not look - and certainly not smile at a man who is not her husband. She did not smile at him.
"Her expression was flat. She cannot understand how her picture has touched so many. She does not know the power of those eyes"

The face that has inspired so many to give now has a voice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the story of the famous “Afghan Girl” who made it to the cover of the National Geographic Magazine” in 1985 with her fiery eyes. Taken by photographer Steve McCurry. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text/1

Heres the documentary that made me cry profusely and promises to touch everyone too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQyTgIWQbiU&feature=relmfu