Excerpt from the book Second Suns by David Oliver Relin
It may be possible that the Nepalese have the world's most striking eyes; it is also likely that Nepal contains the most eyes, per-capita, of any country on earthy. There are the third eyes, or tikkas, that peer out from so many Hindu foreheads. There are the eyes framed by the carved wooden windows of Kathmandu, surveilling all that passes below them in the capital's crowded streets. There are the eyes that stare out of the headlamps of transport vehicles, painted there by drivers hoping for the foresight to avoid a collision. There are the all-seeing eyes of Buddha, gazing mindfully from the flat surfaces of stupas, mani stones, and monasteries where they've been painted. And there are commercial versions of these eyes, embroidered on the T-shirts, sweaters, and handbags marketed to tourists, who yearn to preserve a fragment of the visions they've experienced, to capture and carry them home.
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Absolutely. These were the same thoughts that came to me when I visited Nepal. I was walking around in the streets of Thamel in Kathmandu and I could see eyes everywhere; I was hiking around in the hills of everest region and I could see eyes everywhere; every monastery I visited or every temple or a village I visited, I could see eyes and only eyes everywhere.
It is amazing what these two doctors - Dr. Sanduk Ruit and Dr. Geoff Tabin are doing in Nepal. Restoring sight of many who do not have access to good quality eye care (in some case not even aware of such things existed) free of cost is the greatest of all the deeds I have ever seen. To me personally, what is the point of not having eyes in the most beautiful country in the world? and those deserved souls are getting their vision back because of these doctors and their greater Himalayan Cataract Project.
More power to them.
Cheers,
Srik
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