Gaze outward, gaze inward
Unlike in last week’s post, here the outward gaze is directed towards the camera. The little boy (it’s a boy for me) looks through the camera directly in our eyes, and we in his. Because of this, and because of his remarkable shirt, all eyes are on him. He puts on a rather bold face, as if he’s saying: look at me with my groovy shirt!
But this is our interpretation. He surely doesn’t know the meaning of the words, and moreover, it’s a text that seems to have blown over from the West. It has little to do with the circumstances of workers and their children in the brick kilns in India, which is where we are here. There, Saturdays and Sundays are indistinguishable from the other days of the week.
It may be tempting to interpret the difference between the boy’s and the girl’s gaze as a difference in character between the two children, calling the boy extrovert and the girl introvert. But last week’s post shows us that this needn’t be so at all. Individual moods can alternate in quick succession. A moment later the roles can be reversed, with the girl looking intently at us and the boy’s attention directed inwards.
Photo of the week: Bilaspur, Chattisgarh, India 2013
καιρός remembered 
The children’s faces are beautiful but their eyes look older than their years. The blues are dynamic against the neutral background…
AnnMarie
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Yes, AnnMarie, it’s the harsh living conditions. In next week’s post you’ll find another touching example of this.
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I’ll be sure to take a look.
AnnMarie
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