Her eyes are piercing. It feels as if she is looking right through you to some spot deep inside.
The collar of her shirt is dusty and worn. You might even say frayed.
Behind her is a yak or a cow or ..it is hard to tell since the picture cuts it off.
Her age? Not good at that but would guess 7 or 8 years old. The beads around her neck are simple and look like she strung them together herself. But very carefully.
Don't know her name. Don't recall the town but it was somewhere in Nepal heading toward Tiger Top. The jeep stopped to get gas and we needed some water. As we walked up to the store to get drinks she appeared. She did not say a word. She just looked at us with these eyes. Sad? Not really. Lonely? Not really. Thoughtful? Maybe. Old beyond her years? Yes. Sweet and innocent? Absolutely. I snapped the picture.
So many years later, there she is. Right across from my desk in my office staring at me with those eyes.
How old is she now? What does she do now? Where does she live now? Can't answer any of those questions.
She is forever the little girl on the dusty road on the way to Tiger Top.
A picture of longing. A picture of charm. A picture of a moment in time captured forever…frozen in time. Ageless.
I wish I learned her name. I wish I knew her story. It happens so often though. You meet someone for a fleeting instant but they linger with you forever.
It touches you in a place you only go to briefly and sporatically in a hectic day. But it does bring you back to the beauty of a moment on a road and the capturing of an image that lasts forever.