Beauty and the blind

Today was just like any other day at the outset, i got up late as usual... despite being late watched seinfeld.. cursed people around for delaying me and took the usual share autos upto guindy where i was waiting for the third. Until this point it was just another day.
Just as i was waiting at the bus stop, a heavily crowded bus came to a halt before me. Lotsa people got down and lotsa people got in. As usual, there was a fully loaded share auto between the bus and the stop, blowing the horn menacingly, as if wanting to run over people who dint get into it.
It took me a couple of seconds to realise that the honking was aimed at the shabbily dressed man(who had got down from the bus a few seconds back) standing before the auto. My first thought was that this guy was in some deep thought that he dint realise the auto behind. Then it struck me, this guy was blind.
Out of sympathy and basic human courtesy i pulled him to my side. This is a part of the conversation that happened between us.
Me: enga sir neenga poganum?
Mr X: actually, I want to go to saidapet. can you please help me get into a bus that goes there..??
Me: (a bit shocked, i wasnt expecting english from this guy) seri ok, bus vanda yeti vidaren.
Mr X: thank you. pause... you must be wondering why i was standing at the same place as soon as i got down from the bus.
Me: (wanted to say 'no, i understand, u dint kno where to go')hmm...
Mr X: I usually rest for a couple of minutes as soon i get down from the bus. Bus journeys are very tiring, it makes me weak.... pause... rest my nerves... pause... u know wht...
Me: enna?
Mr X: doing small things like this keeps me young.
Me:(why are you telling all this to me!!!) hmmm...
Mr X: how old do you think i will be..?? i am just 35, people will hardly believe me when i say this..
u should see my photos taken when i was young... even now, except for my hair, i look young and handsome..
you should see the digital pictures... u kno digital pictures..?? these things are catching up in india now.. (i think he meant digi-cams).. i look beautiful and handsome even at this age...
It was at this point i felt... hey, wait a minute...how does this guy kno whether he is handsome or not... even if someone tells a blind person that he is goodlooking... how many such people will tell this to a complete stranger? (One way of looking at this would be.. this guy is a jerk... talking incoherent things to strangers... but that is not what i felt then.. and even now)
I was dumbstruck for a few moments... first this just another guy turns out to be blind, then
he surprises me by talking in... lets say... good english... then he makes me rethink about wht beauty is..
This may not seem different to ppl who are reading this... but at that momemt, it was different to hear about beauty seen by the eyes of a blind...