Eye to eye

Whilst reading Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Books, something struck me as quite odd: none of the animals in the jungle could maintain eye contact with Mowgli, (man’s cub) for long. This was something I had never heard of before, so I decided to try it out for myself. I stared directly into a dog’s eyes and he broke contact shortly afterwards.

I wondered, maintaining eye contact was something that mankind had had trouble with for a long time. In a lot of poems (especially love poetry) we have witnessed the presence of this difficulty. Do animals share the same feeling?

Naturally, I was curious, so I sought the help of Google Search. I don’t know about wild animals but I discovered that it is dangerous to maintain eye contact with unknown dogs. (Thankfully, I experimented with my neighbour’s dog) Eye contact tends to trigger dogs into biting, which is why (researchers have proved) children get bitten by dogs.

While dogs consider it as provocation, mankind seems to think otherwise. From what I could find out, Japanese schools teach their students not to look at the teacher’s eyes. They are directed to look at the teacher’s Adam’s apple or tie knot during direct conversations. They consider looking directly into the eyes of a superior as a sign of disrespect. People of East Asia and Nigeria also consider it as a gesture of disrespect to look into the eyes of a superior.

The Western Culture, as always has a different view. There, a person who does not meet another’s eye is badly judged. Maintaining eye contact is more than we realize. People who have difficulty in meeting one’s eyes are likely to be affected by autistic disorders or social anxiety.

Apparently, studies aren’t confined to Engineering and Medicine, for the study of eye contact is referred to as ‘oculesics’. Research on eye contact reveals stunning results. It was definitely more than I anticipated.