Aankhen Bichana

January 19, 2021

Today’s Hindi idiom (मुहावरा) is:

आँखें बिछाना।

(Transliteration: Aankhen bichana.)

Literal translation: To lay (as in unrolling and laying a carpet for a VIP to walk on) or to spread (as in spreading a mat for someone to sleep) eyes.

Figurative meaning: To receive an arriving person with great affection. To wait longingly for a person you love.

Usage in a sample sentence:

Laying my eyes on your path, waiting . . .

कब से आँखें बिछाये बैठी हूँ, तुम कम से कम एक sms तो भेज सकते थे कि late आओगे।

(Transliteration: Kab se aankhen bichaye baitthi hoon, tum kam se kam ek SMS toh bhej sakte thae ki late aaoge.)

Translation: Since when I am sitting with my eyes spread; you could have at least sent one SMS that you’d be late.

Origins of the idiom: This idiom also uses our eyes to convey the value we attach to the person eagerly awaited or just arrived. When we longingly wait for someone, our eyes naturally are fixed on the road or the path that the person will come by. This ‘fixing’ of our eyes to the road is described in a more poetic manner by saying our eyes are ‘laid’ or ‘spread’ on the pathway. Some people say that this idiom also means “to welcome very affectionately someone who has just arrived.” I think the welcoming part is a natural culmination of the ‘waiting’ that took place before the person actually arrived.