can there be silent tears?

yes, very much... and today, i experienced this...
and it is she who brought in the tears... of joy (at having met a rare human being), of connection (with a woman of substance) and of pride (that i had spotted her while having gone for an innocuous Press Conference, one more of them that i keep attending regularly), .

She is a Robotics Professor, at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg and was here on a special mission, though she does run a Lab here in the Doha campus... that is her profession, something she felt impelled to do right from childhood...

what touched me was two things: her pride (possibly because i have it in liberal doses myself) and she did say, "I do not like being told what I am not good at... so when men at the University told me women are no good at Science, I had to do it simply because I had to prove them wrong."
her love and passion for doing good to humanity at large (here, i have a firm belief, if one is not innately good oneself, the doing good feeling will never ever strike)... as a Robotics Prof, she could just have stuck herself at the Lab (s) and been a great professor, there are umpteen such profs... but the fact remains, she has moved beyond that and has been involved in helping blind students across less developed countries, to name one of her projects... and she is not ashamed to "beg" (her own words) for getting funds...

that she has done these is because her mission was in her marrows... her Mum told her six children, "I want you all to change the world"... so she is oath bound to her Mum...

I am happy to have spent 35 minutes with her and thank my job for giving me the chance to come in contact with great human beings and indulge in their company, journo that I am...