The tale of my 'Not-so-Happy' eyes...

Well, i was going through the posts by my fellow Bloggers and came across one, which brought back my memories from eighth grade. Memories from the time when i thought having glasses was KEWL! (What was i thinking?!) Back in time as a little kid, i had this undying fascination for fake, gaudy, plastic shades sold at the 'Mela's(fairs)...I remember buying an ORANGE one, n i wore it all the effing time, pretending to be a grown up, cos then i thought only grown ups get to wear glasses and found it really cool. Since then, i ve always wanted to have a real pair of glasses.

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And then a few years later, one of my cousin sisters i admired a lot, ended up with a low power spectacles which she was to wear only when she read books. And i was so jealous... i wanted one too! How rad would it be going to school with a cute little box in my bag, occupy my seat, and as the teacher instructs the kids to read from the book, i would take out the little box, open it up, and wear my new glasses, and look older and wiser. I would be surrounded by a silly bunch of kids! (Again, what was i thinking?! ) LOL

But alas, i wasn't lucky(ahem!) enough to have 'em. So i decided to 'move-on-with-my-life' hoping that maybe some day i would get lucky. Years passed on, and finally when i reached eighth grade, i observed that the notes written on the blackboard began to look a little shaken to me. First i blamed it on the shabby handwriting of the teacher, but then one day the teacher asked me to write stuff up there for others to take down. And once i was done, i was back to my seat, sulking over the fact that i'll have to write it all over again in my notebook.

As i looked up, i found the writing blurry again.. and i knew for a fact that my handwriting was sharp. I never wrote shabbily. And then i could feel that shining hope rising in my guts... is my vision finally compromised??? FINALLY!!!? It was a yippy moment. I went back home and told dad about my need for an eye check up. He got a little worried, also he did not understand the reason for my excitement. He took me anyway, to the best experienced optometrist in town.

The Doc ran a few tests. I was told to read through the board in the distance with random letters in different sizes. With every line of letters i read perfectly, i found my heart sinking! I was wishing otherwise. Finally he asked us to wait outside. As i waited with bated breath, there were thousands of thoughts winding in the sky of my mind! Would he prescribe a pair of glasses to me, or would he just ask me to tell my teacher to shift me a little to the front, so that i could see the board without straining my eyes. Would he say there was no need for glasses, or would he ask my parents to cut down on my tv, computer time! So many 'what-if's whizzed around my mind till we were called in again.

I was ready, all excited... and then the golden words were uttered by the Doc. "You've got a power of -0.5 for both the eyes. You'll have to wear spectacles when you read from the blackboard or while watching TV." My happiness knew no bounds which was evident from the puzzled look on the Doc's face on my reaction. LOL. We paid the doctor his fees, and i was all set to choose a frame for my first pair of glasses. They did not have a great collection and in my exhilaration, i did not want to visit a better optic centre. There was this pitch black oval shaped frame. We ended up paying for the same, and were asked to collect it the next day at the same time.

From the moment, i left the shop, time crawled by. I couldn't wait till it was time, and we rushed to the optic centre to find my glasses ready. I wore it, and whowwww! There was power, and it felt funny on my nose. I wore it all the way back home, and when i took it off, the funny tickly feeling on my nose didn't leave. I got used to it in the few days to follow. But then came the 'going-to-school' part. I hadn't pictured the school scenario in my overjoyed state of mind. As a kid, it was different. It felt cool to look old and wise and a lil nerdy! But now, oh no.. I didn't want to look older, i didn't want to be called a nerd.. nor did i want people calling me 'Chashmish'(which i was called by a few guys gradually! Being the class head didn't help. Infact it worsened it!). To top that, that was the time 'Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin' soap was being aired on Sony TV. There's no guessing what other names i might have had to bear... Sigh!

It did not last many days though. Cos, i never showed people that i minded. :-P I went with the flow. Either ignored them or laughed along. Now i realise, the best way to stop people from teasing you with something, is to joke on yourself before others get a chance to! That makes it clear to them that you are not going to be affected by their attempts. And... they won't even try. And if they do, laugh along. People tend to get bored when they do not get the reactions they expect in a situation. So why give them the pleasure. Clever? ;-)

Well.. After a year, Jassi gets a make over in the soap, and guess what, i got one too! And this time, i wasn't going to settle for just any stupid looking frame that covered half my face. And with the doctor confirming that my power had increased, i was forced me to wear my glasses full time! Alas.. this was never a part of the whole 'I-want-glasses' plan, was it? :-( Anyway, i settled for a rim-less delicate pair this time, which gave me that sophisticated look i always wanted. And then, frame-less specs were the new IN thing. So that brought me back on the bizz! The following days in school set people talking again. But this time, no one made fun, they just wanted to see how can there be lens without a frame to support it..!

So, that said, i proudly tell you, i'm still using the same frame-less frame! And i feel there is no other that will suit me better. It's been almost eight years, and i've been happy with it. It's delicate enough to leave no mark on my nose. The only sad part, are the dark circles i've developed around my eyes. Not too dark, but i am surely not fond of it. Humph! :-/

After living 9 years of my childhood fascination, i came to a stage where all i wanted was to get rid of my glasses. I hated going to parties. It's all good till you get all dressed up, make-up.. n then... you wear your specs, and boom.. The look is LOST! You want to go have fun in the beach with your friends, you keep your glasses aside, and you can't see! You wear it, and there's the fear of it shattering into a million pieces, or just getting washed away by the waves. Even the few non-glasses days, when the specs would be sent for 'new-power-lens' fixing, would just cause more problems, for you can't see who the person in the far-end of the hallway is! I could see someone waving, but there's no way i deduce whether the person is waving at me or someone around me. I wouldn't want to look foolish waving back at some random person. But again, if that person is really waving at you, then it's plain rude to not wave back and simply stare! Oh the problems...

Finally some months back, i decided to be brave and try out contact lenses! I wanted to get rid of the glasses for atleast some hours a day. I wanted to go to parties not worrying about my looks. I didn't want to hide my best feature behind those glasses, my eyes! So i tried them on, and voila! It was magic. Pure magic. I could see the world, the way i saw it NINE long years back. Everything looked beautiful. On my way back from the optic centre to my room, i kept looking at everything i could set my sight on. I wanted to keep looking, cos i could SEE! I could SEE! It felt like my vision was restored. I wanted to see everything, all at once. That was the joy of the eyes which had been sentenced to nine long years as a prisoner.

Since then, i am happier, more confident, and i've fallen in love with the world all over again. Yes, it's still not as good as the hassle-free perfect eye-sight we were born with. But none-the-less, i can't complain, cos i had asked for it once upon a time, hadn't i? I had spent my whole childhood dreaming of me and my specs! 'The Secret' worked and i can't complain. To all you 'perfect-eye-sight' people out there, exercise your eyes daily, drink a glass of carrot juice every morning. A tasty treat to begin your day with. Live it, while it lasts. Take care of your eye sight, for you realise how precious it is, once you lose it. They say, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. What is beholding, when your eyes are compromised for? What's beauty that you cannot enjoy?

Cheers!