I started wearing glasses in Class 5. I could not read the blackboard if I was on the last bench, or even the middle benches. At first, my parents requested the teachers to move me to the first row. But they took me to the hospital when they saw me slowly creeping up to the TV, no matter where I was. I soon got my first pair of glasses. Since then, I had glasses wherever I went, whatever I did. Except while sleeping. The first few months, I felt special. The sudden attention, extra care from teachers, it felt nice.
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The initial novelty faded and I came to the harsh truth of wearing glasses. Rainy days became a hassle, 3D movies were uncomfortable. Sweat would drip on to the glasses. Face masks were impossible. Going to the beach meant wiping the lenses from time to time. Getting out of an air-conditioned room or car? Welcome to the land of fog.
Removing my glasses brought on inevitable comments about my appearance. “Thank you,” I thought, “I have heard that only a million times this month.” And don’t get me talking about the Herculean task of finding the glasses when I woke up. I often had to rely on my brother to find my glasses first thing in the morning. And the yearly changing of frame and lens was an added expense.
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When I had glasses, I always had to remove them during a haircut. I felt so vulnerable without them, as I couldn’t recognise the person who came in and sat behind me. I could only see a blurry figure moving. I couldn’t see if the barber was cutting off all my hair and making me look like an egg. You know what made me more upset than that? There were these small luminescent stickers in my room that my father took a whole evening to stick on the ceiling. They shone at night, after all the lights were out. But I couldn’t see them lying in bed, without my glasses. I wasn’t really bothered by that most of the time, but there were a few nights I silently sobbed.
A change came when father gave me a surprise with my first pair of contact lenses. The first time I wore them my eyes burned, but the crystal clear vision was worth it. It was as if my nose and face got unburdened all of a sudden. Two dark marks still remained on either side of my nose, but who cared!
The era of contacts came to an end after a series of eye infections. I wore glasses again, until I got LASIK. Painful, but my eyes were back to full vision. No glasses or contact lenses again.
The exorbitant cost renders the LASIK treatment inaccessible to many, relegating clear vision to the privileged. If I weren’t able to afford it, I would be at the mercy of my glasses. Perfect vision should be a fundamental right, not a luxury reserved for the affluent. After all, every individual deserves the chance to view life through unclouded eyes.
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