{courtesy:foxsports.com}
It’s now been nearly fifteen years since I started wearing glasses. Still remember the first time we visited the eye doctor. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my eyes, but there was this feeling instilled within me that wearing glasses brought the hidden scholastic aptitude within me to the fore. The doctor was a shrewd man and immediately realized that I was just playing around to get myself a set of glasses. So, he diagnosed the power to be 0.5 on one and 0.25 on the other and directed my mom to a nearby optician. Whether there were financial benefits for the doctor by his referral to this optician, I am not sure.
But, I was clearly overjoyed. At that time, metallic frames weren’t all that popular and the few that were available were on the expensive side for my little hankering. So, I chose a maroon shell frame. Still remember that frame as I tried on the frame, it suddenly made me look mature! It was going to bye-bye to everyone who treated me like a kid at school. Especially those girls whose words of depracation usually shrunk me even more than my short lean frame warranted! Yeah … Yeah .. I was the shortest in the class – shorter than most girls even. You don’t need to rub it in!
But in typical anti-climatic manner, things actually took a turn for the worse. Gone were the Podiyaa and Pul thadukki baylvaan tags. Now I was stuck with Sodaa butti and Captain Four Eyes. It helped that students at my school were fined for having non-english conversations. So, was thankfully liberated from the more derogatory tamil terms! And I threw those glasses away much to the chagrin of my mom who had spent quite some time and money satiating my whimsical desire. But, I could take my mom’s bashing anytime to my classmates’ ridcicule. It also doesn’t help being born a Leo with a bloated ego!
But, within years, my eye power started taking a turn for the worse. Gone were the decimal power prescriptions. Just two years after my first dabbling with glasses, I was officially myopic! As usual, my mom was the first to notice as my eyes moved closer to the television and books moved closer to my eyes. This time though, there was no going back on those glasses. I was stuck with them for life!
I wasn’t very keen on wearing contacts. And given my propensity to break and damage things beyond repair, it wouldn’t have taken Einstein to discover that sensitive contacts weren’t for barborous hands like mine. Just to give an indication of what could have happened to the lenses, imagine this – have broken nearly half a dozen glasses and lost two of them during the last 15 years that I’ve been wearing glasses! Imagine the plight of those contacts if I had worn them like my mom insisted I do! She felt that I looked better without glasses. Sorry mom, some things will never change irrespective of what you add to or strip out of them!
Now, many may ask what prompted me to come up with this unusual post out of the blue! Nope… I’ve definitely not broken my one and only spectacle frame! The glass may be all scratched and all that, but it still serves the purpose! Was prompted to write a blog on glasses after reading this article on performance enhancing contact lenses.
These lenses were designed to help hitters pick up the seams on the ball better and to protect the eyes from the sun. As one player said, they’re almost like wearing sunglasses without wearing sunglasses! But, they seem to come in a devilish amber color. Take a look at the pic in the blog, would definitely scare off any kid! Imagine me with one of those lenses waking up from sleep! Definitely scary! For the smart one’s who are tempted to say that one is not supposed to sleep with contacts on, you just don’t know me! I can do just that and a lot more crazy things 😉
But, jokes apart, just imagine what this could do to the game of cricket. As far as batting goes, one of the aspects that separates the journeyman from the master is his eyesight and ability to pick the ball early. If these contacts provide an enhanced vision on the seam of the ball, imagine the plight of bowlers around the world! Sehwag 500 n.o in 250 balls! Quite a possibility! I don’t want to be a bowler in that era. Am happy with being just Captain Four eyes!
Mirabile Dictu 
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