Chained by spectacles!

The first day I went to my workplace after the pandemic, I lost my spectacles! I recall using them at work, after which, everything was a blur. It was a perfect catch-22 situation- I needed my spectacles to find my spectacles! After searching high and low, I gave up.

Surprisingly, I could manage without the spectacles. Both distant and near vision were just fine! I later learnt that one eye was good for near vision and the other eye for distant vision, and they worked eye to eye with each other!

The explanation was an eye opener. Should I go for a “monocle” if only one eye had an issue? As seen in old English films- the protagonist had a monocle attached to a gold chain and neatly tucked to the coat pocket. It would a quite a spectacle to wear a monocle in this time and age! What happened to the monocle? How did it go out of sight and out of mind?

The spectacles are an integral part of a person’s anatomy. In Mumbai, if you wanted to get the attention of someone with spectacles, you simply shouted- “Hey chashmis! Hey double-battery!” Immediately, the person turned around! In Chennai, a person with thick glasses was branded a “soda”! These colloquial slangs may lack sensitivity, but they served the purpose- to pinpoint a particular person.

In the past, as people aged, they wore “bifocal” glasses. The glass had a semi-circular demarcation. Close vision demanded peering through that tiny arc. I spent my afternoons scrutinizing my grandfather’s expression as he read the newspaper! His bald head was held at a tilt and his glasses dangled midway down his nose! When he wasn’t around, I got a kick mimicking his posture, sitting on the same cane chair, with the same newspaper.

Ironically, I am now where my grandfather was! I need bifocals. The bifocal glass is not popular anymore. It is replaced with the “progressive lens”. Unlike the bifocals, the progressive lens has no visible divide in the glass. But the problem remains the same- for close vision, you still need to look down the nose. It is a cosmetic eyewash, and the “progress” is questionable!

I opted out from the progressive lens and bought 2 glasses- one for close vision and another for distant vision. With this, I have inherited a fresh problem. I am like a circus juggler, feverishly juggling from one glass to another depending on the task at hand! And with it, comes the greater risk of misplacing the spectacles. May be, I now need to chain both the spectacles around my neck!

For every spectacular solution, for sure, there sprouts a new problem!