To See or Not See That Is the Question

Not to see

To see

        OR









One fine evening my Mom was visiting her doctor for a checkup. We both have a tendency to find a game anywhere we are and embark on a challenge of some kind. You must have seen kids being naughty and fooling around when parents feel embarrassed everywhere, that is how it is with us at times. Only exchange the places of Mom and Children. So instead of being worried about what the doctor is going to say or about the reports, my mom started a game to check out who can see the farthest clearly. She already had a defense that if she lost it was no big deal because she was old, her eyes had been through lot of abuse and she needed glasses in her college days etc. Anyway we started the game by reading posters and notices from where we sat.  I was surprised and shocked that my Mom had no trouble reading the posters from where she sat where as I had to struggle to see the words.

I was wondering whether she had memorized those words just to beat her 12 year old in the game. Believe me, she can do it. Finally it was my turn and she challenged me to read three red lines with no words on them. “That is not fair Maa, those are just red lines”, I protested. She was looking amused, “Don’t tell me you cannot read those clear words” she said. I challenged her to read it and she went ahead and read those words which were about healthy diet. I went near and checked out to see they were actually words and not lines. My mom had won, but being a mom she was concerned about why I couldn’t read those words, where as she could see them clearly.

Naturally instead of celebrating immediately she took me to an ophthalmologist nearby against my protests that let us finish what we came for first. He found out that I had slight Myopia and needed correction glasses. Suddenly my mom started reeling a series of guilty accusations at herself that how she did not realize that her child had a problem. Then the wrath was turned on to me, “Why did you not tell me you had eyesight problem?” I said meekly, “How would I know I had eyesight problem, I thought this is how the eyesight is because I have not known any better”. She blamed my poor marks in languages along with a big list of my own failures on my Myopia. I tried to be sensible and explained how Myopia could affect only my languages and not maths or science. She explained that I could not identify alphabets well and so had got the whole concept of language wrong. We went to find glasses for me and I had tough time deciding which one to buy. Mom wanted me to go for good looking ones, where as I wanted cheaper ones. I knew it will take me some time to adjust to the handling of glasses. The seller actually supported my mom who was looking at expensive glasses, I need not explain why. Finally we met in the middle and selected something not very expensive and sleek looking one. Whew!!!!!

 My mom was soon back to being her own self and was glad I had Myopia, because the glasses had made me look smart and intelligent in an instant. She even took pictures to prove her point, so that she could quell any argument in future about this..

I always loved wearing Sunglasses because I love outdoor activities a lot and it hurts my eyes when I got out in sun. It gives me headaches too. But the problem after having the glasses was that I could not wear sun glasses. I had only one nose to hold one glass… the dilemma was whether to go for sunglasses and compromise on sight or to stick with my correction glasses and see everything clearly. I go out cycling at high speed quite often. The dust particles hurt my eyes quite a lot even with the protection of correction glasses because they do not fit like the sunglasses.

 It was the eternal Hamlet dilemma of “To see or not to see… oooppsss sorry, to be or not be, that is the question”.