Specsless 35

During my childhood I had a fascination towards spectacles.  I believed that spectacles added to the glamor of an individual.  My cousin, who used spectacles, had also influenced me.  When I was studying in the sixth standard, I started experiencing some difficulty in reading from the black board.  My father took me to an ophthalmologist.  After the vision test, he recommended spectacles!  My parents were feeling bad that I had to wear specs at a young age, but I was really excited. 

Next day my father took me to Vithayathil Opticals, the leading optician in the city.  I was planning to buy a golden color stylish frame.  But my father didn’t agree.  He got me a black, traditional, old-fashioned frame, similar to the one which he used to wear.  I was thoroughly disappointed, but I had no choice.  Next day I went to the school with spectacles.  Slowly I started realizing the difficulties associated with specs.  In the humid climate of Kochi, having specs was not at all comfortable.  Forget fans, in the government school, where I studied, the classrooms were not even fully built. 

The specs fell off a couple of times, breaking the glass, and I got nice scolding from my father for not taking proper care.   Once I was playing football in a ground near my house.  When I hit the ball, the specs fell in the mud on the ground.  As if that was not enough, another player who was chasing me stamped on it.  I had to literally pull out my specs from the mud!  One day I carelessly left my specs on a chair and went to the kitchen.  Without noticing it, my neighbor sat on that chair.  When I returned, I saw my specs broken with both its legs bent upwards.  What was a fascination once, had turned out to be a menace within no time.

During the next summer vacation, we visited our grand mother at Kollam.  I accompanied my mother to Dr. K R C Pillai, the homeopathy doctor whom she used to consult.  When he saw me with specs, he asked, ‘why is he wearing specs at a young age?’.  When my mother explained, he said, ‘If he gets used to specs, he will have to wear them lifelong.  I will give medicine, you remove the specs, let us try if it gets cured’. Those were golden words for me.  I immediately stopped wearing specs.  I took medicine for almost six months.  He also asked to eat lot of leafy vegetables such as spinach.  Slowly I could experience the improvement and finally, the clarity of my vision was restored.  The medicine was so effective that I could manage without specs till the age of 46.   Dr. Pillai saved me from using specs for almost 35 years – Specsless 35!