Oye chashmish !

'That girl with the glasses'

'That chashmish'

And so I was known since I was as young as nine years old.

No one knows why or how I got myopia – both my parents had perfect eyesight, and so did my sisters (who later had to wear glasses as well, but not as early as that). My mother attributed it to my excessive reading habits. My father felt strongly that I was not eating enough green vegetables. Whatever the cause may have been, spectacles had come into my life and they were here to stay.

 Back in those days, a girl wearing specs did not have bright prospects, purely spoken in a social context. Contact lenses were not that easy to come by, and in any case, they were not advisable for a young child. I did not mind my fate much, because I was not a social child, anyway , and I was quite happy to retire in my fantasy land inhabited by Enid Blyton characters, with or without specs. In fact, I quite loved my specs, since they gave me a clearer vision. I was not bothered about my looks at that time. Slowly, my pair of specs became my best friend, the first thing I would reach out for in the morning and the last to keep away before I slept.

As time passed by, I became aware of my ‘çhashmish’ status, especially when children began to take pot shots at me. It hurt, quite a lot, actually. Yet I realized that this was the way things are – people who wear specs were looked upon as studious, over-intelligent, dorky and geeky. In a world where good looks are at a premium, girls who wore glasses did not stand a chance. They had to be relegated to the background, they had to be merged with the landscape. They had no hope of standing out. In college, contact lenses became a huge rage. And before I realized, my best friend of many years, my companion in the adventures of famous five, my pair of spectacles was kept away, somewhere deep in the recesses of my cupboard.

I plunged headlong in the world of contact lenses – Freedom from specs ! Social life, here I come !

Till some days ago when I developed some eye problem (unrelated to contact lenses – so it was not a case of forgotten specs cursing me).

Treatment : Eye drops for some weeks and the Catch : No contact lenses allowed during this period. My old pair of specs made a huge and a grand comeback in my life.

But as I sported them about I realized something, The times have changed. Thanks to Sania Mirza and Preity Zinta (KHNH) and Kajol (DDLJ), specs are now a fashion accessory. No longer do you have to stick to those ugly frames of yesteryears. Walk into any optician’s and you will get boggled by the choices you will get in spectacle frames. You can look saucy, beautiful, chic, elegant, intellectual, just anything you like – with spectacles !

Wear a pair of specs and go rule the world.

Chashmish days are over. Brave new world, here I come – with spectacles on my nose !