Turning a Blind Eye, Literally
I often felt like Shuvro from Humayun Ahmed's Daruchini Dwip and I was cut from the same socially awkward cloth.
While my previous idea of our similarities centred on being two introverts with hearts of gold, it was my 20th birthday when I realised our similarities didn't just end there. I too had an eyesight that was slowly decaying. However, unlike Shuvro, my parents wouldn't let me go on a life-changing trip.
In retrospect, the poor eyesight shouldn't have been this much of a surprise. After all, the blurry imagery and distant figures looking a little too much like Slenderman should've given me a clue. Not to mention, the sporadic use of hipster glasses I claim for the aesthetic are really for clarity of vision. However, as I sat on the little stool at my eye doctor's office, trying to ascertain whether the bottom row of the eye chart said "D H R O P" or "O F B U T", I started thinking about eyes in a completely calm and rational manner.
So, I get to wondering, who is going to account for all the carrot-filled snacks I had to endure throughout my pre-school and primary school? Who is going to reimburse me for all the cartoons I missed in good faith? And who is going to take my case against my childhood doctor, who unashamedly said that my eyes will get better if I just keep wearing my glasses and not that it will only get worse as the years go by?
"But," a voice sounding suspiciously like the rational part of my brain interrupted my violent musings. "You can always get Lasik surgery," it weakly supplies.
I internally scoff, knowing that I can never get Lasik surgery after watching Final Destination 5 at the ripe old age of nine. I violently shove that rational side of my brain into a dark pit of my mind and continue onward with my revolutionary musings about eyes. I'm sure I'm on the precipice of creating a legendary movement: Men and Women against Glasses.
I keep thinking: aren't eyes supposed to be windows to the soul? What happens to the people who have to wear glasses? What would people see when they look into their eyes? How many more ways do our poor eyesight rob us of our inclusion in popular idioms?
Just as I almost convinced myself that poor eyesight is indeed a political issue, and an extension of identity that is subject to frequent discrimination and prejudice, my mother came up to me.
"You look like a very serious yet cute chipmunk when you wear your glasses," she said.
I finally let out a smile. Just as I was getting a well-deserved hug and a head rub from my mother after a gruelling day, I admit to myself that a life as a serious yet very cute chipmunk wouldn't be so bad. Still going to complain a lot.
Raya likes to live life dangerously — one House MD episode at a time. Send help at fb.com/raya.mehnaz
Comments