The Spectacles

"How do you think I will look with specs?” I asked Kumar.

"You mean eye glasses? But why do you want specs at all?  Be thankful that you have good sight", Kumar replied.

“I want to see myself sporting eye glasses with a golden frame ", I said with a glee on my face.

"You are crazy. You keep living in your own fantasies", Kumar said with a resigned look.

This was 11 years ago in the English class in the first year of engineering.  Eye glasses always fascinated me because of the new look that one could sport with them. 

Even as a kid, I remember trying to draw faces with a pencil. I was no great artist. So when the face went wrong and had a horrible look, I would try adding specs to the face. For me, a bespectacled face was somehow always better than the one without one. 

College was over. Job happened. Over the years , being surrounded by so many of my friends and colleagues with specs, I somehow stopped imagining myself sporting one. Life without a pair of glasses seemed cool enough.

However last week, I visited an eye specialist and I found myself reading those sequences of letters UQmuS KpDUW from a distance. On a couple of occasions, I did have a problem reading them. 

I went to the doctor as my eyes were turning red at the slightest exposure to dust since the last few days. The doctor told me that I would be better off wearing specs while driving as my eyes were ultra sensitive to dust. Of course it was up to me to decide if I wanted to use them for things other than driving.

Specs? Did I hear it right? Oh yeah… so finally the time had come. And I didn't want to buy those in some neighbouring mom and pop store. I had to brood, research, contemplate and decide on the specs and the kind of look that it would give me.  

I went to buy the eye glasses a couple of days later and my Dad was along with me.

I examined quite a few of them and decided that I wouldn't be spending too much. Finally the choice was between rimless and full-rimmed with my Dad pushing for rimless and me opting for the later.
 

Dad: Take this rimless one, it looks elegant. From a distance, it doesn't even look like you are wearing specs.

Me: That's the whole point. I want my specs to be visible and make a statement.

Dad: You don't look good with those full rimed ones.

Me: I want the de-glamorized retro look. I don't want to appear too urbane and stylish.

At this juncture, the salesman in the store decided to intervene.

Salesman: Excuse me! The full rimed ones are the stylish ones. These are the ones worn by art directors and ad agency guys these days. The rimless ones are the basic simple stuff.

Did I hear the words ‘Art’ and ‘Ad agency’? That was enough for me to go ahead with the full-rimed ones.

I reached home sporting the new look and stood in front of my mom.

Mom: But aren't these frames pretty old fashioned. I have seen my brother using it when he was about your age.

Dad: Hahaha! Your old fashioned mom calls your frames old fashioned. Go to the caves, kid!

Me: Grrrr!

Were the specs really so old fashioned? I went and stood in front of the full size mirror. Umm… I was ok. But it certainly didn’t appear as cool as I thought I would. Did I get it wrong again? I was lost in deep thought for a couple of minutes.

I was suddenly looking different in the mirror. It was me but I was looking more confident and very assured. There was also some kind of a glow and radiance surrounding me. I was looking perfect. If you asked me how I wanted to look and feel, the answer was staring in front of me in the mirror.

The Other me: What are you staring at?

Me: Nothing. You look so much like me. But you are perfect like a dream.

The Other me: Dumbo. Of course I will be like you. I am your conscience.

‘The Other me’ is too long a name. Let’s call him Tom - the abbreviation for The Other me.

Me: Oh… no wonder you look so much like me. Anyway don’t you think I look cool with these spectacles on?

Tom: Cool? You broke up with the word cool the time you quit IT. And now these old fashioned specs!

Me: Even you? Are these really old fashioned?

Tom: Of course. Your mom was spot on. Rimless would have given you the look. But as ever you missed the trick and decided to go Old.

Me: Hmpf! I am tired of the word ‘Old’.

Tom: Lol!  You don’t help your cause. Do you? Your hair cut is designed to announce your receding hairline.

Me: This new hair cut is to complement my new bespectacled look.

Tom: Why the funny spectacles? And why the funnier haircut?

Me: This is not funny.

Tom: Remember one thing. You are what you are. Specs/Spectacles improve the visibility of your eyes. They don’t make you spectacular.

Me: But I thought the new girl might like this look.

Tom: I will tell you what. With these specs, you have lost whatever little chance of finding a girl. Your life is over

Me: Grrr! I hate you. I am off now. I got to blog

Tom: Blog? Jalsa? Listen to me and stop writing Jalsa. It no longer suits you. Play your age.

I moved away from the mirror. Tom disappeared. I sat down to write a new Jalsa story. But this is what I managed to write. Was Tom right? Hmpf!