The Other Lens - Repeat Telecast

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http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/a/bifocals.asp

As I said, as soon as I reached IIT KGP in 1965, the sties in my eyes fell off from me like lead into the sea, like the albatross from the neck of the ancient mariner:

 The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.

So, I guess there is some truth in the so-called environmental allergy.

Then on, till 1984 when I was 41, I didn't have to subject myself to opthalmoscopes and their owners. I was seeing more than what was good for me...warts and all...

Till, one day, I realized I couldn't read my favorite small print column of the Statesman Hundred Years Ago anymore.

My wife then suggested I consult the campus eye-doc, a young chap who sat part-time in the Tech Market. I was dubious as I ever was about eye-docs but thought let me give him a try. 

And then he asked me to read the chart on the wall which I read like a poem. And he said my far-vision was more than ok. 

Then he thrust in front of my eyes some instrument like a handheld 4-sided magic lamp with fine print written on its sides. And I could absolutely not make out any of the printing. 

And then he inserted a lens in front of my eyes and lo and behold, it was a revelation! I could read every blessed word and more...I thanked him for making me literate again and started wearing bifocals that needed a lot of adjustment. He told me that he could give me imported lenses that had what he called adjustable focus. But I was too poor for them and Gandhi specs were fine with my pocket.

In 1994, one Sunday May morning, news came to me that my Father was dying at Gudur and I had to rush immediately. But my QM question paper had just been answered by my students the Friday before and the bundle of 25 scripts was safe in the locker of the exam section. And there was no way I could run away without grading them and upsetting the entire result schedule. So I ran to the Institute and found that fortunately the exam section was open since a JEE was going on. And the Assistant Registrar was kind enough to make a special case and issue me my bundle forthwith.

And as soon as I brought it home and started reading the answer scripts, my son, then 13, was playfully horsing around with me and since I was too busy for him, he pulled my specs off and in the process broke them into glassy powder.

I was at a loss, and since there was no point banging him, I felt like Newton and his pet dog:

Diamond was, according to legend, Sir Isaac Newton's favorite dog, which, by upsetting a candle, set fire to manuscripts containing his notes on experiments conducted over the course of twenty years. According to one account, Newton is said to have exclaimed: 

"O Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done."...wiki

And my son, ever more resourceful than me, brought out the Rs 5 convex lens that I gifted him on his 6th birthday, which he was using to burn matchsticks in the KGP sun.

Needless to say, the job was done within an hour and the lucky batch walked away with more A grades than before or since....

 

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...Posted by Ishani

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