Myopia
Rayyan’s eyes looked quite normal and I never realized he
had myopia for a long time. I have to thank my eyes that though they were
tormented thoroughly throughout their existence, they still work fine. If not
for my great eyes, I never know when I would have realized that Rayyan had
myopia.
We were at hospital and waiting for the doctor where I had
gone for a check-up for an injured toe. I was reading a sign board that had few
instructions in red letter at a distance for patients who were waiting. Rayyan
asked me, “What joke is this maa? There are just few red lines over there and
you are creating words out of them”. I was wondering what he is talking about
and asked, “You are telling me that you cannot read those simple sentences? They
appear simple red lines to you?” I was
genuinely confused as to what was this humour all about. Rayyan was confused as
well and asked me, “You mean to say they are actual words and not lines?” Finally
he walked up to the board and saw that they were words and not lines. It took
me sometime to realize that Rayyan couldn’t read things that are far away.
The next day, I took him to an ophthalmologist and got his eye
tested. It was confirmed he had myopia and needed glasses.
It is surprising that not many people realize that myopia
and computers/TV are not related and it is not caused due to bad lifestyles. Most
of them blamed TV and computers for his problem. Rayyan is lucky that his mom
is aware of such things and did not blame him for the problem. Neither did she
punish him by taking away his computer games. Let us ignore that she wouldn’t
do it even if that was the cause because she loved competing with him. My
husband jumped to blaming me for not caring properly for Rayyan (no it is not a
joke, he was serious) and damaging his eyes. His lamenting is sometimes funny
for me, though it is irritating as well. “Already Farheena had a disability,
you had a disability and now the only child who was normal is also with a
disability. I am so unfortunate”. He was on phone, so he missed the classic
expression on my face. Let us skip the wise cracks I come up with in
retaliation, and go back to Rayyan.
We went back to the doctor and choose a nice frame for
Rayyan with very thin rim. Rayyan was almost thirteen before he got the
glasses. The first thing he observed was how different coconut palms looked. “Maa,
I never thought that the lines of coconut leaves are so clearly visible to everyone.
They looked like banana leaves to me always. The world is so different now”.
The most surprising gushing comments came from my dad and
mom. When Rayyan walked in with the glasses, my mom and dad both were all
praise for him. “I was wondering who this person was before realizing it our
Rayyan. Oh my God, I never thought someone would look so smart with glasses. He
now looks so wise and handsome. Fari, Fari, come quickly and look how cool
those glasses are on Rayyan”. Yeah, I have to come out and say “Yes yes” to
both of them and be surprised by the handsome boy who went to me buy those
glasses and tried it in front of me to decide whether it suited him or not. I had
to do it to avoid conflict with my parents. My younger sister said, “Now Rayyan
looks like some scholar. Glasses were made for face like his. Look how wise he
appears with those glasses!” Again I nod “yes yes”.
There were lot of adventures with Rayyan’s glasses. We went
for rimless glasses, thick rimmed one and few more. One was lost, two were
broken. Finally he underwent LASIK and bid goodbye to his glasses.
What I remember today is the way my mom, dad and my sister
responded to him when they first saw him in glasses. Love is not blind, it is
vision that makes everything look beautiful.
Rayyan’s version of the Myopia saga can be found here…
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