The chashma - Part 1

Everyone in the class made fun of her spectacles...3 decades back having spectacles at the age of 6 wasn't normal!

She used to complain everyday on coming home, saying Mummy "I could not complete what teacher wrote on the blackboard, because I couldn't see it"
And the mother kept wondering what could be the probable reason? Mother even tried telling the class teacher that - Please make her sit on the front bench so that it becomes easier for her to note down things from the black board..but sadly even that didn't work!

Then she started complaining to her parents about a bad headache.
It suddenly occurred to her mother a visit to the doctor might help. A visit to the Opthalmologist confirmed the fact that their daughter was myopic. And not just that she had -2.5 number in the spectacles which were then until sometime back referred to as 'coke bottom glasses'.

And then the ordeal began.. there were only 3 children in the class who had spectacles.
She started feeling low in confidence which was badly aggravated by class children teasing her for having specs! She was good in her work had an excellent memory.. was good at public speaking.. but all her qualities started going in a shell that she had created for herself!!

She often used to wonder - Why do other children do so?
Are they not told by their parents to help and support other children?
Sadly 'bullying' was not a much known term back then. The children of the class who used to tease her never realised it and also her friends could never ever fathom what pain was she going through!

Her goal in life was to get rid of the spectacles ..any how any way..
but till then.. those spectacles took away her confidence for a considerable number of years.
Were her spectacles a measure of judging who she was and what were her capabilities?

[Read on in the next article...]