Arshiya was a big fan of Facebook. She spent hours on the computer liking, commenting and updating. But she was a bigger fan of something else, her baby girl Aasma. And so, Aasma soon achieved celebrity status at the age of 2 months when her mom enthusiastically uploaded pictures on Facebook every other day. Arshiya proudly beamed as her friends debated on whom her baby resembled more and gushed about how she was the prettiest baby they had ever seen.

“It’s my turn to give Nana her eye drops today!”, yelled Anthony, aged ten.

“No it’s my turn…” his five years old brother vehemently shot back!

Nana overheard her grandchildren bickering and braced herself as she prepared to get into the judge’s seat to sort out the ‘lawsuit’ that would soon be brought to her. She was pleasantly surprised when the kids did not turn up even after fifteen minutes. As she strained her ears to hear if they had stopped bickering, she overheard their peals of laughter. She smiled to herself and went back to her nap.

“We will need to get your babies’ eyes checked by a Paediatric Ophthalmologist.” Smita’s heart sank as soon as she was told this by her doctor. The last week had been one heck of a roller coaster ride. It all started with her Gynaecologist telling her that they would need to perform an emergency operation for her to have her baby prematurely. She had not even held her baby in her arms when it was whisked away to the NICU. Sometimes, the doctor gave her hopes when he said their baby was improving. At other times, she simply dreaded the doctor’s visits fearing they would tell her that her baby was no more.

“I know how it feels like, Chatterjee.”

“No Sharma, you would never know. You know how Shakespeare said: ‘Having nothing, nothing can he lose’? It’s the same with you. You would just never know.”

People were used to seeing the two silver haired men occupy the same bench every evening in the park. Sharing similar thoughts on almost everything from politics to sports, Sharma and Chatterjee seldom argued. But today Chatterjee was in a sullen mood.

Hi Ma! Oh, don’t pinch yourself; this really is your baby talking to you… I overheard how people were confusing you about my eyes and what I can see…
“I have heard that babies are as blind as a bat when they are born!”

“Did you know that babies see things upside down for a few months?”

“Oh no! I have heard that all a newborn can see is just shadows!”

Ma, you must be wondering what it is that I can actually see when you wiggle that shiny rattle at me. Here are the facts on what I actually do see…

GIFT OF SIGHT

"Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see."
-Helen Keller, famed deaf blind author.

We have many such Helen Kellers even today. There are more than 12 million blind people in India out of which about 4 million are corneally blind which means that their corneas are the cause of their blindness. The cornea is the transparent clear front surface of your eyes. It plays a major role in seeing by helping the light rays converge as they enter the eye.

“Yessss!” squealed 19 years old Surbhi as she hugged her mother with joy. Surbhi had long suffered from the agony of being called “double battery” and “specky” for as long as she had worn glasses. She had always dreamed of this day when she would be allowed to wear contact lenses and bid adieu to her spectacles forever.

• When you pass by a graveyard, you should hold your breath or else you would breathe in the soul of the recently deceased.

• When your ears itch, tingle or feel warm, it means somebody is talking about you. If it’s the right ear, the words being spoken are good and vice versa.

Find these odd? These are just a few among the many myths that abound in history. Bizarre as they may sound, they were actually thought to be true once upon a time when science was in its infancy.
We may laugh at the intellect of our ancestors, but there are quite a few myths that exist today also. Here’s a look at the top eye care myths…

“I am never ever ever going back to school” yelled little Nikhil and stomped into his room. His mom knew that he was having a hard time making new friends after they had shifted their residence a few months ago. But now, she was beginning to grow tired and worried. His grades were going down, he refused to go and play… something had to be done.

Hi! Oh my God! Look at you!! What happened to you in the vacations?”
“Nothing ya. Mummy took me to our eye doctor to get my eyes checked. Turns out I need to use specs. It’s -5 in my right eye!”

“Whoa! But how did you get such a huge number all of a sudden? Until 3rd grade you never wore any glasses!”

“Actually, I couldn’t see properly since 2nd grade. But I never told mummy. You know na, how everyone would have teased me! But these vacations, mummy realized something was wrong. The eye doctor told my mummy, you should have come earlier. Daddy also yelled at me. But what could I have done?”