The Tale of my Spectacles

I remember the day I got my spectacles. Not that I needed them. The privilege of being a topper and the apathy of Stewart School teachers had long since made me immune to the fallouts of not listening in class. I will confess now. I got bespectacled coz my prevailing crush that time also started wearing glasses. Now don't ask me the logic behind all of it. Love, Infatuation in fact the entire genre is more stupid than blind.
Anyways within a few days of wearing the glasses, my crush was transferred to another girl who dint wear glasses.I also realised that I should have had a frame-less one done as it was the current rage. But thanks to two of my Neanderthal friends I was relieved of my spectacled woes when they found out that it was a shiny toy and could be substituted for a ball. Crashhh!!!
By the time I had the next pair I was discovering that I had to squeeze my eyes to slits to be able to see from the last bench(Now why I dint relocate to the first bench has been dealt with in my post We, The Backbenchers). By this time the power was somewhere in the range of -1.5. By this time people were beginning to identify me in Dumb-Charades when somebody aped that painful expression on my face when I wanted to see something at a distance. Anyways this pair also dint last long. I knelt over it as it was lying on my side while trying to reach for a book.
Another year passed. I entered engineering. Now I was even more loath to wear glasses as all my time in classes was spent napping. Besides all the money is diverted into more aesthetic pleasures such as smoking and drinking. Who is going to fork out a half a grand for a pair of glasses.
Now I had become used to people aping me and making fun of me. But what really hurt was the painful and accusing glances on the faces of my quiz partners when I couldn't ID Gene Kelly of "Singin in the Rain" fame. Matters really came to a head when after I uttered these memorable lines in Konark " Hey hey. Is that a gal in black shalwar over there. Plzz tell me if she is beautiful". This when every guy in the group was checking out that gal only. Really mortifying experience. Wont elaborate more.
So I had a third pair done. You may ask why I dint have a spare. No cash people and I couldn't offer that explanation to my parents as I was supposed to have not one but two spare pairs. But I had diverted the funds into more fruitful activities.
Anyhow the third pair also broke. I forget how, as it was getting too commonplace an event.
The next pair lasted a little more than 6 months. It survived the frenzied headbanging of the Opeth concert and trekking in Shillong but not a group hug. Someone became overtly sentimental and my glasses were knocked off.
I haven't had a pair made yet. And my power has surreptitiously grown to -2.25. Motivationally challenged, thats what I am. But the infuriatingly tiny print of my copy of The Fountainhead is making me go bonkers. So I have decided I will go in for my fifth pair today. Let us see how long this one lasts. And I think I have stumbled upon a truth. It is more from our carelessness than the natural deterioration of our eyes that keep the Optician's shop open.