Perspective

To carry on with the daily ritual with just one eye was an enlightening experience.

For one day I had an idea of the adjustments my officemate, who lost his right eye to tumor, went through. (This is nothing about the emotional aspect, though – that’s way beyond my understanding.)

It took me ten seconds to apply the toothpaste on my toothbrush, and even missed a whole glob on my first squeeze. It took me twice the time to finish my meals because I kept missing my mouth by a fraction of an inch. I can bounce the ping-pong ball only two to three times before it wildly goes off-course.

Outside, people WILL look, and I had to be extra careful while trying to move as naturally as possible.

At the office, I answered the first three persons sincerely about the eyepatch. Later on, as the questions started pouring in, I was telling them, “I had an eyebag lift”, or “I’m playing pirate”.

We were halfway through a meeting when our boss asked about the eyepatch. Before I could answer, somebody went ahead and said, “He’s playing pirate, sir.”

The whole day I got challenges for ping-pong and billiards matches. And the whole day I marveled at how my officemate never slowed down even with the loss of his right eye some years ago. He rides his scooter everyday and does the office plumbing, steelworks, electricity, and overall maintenance.

I was a more grateful person when I removed the bandage at the end of the day.