News travels really fast here
Well was chatting with a buddy of mine and she just retorted to a comment of mine saying that, "News travels fast here". Well.....this sentence was enough to take me b 5-6 years back (Total philmy ishtyle haan). I was in standard 8th then. when i first came to know that tadaaaa!!!!!! I have specs. Specs, which I will have to wear for the rest of my life. *pity, pity* *Sob Sob* I was in a miserable state that time. Actually I always had an inkling that something's wrong with my eye power. But never really went ahead and told appa that I think we should get my eyes checked. Firstly I was sooooo afraid of his reactions. "Nee day fulla TV parthindru.... soda bottle aa irrukim and all shit! " (Just go on watching TV all the time. U will get a big fat number as ur eye power and blah blah.....) Also I did not want to face it that I had specs. So I kept postponing it. I thought getting specs with a number was a worst thing that could happen to anyone. (Ok...ppl don't laugh, I was a kid back then)

Well a day dawned when I couldn't see stuff from the last bench. (I was a last bencher in class) My friends could see everything and I could not. I was like that's it! Now I would have to go to the doc. *sigh*....Somehow mustered courage and told appa. Appa was surprsingly cool.(Yea.this always happens to me.....whenever I get scared anticipating Appa's reactions.......nothing happens......absolutely nothing happens. But the day I am carefree about something, he would come and burst on me.....arghhhhhh.......all the mental trauma and anticipation drowned the drain...huh) Infact the difficult part was convincing myself and mentally preparing myself to go to the Doc.

Ok the d-day arrived and I go to the doc. At the doc there was a long queue. An excruciatingly painful wait! Atlast after what seemed like an eternity my turn came. The doc was cute with a paunch. (Don't all docs have that?) All the formalities were completed and the doc came out with a result. Ur daughter has power ........-1.25 on both her eyes. My jaw drooped....my dad was :OOOOOO.......So much for starters......He said u shud have come earlier and i was already to assault appa that time. Only bcoz of appa i did not say..huh! ........Now i was petrified......I did not want such a biiiiiig number......I cud have burst into tears any moment. But i controlled. Then Appa asked him is it because of watching too much TV. And guess what the doc replied noooooooo...yiipppeeeeeeee, I wanted to hug him tight now. Coz now appa won't blame my bada number attributing that reason. Then the doc said maybe it is hereditary....and I was ready to hug him tighter with a peck on his cheek. Coz amma has specs... Infact whole of amma's family has specs. Yiipppeeeeeeeee...! So Appa has absolutely no reason to blame me. hheheheheheeheeeeee *relieved *

We both went home. It was such a biiiiiiiiiig event in my life (Ok ppl, no laughs here, when I was 12 this indeed was a major thing) I was quiet. I was silent the whole day. (quite unusal of me I should say) Then suddenly I went to my parents. I told them in no uncertain terms that the news of me wearing spectacles should not reach Bangalore (the place where all my maternal relatives stay.) I was probably the first amongst my cousins to get such a distinction. And I wasn't too proud about it either. Prestige ka sawaal hain yaar! So No ways are they gonna know about it! Amma, appa started laughing at my weird demand. I was dead serious though. No ways are they gonna know about it. Also I have 3 Mamas (maternal uncles)...who will tease me to death about the whole thing which I definitely did not want. I made amma, appa say a yes! And life went on...

3-4 months later... Having being adjusted to the totally new addition in my life my life was going on smooth. One day I get a call from my one of my mama. He said he was coming to Mumbai and would drop in home. I was like yippeeee...yaayyyyy! (My mamas are sweethearts!) But as I kept down the receiver I was like O no! He would now come to know that I have specs. Now that definitely can't happen. I went to amma and started complaining to her. Amma just asked me to stop acting foolish. But I was hyper (I still am) started to devise methods to stay away from my house. Hm...what to do... go to my friends house..and say I had tuitions...hmmmm..good idea! Gr8! I settled on this plan. But after someytime mama's call came back again. He spoke for sometime with appa and then to me. We spoke the usual things when he suddenly told me that he knew that I had specs. I was like what...!?!?!?!?!?! "How did you know?" was my first question of disbelief. I couldn't believe that my full proof plan could go haywire like this. I only wore specs in school and tuitions and at home. Never when I was out. How could he know? Everybody knew. My patti knew, my chitti (aunt) knew, My other mamas knew, my cousins knew....EVERYBODY KNEW.... I kept on asking him and he kept on laughing, that sinister laugh I tell you! Huh! I was so irritated and so disgusted. I told amma and she started laughing too. I screamed at my parents, how could u guys betray me, my trust? (O god....what over reacting...goodness) Amma started laughing, Appa also joined the fun. They kept denying vehemently that they were the ones who informed them. But I did not trust them.

Mama came with his wife and my cutie cousins. All came and looked at me as if I was some specimen piece, as if they have never sen a girl with specs. Goddddddd...I wanted to hit everybody at that time. My cousin comes and asks me...So u got specs aa! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh! Mama knew I was curious as hell to know how he came to know about the news! And he kept teasing me all the time. Amma laughed at my predicament and retorted... "news travels fast here!"

And the saddest part is I still don't know how they came to know and I strongly suspect my parents' hand at this....gaddar party! huh