Right now my joy knows no bounds. The colors missing from my life for quite a while now, have returned in all their glory. Truly speaking, they are hurting my eyes with their brightness, clarity, and of course the sheer beauty of their colors. Am I complaining? No! I am jumping for joy. Strictly figuratively speaking, of course because mine is no age for jumping. So I am merely walking around exclaiming, ‘Omg! OMG! OMFG!!!!!‘

It is funny how I never really missed them, the colors I mean. What’s more, I was not even aware the colors I was seeing were in anyway less than perfect. But the doctor thought otherwise. Cataracts, he declared. What? No way! Cataracts are what happens to doddering old people. I was am way too young for it, wasn’t I? Well, wasn’t it like only a couple of years back that my parents had their cataract surgery? Then how could it be that I would need one so soon? Nothing but balderdash. I could see perfectly clearly. I spotted birds better than anyone. So there! Besides, I could read too, without glasses. Try to beat that, ha!

Checking in with Mother Google put an end to all misconceptions of mine. I was apparently exactly the ‘right’ age if ever there could be one for cataracts to play spoilsport. What’s more, I was also the right candidate I learnt, much to my chagrin. Hmm.. I was not going to jump into anything. Wait and watch is going to be my strategy, I decided.

Whenever you are ready, the doctor had said. Not any time soon, I had thought as I left the clinic. I changed my mind though, sooner than I thought. I could still read (small mercies!) with ease, but I realized other things were less than perfect. Single lights looked like stars with multiple short tails and an exceptionally longer one. There was a second paler moon hiding behind the first one, sometimes a third even paler version in front of the pair. New dimly-lit places were making me feel lost.

Okay, fine. Let’s get it over with, I decided. I am ready now.

Every story has a villain to stir up trouble. Mine was no different. Covid 19 laughed wickedly from the sidelines as soon as I made my decision. Yeah, you were saying? it asked, slyly. Oh, alright, I replied conceding defeat. I will have to wait, so be it. It was a indeed a long wait. But finally I got my chance. The cataracts were ‘lasered’ away and brand new lens replaced the original that came with me at birth.

When I returned home, and removed my eye patch, I stared in amazement. This was my home? But, but… the walls don’t look drab and as if they needed a coat of paint. The wooden fittings and furniture don’t look jaded, but as if they have been freshly varnished. Omg, is that the color of the pants I am wearing? And the scarf! It’s a lovely pink. I couldn’t stop marveling at everything. Even the L&M and Luci looked like fresh new prints of an old photograph to me. Is it any wonder then that I am still walking around exclaiming, ‘Omg! OMG! OMFG!!!!!

The sky is so blue, a blue I haven’t seen in years. To think I thought the skies for some reason had stopped being so blue. The flowers are hurting my eyes with their pretty colors. The leaves couldn’t be any greener. I can see the lone house on the mountainside. The crows flying above look so black, their wing details clearer. The colors on the television screen seem unbelievable. Things that looked pale yellow earlier now look a sharp white.

It has been three days now. I am still at it, unable to believe my eyes. I cover the good eye and look at each object with my other still bad eye to confirm the vast difference. Yes, I had indeed been living in a jaded world, I tell myself. Now the true colors are back in my life enriching it once again. I cannot but connect this experience of mine to life in general. In real life, how many of us are viewing the world through the ‘cataracts’ of our own baseless beliefs, refusing to let logic and reason ‘laser’ them away, clearing our ‘vision’ so we can see the truth in all its beauty?!

© Shail Mohan 2021