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Journalism of Courage
In an age when reading is declining, 8216;reading glasses8217; is a bit of a misnomer. Gujaratis have a more apt word for these 8212; betala, after betalis, ie, 42 8212; the age when most have to cope with hypermetropia.
However, I avoided a betala even after reaching it 8212; the urge to defy age gets stronger with age, you see. But there was another reason. An equally sound one. Slight impairment of vision, I realised, had its brighter side, it literally made you gloss over the rough edges of life. Looked closely, things look prettier than they are.
Caste is passeacute;. Now, it8217;s the sub-caste. What if you are a Brahmin? You had to be a KBJ 8212;Kanyakubja or SPN Saryupareen 8212; make the cut. And in most cases, the aspirants were asked to send BHP-H for horoscope.
I also began to notice the soft underbelly of the ads of other products: the fine print. My daughter wanted to buy a laptop. The ad of a well-known brand boasted of the latest features but small print had this warning: the information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The ad of a well-known private educational institute offered graduate and post-grad courses on great subjects. But the fine print was a dampener. It said: 8220;All degrees are not recognised by AICTE/AIU/Govt of India.
One day, flipping the pages of a high-circulation local newspaper, the ad of an economy-class car caught my eye. It boasted of some attractive features. Not to be taken in, I looked at the bottom. But even my new glasses were of no help in deciphering the fine print. The letters were too fuzzy. Decoding Egyptian hieroglyphs, I thought, would have been easier. Well, it didn8217;t matter. One wasn8217;t going to buy it. But I did make a mental note of buying another visual aid: the magnifying glass.
As for beauty, the age I hope would give one the perspective to see it beyond the rough edges. And wrinkles.
