I did not sneak

The word ‘Sneak’ as in the dictionary is:

“To go or move in a quiet, stealthy way” or

“To behave in a cowardly or servile manner” or even

“A person regarded as stealthy, cowardly, or underhanded.”

But when I was in school, it had a completely different meaning. To sneak is to report to the authorities, be it to the prefects or the staff about a fellow Saikorian. To be called a “sneaker” was the worst possible insult for any Saikorian. But sneakers existed though. And I detested them.

I for myself had never had the urge or the opportunity to sneak, because I was always on the other side to be sneaked upon. So, throughout my Saikorian life I was a non-sneaker.

  

For the past couple of months, I am observing that when I work with my computer for more than half an hour, my left eye starts to water. The eye sight in that eye gets blurred as if a translucent sheet covers my eye. If I close my right eye, it is just a blur; the screen in front is just like an incandescent light. This effect vanishes in a few minutes I get away from the computer. So, I thought I should get my eyes checked.

The Ophthalmologist at L.V.Prasad hospital listened to my complaint, like a school teacher listening to the same poem being recited by all the students, one after the other. But I was sure he got my point. I was quite impressed by the professional way he checked my eyes. Made to sit in front of different machines and checked from the other end. Finally, he put on the lights and pronounced like a judge pronouncing ‘death’.

“Mr. Err Ravi, there is nothing wrong with your eyes, they are in perfect order.”

“But” I protested “my left eye blurring is a fact and there must be something wrong”

“As far as I am concerned, your eyes are in good shape for your age.”

“But” he added “If you insist, I will refer you to another specialist”

A fat malayalee nurse led me to another chamber with a name board, which said “Ultrasound Biomicroscopy”

The doctor received me with a sweet smile; she had a dimple in her chin. She checked my reports and listened to my complaint with great interest.

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked like a small kid. She just smiled and said “Let us do an ultra sound, it can detect glaucoma, cysts and neo plasms of the eye, as well as the evaluation of trauma and foreign bodies of the eye.”

“O.K”

After the reports were presented to her, she pursed her lips and said “Mr Ravi, I do not find anything wrong with your eyes, I am referring you to a retina specialist” and pushed her remote buzzer.

This specialist was an aged man, with neatly trimmed grey beard and looked to me more like a nutty professor working on weird projects than a doctor.

He studied my reports and he did not even ask me my problem, maybe it was already written in the reports.

“If there is a unilateral small pupil with normal reactivity to light, it is unlikely that a neuropathy is present, however, if accompanied by ptosis of the upper eyelid, this may indicate Horner's syndrome.” He said.

I did not understand a word of it, but said “Whoa, that’s great”

“Lets go for an E.O.G, Electrooculography it is a technique for measuring the resting potential of the retina.”

And after that test, he just looked at me, devoid of any feeling, just a blank look at my face. I even thought for a moment that my ‘blurring of left eye’ was contagious and now his eyes are blurred too.

“Let’s do a final test the Fluorescein angiogram it is a test used to evaluate the blood circulation in the retina.”

If I refused, I was sure he would have been very upset. So I said “That’s a great idea doctor”

I underwent that test too. I was asked to wait in the lobby for the results.

The lobby was full but quite. I almost fell asleep.

Those were the days, when Satrughan Sinha was a great rave in the Hindi movie field. Every dialogue of his, the audience would wildly whistle and clap. I was not very impressed by him though. T.V.K.Krishna (Roll no.817), my neighboring bed-mate in Gupta house was a great fan of Satrughan. Till then I did not realize that being a fan was such a serious business. He could not tolerate even a slight criticism of his hero. He had a double spread center page poster of Satrughan in his cupboard and pulled it out every night and spent quite some time looking at it before he went to sleep.

I used to heckle him for that, but he continued never the less. One day, I stole that poster and hid it in my study room desk. That night I covered myself from head to toe and wanted to see what Krishna would do, not finding his GOD. I could sense, his shock, he looked all over, he even checked my cupboard. He was doing all this in such fast actions, like a rabbit, which lost its carrot from his burrow.

And I could not hold it any longer. An involuntary chuckle “He he he!” blurted out of my mouth. The very next moment, Krishna was on top of me. “Where did you keep it, where?” It was more a threat than a pleading. I was surprised by his seriousness.

 “What, what?” I tried to act innocent, but could not stop myself from laughing. He was wildly throwing his arms at my head and shoulders. It started to hurt me. I pushed him with all my might and he fell on the bed in front. But again charged at me like a bull. I was on my feet by then and he aimed a mighty punch at my shoulder. I ducked my shoulder and the punch with all his force hit my left eye. And for a moment I had the feeling of travelling in a dark tunnel. I lost consciousness. I was revived by others sprinkling water on me. There was dull pain in my eye. As I opened my eyes, there were many faces looking down at me with surprise and shock. The look on Krishna’s face was very worrisome. He immediately grabbed and placed me over his shoulders “Let’s take him to the hospital” he said and ran towards the hospital with me on his back like a soldier saving his wounded mate at war.

And one look at my eye said it all “What happened” asked sister. There was total silence. She called the hospital ward boy Thomas and asked to inform our house master.

“I was hit by a cricket ball Sister” I managed to say.

“This time of the night?” she asked. It was obvious; she had nothing to do to me. It was beyond her.

While we waited for our house master, I looked into the mirror at the doctor’s room. I was shocked and frightened too. My eye was blood-shot; it was so red that my pupil seemed lost. There was a small swelling of my eye brow. I looked like one of those pirates in a movie. The pain was excruciating.

Mr. and Mrs Ranganathan rushed in; Mr. Raganathan was still in his lungi. And one look at me, he said “Inform the Principal” and in no time Princi was there.

“What happened?” he demanded an explanation. No one spoke a word. “Tell me what exactly happened” he thundered to the half a dozen friends there. There was total silence. For a moment I thought Krishna would spill it out.

“I was hit by a cricket ball, sir” I said.

“Shut up, don’t lie to me, I will know the truth anyway” he shouted.

It was decided to take me to KGH at Vizag the next morning.

Early morning, Mr.Ranganathan, Mr. Thomas and I got into Principal’s car to KGH.

Mr.Ranganathan was very cool and talked to me in a fatherly tone; he assured me that I would be alright. And suddenly asked me “Revi, what actually happened? I will not tell anyone, see, you might even lose one eye, tell me the truth. After all we cannot lie to the doctor”

“I was hit by a cricket ball, sir” I repeated. The rest of the journey was in total silence.

At the KGH, the doctor asked “Had a fight Ahh?” he examined me and said, there was nothing to worry, and said “He shall be fine in a couple of days.” There was a huge sigh of relief.

I was lead to the retina specialist again.

“Mr. Ravi, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. It is a phenomenon called Ocular Trauma, maybe you had an injury when you were a kid, either by a fight with your friends or a sports related injury”

He continued “Because it is only a temporary difficulty you face for a limited time, I do not prescribe any further treatment for you.”

“Yes sir, I was hit by a cricket ball when I was a kid” I said and walked out of his chambers.

I did not sneak.