A matter of choice

This is the story of the Hare who lost his spectacles is a cute song I love. Like the Hare, I lost mine too.

"Ostensibly motionless, the hare was trembling with excitement, for without his spectacles he was completely helpless. Where were his spectacles? Could someone have stolen them? Had he mislaid them? What was he to do?"

I was not sure why anyone would flick my dear pair of spectacles? It was only dear to me and to no one else. But then, such is life.

Thanks to the meteoric rise in the use of technology in ophthalmology, I also own a pair of lenses. Rarely used for special occassions. This also means that I was not as helpless as the hare. I did not have to rush to an optician and get another pair. I started using my lenses at work, for a drive and for a movie. After all, I did own the pair, might as well use it.

A week went by and I was headed on a long drive out to the mountains. It was so irritating that I had to spend half an hour to get lens ready just for my very own drive. That day I decided to get another pair and damn the lenses I own.

So, here I was, all set on buying a new pair of spectacles. I went to the shop expecting to spend a few minutes trying out a frame and spent an hour checking out "fashionable" stuff. There were 500 varieties and innumerable brands and so many designs vying for my attention.

It's funny how the shop keeper and his assistant become your close friends ( I wonder if that is the correct word here) and decide that his opinion on what suits me should matter. They tell you what they like and what looks good on my face. I was to make a choice and I "chose" what they liked on my face. Why? I wonder!

A matter of choice indeed! I was wondering if I would have been happier if I had no choice except for the gandhian frame or some such basic number but maybe not. Do we really need all these varieties to spice up our lives? Were we as a race more clear and focused when we had less choice? Has China got it right when they choose economies of scale and make a billion similar pieces of an item than Indian Entrepreneurs who customise just about everything?

What is the real choice? Waiting for a perfecet holiday when you can see the perfect sunrise over a golden beach or enjoy the daily sunrise outside my window in between two buildings?