the ongoing experiment

These black glasses have small holes that let in pinpricks of light. I don't know what they are supposed to be used for - I suppose, as glasses, or plastic-es - but they were lying around the house for some time.

Being bored on the one hand, and on the other hand suffering from intolerable headaches each time I wear my normal glasses, I decided to try this on. I suppose it acts like the compound eyes of flies. With these, I can face the computer screen from about the same distance as I do normally. (And considering each eye is about 1000 degrees blind, that is no mean feat for these glasses).

But enough of the raving.

I decided to try playing my cello with them. It is amazing how your experience alters once your sight is limited to pinpricks of light. The sounds came through so obviously- when normally I would be more occupied with getting ahead with the many notes. I couldn't see the notes (as always, because they are always written one size below readable level), so I had to memorise one or two bars at a time. And because I was too lazy to keep reaching for the score. I was compelled to nitpick on those bars for an incessant amount of time. Which is good. I hardly do that ever. Kinesthetically too, it was an interesting experience. You can feel the different muscles moving, the fingertips, the thumb, the tension in strangest places - and then you make a conscious effort to relax these one by one. The body feels heavier, weightier. (Fatter?!)

The sense of sight is overrated. Vision is valued, but it is also possible to be so preoccupied with what is to come, that the details of the moment are neglected. And what is life, but a collection of moments? WIthout sight, the other senses are completely engaged with completing the task at hand, it is harder to get distracted.

Since I was 4, I have been chasing after the perfect 6/6 vision with one pair of glasses after another. This time, before getting a new pair, I reckon maybe it is time to exploit my lack of sight and attempt to increase the acuity of the other senses.

(In the spirit of soaking in the half-blind moments, I have thus far attempted to wash the dishes, and realised I have to 'blind-proof' the sink's contents by emptying it of knifes and sharp objects. Also, I spent a good 15 seconds thereabout staring a a shimmering thing in the sink, which I found out, upon stretching my hand out and groping, was a glass.)