In Peddanandipadu, a village in Prakasam district, at the end of a bumpy, dusty road where cyclists, goats, buffaloes—and the occasional jeep--jostle for space, one suddenly meets a low dapper building with a board prominently featuring the words “Free eye examination”. A clutch of elderly men, some wearing the spectacles that announce the arrival of diminished accommodation, settle comfortably at the base of the steps. Their casual appropriation of the space seems symbolic of a sense of ownership. The Vision Centre, dubbed so because it is a place where people come to regain—with the help of a pair of spectacles—sight once lost, or to seek a solution to something that is bothering their eyes. Inside the room, stepping back into position on the shiny new tiles, a young man in a professional’s white coat puts his display of spectacles in order and walks into his examination room to check a pair of lenses. Y Srinivasa Rao, the young Vision Technician who has taken over this Vision Centr...
making sense of the everyday