Ear, that vulnerable heel of Usha's Achilles

You may have guessed as to what the topic of today’s blog is. Yes, my ears which I rightly compare to Achilles Heel. An otherwise strong man, his only weakness was his heel and that heel was the reason for his death. I don’t say that my ear would be the reason behind my mortality, but it will definitely be the reason for a lot of embarrassment some of which I have already felt.

Now don’t get me wrong. The structure of my external ear is very good. As a family trait which I inherited from my father, I have big ear lobes and this enables me to wear earrings of more than the normal size. Going with my body frame, these earlobes in no way look incongruous or disproportionate and I can actually say that my ears look good on me. The reason for calling it my Achilles Heel has got to do with my middle and inner ear. Not being a medical professional, I am unable to pin point the area of malfunction, but I am professional enough to say that I am hard of hearing and it has been so for the last 30 years.

This may come as a surprise to many as it is difficult for a stranger to pinpoint this inefficiency in me. I have to a very large extent managed to cover up this inadequacy and I must say that in doing so have even acquired a new skill that of lip reading. I don’t know how I coped with this situation for so many years. I consider one of the reasons behind this success is the fact that I am focused on the situation at hand and thus am able to keenly follow the conversation. Somehow I have learnt to smile and nod my head at the right time and thus evade being spotted as a person with a hearing disability. Many may wonder as to the intensity of my deafness as they may not have known about it or realized about this weakness in me. Well I am not stone deaf and was born with perfect hearing. The reason for this partial deafness is a result of an ear infection which was not treated the way it should have been. Coupled with the infection was the constant air travel where the cabin pressure played havoc. I can give the reason for this situation as my ever optimistic nature, by which I felt that things would turn right. Had I paid more attention, I would have been devoid of my Achilles Heel. Coming to think of it, both Achilles and me have one thing in common. Both our weaknesses stem from the same source and that is the life giving element – Water. The weakness to his heel was as a result of his heel not touching the water of the River Styx when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river to attain immortality. It is said that her fingers went around the heel and thus the heel did not touch water. In my case it was an excess of water in the ear. So water has played the truant to both our weaknesses.

Finally when I decided that I could hardly hear with my left ear, I decided to consult a doctor and accordingly had a “Stapedectomy” performed. Thus my left ear became my saviour. The right ear was a borderline and I was advised against performing an operation then. Being a home maker, the doctor said that I could cope with the world with my left ear and the partial right ear. This was way back in 1985. Life seemed far more lively and continued to be in the same spirit. It is said that the surgery I underwent had a span and that was definitely not more than 15 years. Well things started to slowly slow down and I could feel it but again ignored. When I was asked by my family to opt for a hearing aid, I blankly refused. I felt that it would come in the way of my image and personality. Now when I think back I call it plain stupidity. Anyway life continued amidst constant prodding to do something whenever I met my sisters. Kumar almost gave up on me and said that I was being unnecessarily stubborn. At 40 I started wearing reading glasses and did not think an iota about it, but when it came to a hearing aid, it seemed to belong to a totally different league. Matters seemed to go totally out of hand and holding a conversation or listening to someone sitting on my right became next to impossible. It almost seemed rude when I unknowingly ignored the people on my right. So finally on July 1st 2008, accompanied by my niece Preetha I went to the audiometrist and decided to go in for a hearing aid.

I had my ears tested and listened quietly as I was being admonished for my stupidity. He gave me the great news that my right ear had reached stage 4 of deafness and said most eloquently that it was the final stage. Measurements were taken and in ten days time I was fitted with the magic machine which I could insert in my ear. It seemed chic and undetectable. When a friend of mine wanted to know if I had purchased any diamonds, I told her yes and that it was inside my ears. Yes they have surely enhanced by otherwise beautiful outer ear and my not so good inner ear and also the cost involved was prohibitive and would have fetched me a pair of diamond ear studs. So here I was fitted with the latest of technologies and back to face the noisy world.

I am still way behind when it comes to the perfect hearing; however I am glad with what I have. In the meantime my operated ear has started to revolt. Wonder whether another diamond will do the trick. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, had he been alive today, may have had to take back his words “Ireland, that vulnerable heel of the British Achilles”. But the same does not hold true for me. It is something perennial with which I have been endowed. The silver lining of course is the fact that I can be selective with what I hear and ignore what irritates me.