A somewhat obscure but interesting fact about the famous round spectacles worn by Mahatma Gandhi is that the frame hinges were exceedingly adaptable – so far that they could be pulled to both sides, and the wearer would stretch the arms over each other as much as 180 degrees backwards and forwards.
This set of unique glasses was created at BN Jaipal Opticals which was an ancestral store, first, opened in the year 1888 at Kaiserbagh, Lucknow. The shop marks its 137th anniversary in the business and today, it is housed under the fifth generation of the Baijal family.
The frames were manufactured with a non- allergy and skin-friendly acetate, are hand-polished, and take a painstaking 25-day artisanship process, says Sonu Baijal, the current owner of the shop.
When Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Lucknow to address the congress session in 1916, he was called to our shop to have his glasses made, he again adds. Well, even Gandhiji wrote a letter of appreciation at the time he had been given the spectacles. Unfortunately, the letter got lost on the way through the years as a result of the several renovations of the shop,” says Sonu. There were then only four such places, the three across belonging to the Britishers, and the other was ours when BN Baijal began this optical shop in the year 1888, he adds.
