The Split Personality

[When I watch the climax in most of the films I used to wonder, ‘How is it that the villain, who had been extremely cruel till the previous scene, has suddenly become a symbol of all simplicity, all goodness when he was about to die from the shot he received from the hero?’ He starts begging pardon from all the people (usually all the important characters in the movie are present at this scene). But is it possible for such a sudden change to take place in real life? The following real story shows it is (names have been changed, though). Read another similar story here – The Felling Knife]

Sudhakar was a very energetic, wobbly youngster who always laughed very loudly. If he was not laughing, then he was smiling or talking. He vibrated a huge amount of energy all around. Wherever he went people wanted to follow him possibly due to the positive energy and the fragrance of happiness he spread all around him wherever he goes. The office woke up the moment he arrived (and slept when he left). Everybody, starting from the top management to the peons, loved him, no, adored him. Nobody has ever seen him angry or upset or sad. If he was, by chance, he managed successfully to hide it. He vibrated a lot of positive energy, happiness, and enthusiasm to anybody who came in contact with him. Even those who met him for the first time were influenced by him.

He was in the front row of any activity in the office, whether it is cultural, literary, arts, or sports. Any activity will be incomplete without Sudhakar’s presence. When we started a Table Tennis club, as usual, he was in front of it. He was with the group for everything such as organising meetings, researching for the most suitable items, bargaining, purchasing, and so on. He was also in the forefront in using such facilities, too. It was a beauty watching him playing Table Tennis. After every shot he laughed loudly. Even when he lost a point or the game or even the match, he laughed. He was activity, energy, enthusiasm, and happiness epitomized.

It was during one of those days that a new member of the staff joined, a girl by the name Rose. She was young, active, and had the air of coming from a high class society. She certainly did not have the look of a model or an actress, but, yes, she was not bad to look at. She considered the lower staff with contempt and did not even look at them. She poked her nose into everything the elite staff in the office did. She was not an exemplary worker, but a good one. Moving around with the senior staff, she, though a junior, considered equal to them. Her ego was a lot more than her own size.

Sudhakar and Rose worked together in a project. Sudhakar got slowly attracted to her. He began to kind of stalk her, because she did not respond positively. But she did not care. She ignored him. She tried to avoid him as much as possible. But love is blind. A lover will not see, hear, or notice what he/she does not want to. Her open behaviour was, probably mistaken by Sudhakar as her consideration for him. But he did not, or did not want to, realise that she openly behaved with others too. Another unfortunate fact was that Sudhakar did not know that Rose was seeing somebody since the past few years. In a few months they would be engaged.

One day Sudhakar pleaded with her to reciprocate his feelings towards her. He openly said he loved her and wanted to marry her. This was done in the quite corner of the library when nobody was around. Rose, however, flared up and shouted at him. Her raised voice attracted other colleagues and they immediately rushed to the library.  She abused, insulted, and poo-pooed Sudhakar in front of other colleagues.

Everybody was shocked at her unexpected behaviour. If she was in relation with somebody else, she could have told him that more gently. It was only during her flare-up that many people knew about her already existing relationship. Sudhakar did not utter even a single word. He was aghast at the sudden turn of events. He had no idea about her other relationship. It was true that she had not shown any interest in him. But his feelings towards her were so strong that he ignored that fact.

Sudhakar was on leave for several days after that. When he returned to office later he was a completely changed man. He had lost all qualities of his previous self. He had forgotten to laugh or even smile. He was always gloomy. He did not give face to his colleagues. He stopped coming out of his room except when it is absolutely necessary. He stopped playing Table Tennis. He stopped mingling with people. He stopped taking part in any activity in the office. In place of the very strong positive energy that he used to vibrate in the past, he started vibrating negative energy. Nobody could believe that this was the same Sudhakar who was a phenomenon and was loved by everybody.

Rose left the office once the project, in which she had been working, got over. She married her boyfriend in due course. Sudhakar, too, got married after a few years and is living with his family. The earlier Sudhakar never returned. It is only the new Sudhakar, who, as years went by, learnt to live in the present and has recovered to a great extent from the shock. But still, he is only a shadow of his former self.