As I walked out of my hostel room, I suddenly remembered Amma talking once about how influential George is!
She told me that onceGeorge send the car to his daughter’s medical college and got the external examiner to come and meet him. He apprently ordered the external examiner to give his daughter 100% marks, so she would get the rank!
If he could get the external examiner to give more marks to his daughter, then he could make me fail to. I had to do something.
If I was George, what would I do? Think Nina, think quick, I started to panic.
I would probably tell the examiner, the girl’s name, how she looks like, she wears spectacles, short hair etc
I ran back to my room and quickly opened my door. I took my glasses off, my hair was still short. I combed my hair back and wore Aparna’s hair band. I checked my reflection in the mirror. I looked funny, but looking funny was a lot better than failing the viva.
I had three external examiners and as I entered the room 1, the examiner asked me
“Name?”
“Shilpa” I replied.I knew there is no way he could cross check my name. All students are given registration numbers to prevent any hanky panky.
“Where are you from?”
“Madras Sir”
“Oh, you speak Tamil?”
“Yes Sir” For the first time in my life, I was really grateful for learning to speak Tamil.
I stuck to Shilpa from Madras with the other 2 examiners too.
My practicals got over by around 3.30 pm and I was walking back to the hostel. From far away itself I noticed someone standing near my hostel entrance wearing a very familiar green colour saree. I didn’t have my glasses on and I told myself there was no chance it would be my darling mother. Why would she come to my hostel on the last day of my exam?
Then I saw the lady walking towards me. There was no mistake. It was my mother.
“How was your exam Nina?”
“Why are you here mother?”
“I came to see you. Why? I can’t come and see my daughter?”
I saw George coming out of the hostel entrance laughing and talking to the warden.
I couldn’t even walk. I stood there motionless. Few days ago, I promised myself that I would kill him, if I ever saw him again. And now when he is right in front of me, I couldn’t even take a step forward.
Some where at the back of my head I could hear a voice that spoke
“Nina, criminals often revisit the site of crime. He is here to see what damage he has inflicted on you. Don’t let him have that satisfaction!”
I started walking quickly to my room. I passed him and the warden on the way and I knew George was looking at me and I didn’t give a damn.
I could hear Amma’s foot steps right behind me
I opened my room door and tried to shut it quickly before Amma can enter. But she placed her hand on the door frame and I didn’t have the heart to smash the door on her hand and hurt her
“What is wrong with you Nina?” Amma pushed the door to come inside. I quickly stood in front of Amma and blocked the entrance of my room.
George was just a few feet away.
“I am sorry, we are not allowed to have male visitors in our room” I spoke to George. I had to try pretty hard to make sure that my voice didn’t quiver.

George was suddenly taken back. I guess his master planning for the events of the day didn’t include a very strong Nina Thomas. I could feel the chink in George’s armour and I stood in front of my door, staring at him. There was a moment of silence. Amma was trying to push me, so George can enter my room

“Don’t bother darling, I will wait for you in the car” George spoke to Amma
“No, she needs to learn a lesson. This isn’t how you treat family” Amma was rambling and I didn’t give a damn either.
I watched George leaving with a satisfaction I never felt before.
Amma was screaming and shouting and I walked to my desk and opened the drawer. I picked up the letter and shoved it on her face
“Read”
“What is this Nina?”
“I said read” I yelled
She snatched the paper from my hand and started to read
“Who send this?” She asked
“Can’t you guess?”
“Your Marwari boyfriend?”
“Oh Mother, please, why would he want to send such a letter? Your darling send this”
“Are you mad Nina? Why would Acha send a letter like this? What is he going to gain by sending a letter like this? Besides how does he know about Dr. D.G’s clinic?”
“Oh mother, your memory is failing you. How can you forget telling him that I went to Dr. DG’s clinic? Did you not get chechy to give the doctor’s letter to him to verify the truth?”
“You are a liar Nina. There is no way Acha would do such a thing!”
I couldn’t control my anger any more. I was just so hopping mad. My mother chose to trust her lover than her daughter. My mother didn’t even bother to understand what I went through the last few weeks. She had the audacity to call me a liar?
“Get out of my room”
“What?”
“I said get out of my room”
“Why should I? I have come to pick you up!”
“I am not coming home, mother”
“Where are you going?”
“I am going to Madras” That was the first place that came out from my mouth
“Really? Who do you have there?”
“Why do you care?”
“With whom are you staying Nina?”
“I am not telling you mother. I want you to leave my room now”
“I am sorry Nina, I am not going to let you ruin your life. I have a right to know where you are going?”
“I am sorry mother, you no longer have any rights once I turned 18. If you don’t believe me, Why don’t you go and ask your darling George?”
I didn’t realize my mother was so stupid. She just walked out of my room saying she is going to talk to Acha. I slammed the door shut. I half expectd Amma to break the door open and come inside. I counted to a 100, nothing happend. I opened my window to see what Amma was up to. I could see Amma and George talking and I was so stunned to see the two of them holding hands and walking towards the canteen. If anyone saw them, they would think they are husband and wife, not brother and sister. I felt sick seeing the two of them holding their hands. I wished I had a gun, so I could just kill both of them.

I knew I had to leave the hostel, but I had no place to go to. My hostel mess will be closed for 2 weeks. Where am I going to go? I could continue to stay in my room. But there won’t be any food. I only have a toaster! I also couldn’t let George know that I am staying alone in the hostel.
I knew what I am going to do. I took my bag, locked my room and walked out. There was no sign of George or my mother. I signed the register at the guard house writing my name, my room number and the time of departure.
There was no auto at the auto stand and I waited for the next available auto. I was busy planning the things I have to do when I heard someone asking
“Is this where I have to wait to get an autorickshaw?”
I looked at the guy. He looked like a foreigner, tall with curly hair.
I didn’t enjoy talking to a stranger let alone a foreigner, so I just nodded my head to say ‘yes’
“Are you a medical student?” he asked again
I nodded my head again, thinking why is that, just when you are desperate to get an auto, you wouldn’t find one?
“I am doing Engineering in Warangal. I came to see my friend. We schooled together in South Africa. He got admission to do medicine and I got admission to do engineering.. Do you know him? His name is Naidu!”
I nodded my head again
“Are you scared of me?”
“What?”
“You haven’t said a word? You just keep nodding your head. Is it because I am black?”
I looked at him again. He didn’t look black to me.
“I am not black. I am an Indian. I was born in South Africa. That is why this curly hair” He pointed to the curly hair on his head.
“Goodness No, I am not afraid of you. It is just that I am weary of strangers”
“oh”
“Did you get to meet your friend?” I felt it is only right that I say something to him.
“No, apparently he has gone to visit his cousin in Delhi. I wasted a trip”
“hmm” I mumbled. I didn’t want to nod my head and offend him again
“My name is Jonathan”
“That is a nice name. I am Nina”
“Where are you from?”
“Kerala”
“Oh, the land of coconut oil and banana chips”
“yes indeed”
Finally one auto came
“Where to?” The driver asked
“Railway station” I replied
“Can I come with you in the auto? You can drop me off at the main road. At least it will be easier to get an auto” Jonathan spoke
“Sure” I replied
Jonathan got off near the main road.

At the railway station, I got off, walked to the ticket counter, bought a platform ticket and went inside.
So far so good. Even if anyone finds the auto driver and question him, he would tell for sure that he dropped me at the railway station.
I waited a while in the platform, then covered my head with my duppatta and walked out of the railway station. I checked my watch. It was already 5 pm and I knew British Library closed at 6.30. I took another auto and went to the library to get books on Criminal psychology. I got the books and now I needed food. I took an auto and went to Nilgiris to buy bread, jam, banana and milk powder.
Around 7.30, I took an auto to go back to the hostel. But this time I didn’t use the main entrance. I got off near our hospital and like many students have done before me, I sneaked in through the gap in the fence.
All the lights in the hostel were off, even the ones in the corridor and I felt scared walking in the darkness to my room. I opened the door slowly and went inside. I was afraid to switch on the light, lest someone see it from outside. I lit a candle and kept it on the floor. I had to read. It didn’t take me too long to learn that George is an Aggressive Sociopath.
He had all the characteristics of an aggressive sociopath. Dominance and control are his main features. He also has psychopathic characteristics like delusions of grandiose, Narcissism, promiscuous sexual behaviour and is a pathological liar.
More and more things were becoming clearer to me.
George didn’t have a good childhood. He was born in Ceylon and his parents moved to so many different countries, when he was young. I remembered him talking about how he was bullied at school and the story of the pigeon.
One day he found a pigeon lying on the floor as he walked home from school. He always wanted a pet and his mother refused to let him have one. So he took the pigeon home expecting his mother to scold him. His mother didn’t fight with him, instead allowed him to keep the bird. He came home for lunch from school the next day and his mother had made chicken fry. George ate the chicken and looked at the bone and asked his mother
“Why is the bone so small?”
When she didn’t reply, he ran to his room to find the pigeon gone.
When George told the story during dinner once, I didn’t really think of it much. I thought it was just a sad story of a child losing a pet!
But I now realized that stroy was not about just losing a pet, it was the story of the beginning of psychopath.
George has been punishing his parents as long as I could remember. The last brutal thing he did to them was by convincing them to sell their home and trasfer the money in to George’s account. He convinced his parents that he wanted to take care of them in their old age and it will be easier if they are in Bangalore. He brought them a house in Bangalore( in his name) and when they were all settled, he sold the house and send them packing to an old folks home in Kerala. His parents died as destitute.
I realized, He has been manipulating my mother from the beginning. He was the reason my grand parents hated my mother. He was the reason why his father and my grand father never spoke to each other. He was the reason why my mother’s family is completely messed up.
He was the reason for all the fights in my house. He was the one who kept telling Amma that she deserves a better man.
I realized he would have been the one who was sending all those anonymous letters about my father’s escapades to my mother.
He even convinced Amma that she resembles Padmini Kolhapure!( film actress) and my mother spend a fortune getting a Padmini hair style!
My stupid mother believes whatever he tells her.
It didn’t take too long to figure out that, He is destroying my mother’s life and Maria’s life. I knew he will destroy mine too. I didn’t know how I am going to escape.

Three days later, there was another anonymous letter for me. Typed in A4 size paper, envelope post marked in GPO Bangalore. My hands shook as I opened the letter
This time the letter said
“Do you think we don’t know about your negro boy friend? We know you went to Madras with him. Wait till we let all your friends know about your latest escapedes! Pack your bags Nina Thomas, you will soon be expelled from your college!”
I sat on the floor and cried. Because that was all I could do

AGGRESSIVE SOCIOPATHS derive strong, yet nonperverse gratification from harming others. They like to hurt, frighten, tyrannize, bully, and manipulate. They do it for a sense of power and control, and will often only drop subtle hints about what they are up to. They polish their aggressive, domineering manner in such a way to disguise any intimidation others might feel. They seek out positions of power, such as parent, teacher, bureaucrat, supervisor, or police officer. Their style is one of passive aggression as they systematically go about sabotaging the ideas of others to get their ideas in place. In their spare time, they like to hunt or occasionally do sadistic things like find stray dogs and cut them up. They are usually effective at getting their way, and are especially vindictive if resisted or crossed. They don’t follow the social norm of reciprocity like others do: Source.