Paranoia

I’ve grown up surrounded with detective books. I can’t remember what the title of those books were but it shows how you, as a detective, are supposed to set “traps” around the house like sprinkle some powder under your window so that if anyone breaks in from there, you’d see their footprints. Or, place a book on the table, remember the page number you left it open at and lay a single strand of hair across it.

It even tells you how to walk around your neighbourhood by showing you a map and asking you to decide which paths you should be taking to avoid all the dangerous places. Or how to be suspicious of your neighbour should there recently have been a bank break in if they start buying expensive things suddenly. Or if you know your neighbour always lived alone and you suddenly see her washing guys clothes and yet never see a man outside the house, be on the alert.

Yes, all this I have committed to memory just from those few books. It was mainly pictorial so it was a good read and an educational one. It was a series and had a bright blue cover…

Anyways, it started a huge interest in detective work, I’ve indulged myself in tv series, movies and books of that genre since then. Along the way, I’ve picked up habits which never occurred to me how paranoid I had become.

I’d never throw away my credit card slips. If I do, I’d tear it up carefully so that my credit card numbers are stripped into 4 or more pieces, then thrown into different wastepaper baskets and ensured I never threw all my rubbish out at the same time. Then I started doing it for my phone bills too. After all, one can get my phone number and my friends contact numbers if they were to find it in one piece!

It was only recently when my bills started piling as I got lazy in tearing them and distributing them in different bins when KS asked me why I did such a thing in the first place. Then it struck me. Who on earth would want to dig up my trash to find out my purchases for the month of April this year? Or to find out whom I had made calls to in the last 2 months from my cell phone?

After that, I have finally been able to throw my bills in one piece. It’s not easy but I must be strong and continue to try.