I know I am partially responsible for the fact (owing to my mysterious behavior) that people don’t trust me. My acts of kindness are often scrutinized to my disbelief & agony. The subtle variations of my ex-pressions are observed in fear of deceit & tyranny. A faint smile at pressure moments is misunderstood as an act to extract pleasure out of a hidden mischief. For instance, during the recently concluded examinations I was looked down upon many a time by the people whom I went up to for help. They thought that I already know what I have come asking for & I was there, just to ridicule them.

This phenomenon is not recent in origin & goes way back to my early school days. As a kid I used to remain ill most times of the year & rarely went to school. This habit of mine carried on to my subsequent years of schooling (All credit to my doting mother who never forced me to go to school & who sometimes even suggested skipping school for the day. Anyways, thanks Mom for those wonderful & blissful holidays). So for the few days I attended school I was scolded by the teachers for not being regular & incomplete homework. Obviously, I asked some of my classmates for their notebooks. To my horror not even one of them was willing to part with his notes. “What if you won’t come tomorrow?” retorted one of them. Their case was strong. I didn’t argue much. Finally someone did show some pity & agreed to give me his notebooks on a promise that I will make it sure to be present the next day. Unfortunately, I forgot about this the next morning & skipped school. But the poor guy was fortunate enough as I realized in time my responsibility (my father returned the books back on way to his work). From that day on, I didn’t even try asking anybody. So, I used to spend the Zero Period at school updating my notebooks while everybody else chattered and gossiped.

In 12^th standard too some series of incidents (excursion to Mussourie & related events) made sure I was given names such as RVD (Rahul Vig Dhokhebaaz) & DTRV (Don’t Trust Rahul Vig). Can’t judge whether it was my forgetfulness or something else, that made me break promises or commitments. But the tag still hurts me as if it has been mercilessly engraved on my forehead. So, it’s a request. Please take it seriously……..”TRUST ME!”