I’ve come across many interesting people in the course of my 22 year old life...till today. Some funny, Some sad, Some cunning, Some helping, Some cool headed, Some “i don’t give a damn” and also Some really really brainy ones. But none more so peculiar or weird than Andy German.
Met him when I was very very young. May be too young to even remember the first time I saw him. He was in the same class as I was. This kid used to sit in the first bench, wore rugged uniform without a tie, but had all the answers that a 9 year old was supposed to know and was every teacher’s pet. I would have swapped places with him any day.....until I really got to know him. This kid was weird. He had his days and when it wasn’t his he was very very different.....I mean not really his usual self. I mean one day, he would give speeches like a roaring Hitler, the next day he would be as silent and shy as a cat. One minute he would look like the saddest kid on the block, and the next he would be the class clown cracking up all his friends. He always had something going on inside that big head of his. Some days he used to brood over something deeply....so deeply he never uttered a word the whole day. And once when I asked him what he was thinking about, he went...”Nothing really, just wanted to see how many people would notice me like this!!”....What!!? Imagine a 9 year old having these things in his head.....This guy had problems!
Anyways I did remain friends with him post school. He went to a good college, graduated ok and did get a job as soon as he passed out. But still he has this weird behavior or the outlook on life...whatever you wanna call it. He never grew up, never matured, I thought whenever I used to talk to him. I once went to him when I was on a real personal low and felt like i could use some little cheering. After 10 minutes I realized what the hell was I doing trying to get some comfort from this guy who half the time was depressed himself. But 10 more minutes into it, I actually forgot about my problem and was already feeling like studying (which is a pretty boring thing to do when you are down). I don’t know what he said that made me feel better, I mean people talk you out of depressed mood and you end up going to some movie or something and slowly get over your problem, but 10 minutes with this guy and I was studying an hour later with a full 100% concentration. And this wasn’t a happy coincidence, as many a time, he was always there for me and has helped me directly or indirectly in many things.
Now I am thinking, OK this guy is pretty mature, has finally grown up and is no more a kid. But guess what, an year later he comes to me feeling low and not really himself. And I ask him, what’s going on. And after an hour of conversation, I find out he is depressed just because he started feeling a guy sitting next to him at work was funnier and wittier than him. My first reaction...So what? BFD... But he just wouldn’t get my point. He has to KNOW that he is more funnier than this 3rd guy. My first conversation-route.....It doesn’t matter if he is more funny than you...didn’t work. So having no other choice, I switched to a more childlike manner. I tried to think of the funny things that he had said and thankfully did recollect some and told them to him. That seemed to make him a bit normal, then went home but was still looking bitter the next day. And a couple of days later he is his usual-self, I mean the not-so-unhappy self. I ask him, what happened? He actually proved to himself he was funnier than this other guy.....by telling a few more jokes at the lunch table and even got a couple of testimonials to certify the fact!.. He could then sleep at night.
An year later when he was again feeling depressed, probably coz he needed proof that he was more intelligent than the guy that sat next to him on the bus on the way back from work. Just guessing J. I just told him to just forget if it was anything like that, it doesn’t matter in the long run. And then he opened up to me. He has been trying that since a long time, but just couldn’t do it. And the only way he can sleep at night is to solve the problem the hard-way...even when he does know it really doesn’t matter. It was sad.
I just worry about him about the day when he will face a situation where he doesn’t have a choice, doesn’t have a way to prove to himself that THING which makes him ok and move on with his life. Coz when he does face it, it’s really possible that this genius will go crazy. Peculiar and I should add immature for having still not grown up.
