The security guard

This story is from my corporate career. Everyday before going to the office we had to put our bags for scanning. The security guards would pass our bags through a conveyor belt to the bag scanning machine. There the bags would get scanned via x-ray to see if we are carrying any harmful objects.

We knew all the security guards who were stationed at our office. Most security guards would know us as well by our faces if not by names. All the security guards were friendly with us.

One day I spotted a new security guard. He appear to be an elderly man. I asked the other familiar security guard about this new security guard. He said he was newly appointed. This new security guard looked very old and frail. Anyway I assumed that he must have passed the strict recruitment process for the security guards.

After a few days even this security guard became familiar. He would smile and greet. One day while scanning my bag he asked me, " madam may I ask you something? Is your a bag very expensive?"

After he asked me I looked at my bag. It was a simple laptop backpack with camouflage print. I had purchased it from E-Commerce web portal during one of their festive sales. When I purchased it I paid approximately rs 650 for it. In summary no the bag wasn't expensive.

After doing the mental calculations I told the security guard that my bag was not expensive. He told me that he had a young daughter and he wished to purchase similar bag for her on her birthday. It was really heartwarming to hear personal details from him. I told him to shop from the web portal and also told him that if he needed any assistance for purchase he can ask me.

A few days later while I was leaving the office I saw this security guard. He too looked at me and smile at me. Another colleague with me told me something which surprised me. She told me that one day while scanning the bag the security guard ask her from where she purchased her bag. Her bag was very different from my bag. My colleague was carrying a woman's handbag where as I was carrying a laptop backpack. Yet the question that was asked to us what's the same by the same man. It was puzzling to understand why he had been asking the same question to multiple young women. We ignored the suspicion and moved on.

Some days later I did not see that security guard in our office for many days. Worried for his wellbeing, I asked one of the other security guards about him. He told me something that froze my blood. The old security guard was retired from army. He had worked in various places as the security guard after retiring from the army. While he served in the army his wife left him along with their children. The armyman was mentally disturbed because of this. He had no family. But in his mind his family was still with him - his son was a young man working at a reputed company, his daughter was completing her studies, and his wife was happily taking care of the entire family. In his mind his family was witth him and loved him. Everybody else knew that his family is not with him and nobody knew where his family was. He was staying alone and imagining a happy family. When the office administration came to know about his psychological issues they asked him to resign.

When the security guard told me this I was shocked as well as scared. It was unbelievable that our office had kept a security guard who was mentally unstable. The threat because of such man was really great but at the same time I was a ladder that the threat was now over.