Abhinav was busy organizing the evening's party when he heard the doorbell. Someone was early. Exasperated at the catch-up game with time, Abhinav went to the door. It was Vikram. It was always Vikram. "I'm here again. You are managing this all by yourself. Need a hand?" Abhinav didn’t like the “all by yourself”.

It was as if Vikram was mocking him about his background. Abhinav was an only child to his parents. His father being in airforce, he kept moving around the country as a child and was never really close to any family from either of his parent’s side. And his job took him away from his parents as well. Abhinav had a studio apartment and lived alone. Being an only child, he had always missed siblings and books kept him company. He was more comfortable with characters in books than real people. Vikram was different. He was family oriented and loved to be with people. As Abhinav thrived in his ability to be alone, do things independently, and always be self-aware, Vikram sought company. He wanted to connect to people, do things in a group, and depended on others for his emotional stability.

Abhinav, more than once, had envied Vikram for his complete and fun filled life and had told him so few times. Abhinav thought Vikram was alluding to his lonely life and it rankled. It was as if Vikram was mocking him about his eligibility to marry Anushka, who had a large family. It spoiled his mellow mood and he didn’t want that just as he got engaged to Anushka. He wanted his engagement party to be fun.

“Little do you know that this very solitary life is why Anushka is attracted to me Vikram. She admires my self-reliance and individuality.”

“Ha ha. Don’t sugar coat your loneliness, Abhinav. It is hard to live alone and not have anyone for company”.

“May be for someone like you Vikram, when you are always surrounded by people. Throughout my life, I have been quite alone and I don’t know what it is to live with lot of people. So, I don’t miss the crowded life, because I don’t really know how it feels.”

“Now you have a logic there, Abhinav. Come now, let’s get things organized for the party. I am sure you are going to enjoy all the attention.”

Abhinav rolled his eyes.

Soon, people started arriving. Many thumped Abhinav on the back and many pumped his hand. Then Anushka came with her gang and there was a boisterous shout from Abhinav’s colleagues welcoming the bride to be.

Abhinav could sense Vikram’s “See I was right. You look so happy now with all these beautiful people around you.”

“That’s what Anushka does to me. She makes me happy. Not the crowd”.

“Hey, what’s up? You said something to me?”, Anushka pulled him towards her friends’ group.

“No Anushka. I was telling my friend about how happy I am with you.”

Hearing that, Anushka broke into a big smile. “Where’s he? Aren’t you going to introduce me to him?”

Abhinav searched the room with his eyes. “Vikram was here a moment ago. He must have stepped out to take a call or something.”

“Have you known each other for long?”

“Yes Anushka. We have been buddies for a long time”.

By then the music was on and Abhinav and Anushka, now surrounded by her friends, were pulled into a dance frenzy. Abhinav grit his teeth as he was jostled by her friends from all sides. But he plastered a smile on his face for Anushka’s sake and kept pace with the moves.

Abhinav was exhausted by the time the party was over. When all of them had left and he was clearing up the room, Vikram cautioned him.

“Abhinav, you may need to get used to this. Anushka has many friends and family around her and all those people are not just going to go away when you get married.”

“That’s fine. As long as they don’t trouble me, I am ok.”

“But there are societal niceties that you may need to follow for Anushka’s sake.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem with you around Vikram”.

The days flew by and Anushka called Abhinav one day to ask him that the wedding invites have been printed and if he would like to collect them.

“I need about 15 for my office colleagues Anushka. Dad and Mom are getting a traditional one for the family.”

That Sunday he went to her house to collect the invites and since both of them wanted to spend time with each other, they decided to visit their friends together to distribute the invites. As Abhinav finished writing the names of his immediate friends on the invite, Anushka reminded him about Vikram.

“You forgot one for Vikram”.

Abhinav looked at her a bit absent mindedly. “Huh? He is onsite. I will send him an e-invite.”

“Oh! Is he going to be back before our wedding?”

Abhinav was intent in sealing the invite envelopes.

“Abbbbbhiiiiiii. I asked you something.”

“Sorry Anushka. I was thinking about the things I need to buy for the house before you move in. We will need a refrigerator. Do you want an aircon for the bedroom? I am used to keeping the windows open when I sleep.”

“I feel suffocated in an AC environment Abhinav. Don’t worry too much about preparing the house for me. We can always buy things after I move in as well. Come now, let’s go. It may rain later in the evening.”

Soon, it was the eve of their wedding and Abhinav and Anushka ascended the reception venue stage to receive the guests.

They were early and as they waited for the guests, they got into an easy banter. Soon people started queuing up and Abhinav and Anushka got up to receive them. The venue was full with people. Abhinav and Anushka’s family, his father’s airforce colleagues, their families, his colleagues, Anushka’s gang – it was a huge gathering. One by one they ascended the stage to wish the couple. One of his father’s chief marshals came upto Abhinav.

“Hello son, I am Mishra. Do you remember me?”

“Hello Sir. I am Vikram. Of course, I remember you when I accompanied my father to the parades.”

They posed for a photograph with the air chief marshal and as they left Anushka nudged Abhinav.

“Why did you tell him your name was Vikram?”

“What? Did I? Oh-huh I was just speaking to Vikram as I was getting dressed. I was thinking of him. May be that’s why.”

“Oh Wow! Where is he? Why didn’t you introduce him to me?”

“No dear girl. I was speaking to him on the phone.”

“Oh ok”. Anushka was disappointed. She wanted to know everything about her future husband. She wanted to meet everyone close to him and through them wanted to know him better and better.

Her curiosity about Vikram peaked when again next day during the wedding his name came up. The guy from the event management company was calling out to someone. “Vikram, can you check with the hotel how long is it going to take for the food to arrive?” Abhinav who was intent on repeating the wedding chants after the priest, jerked his head up and looked towards the person who had called out. Anushka wondered how much he should be missing his friend and touched him lightly on his knee in understanding. Soothed by her gesture, Abhinav turned his attention back to the priest. As the day progressed, Anushka sensed an edginess in Abhinav. But that night, alone in their room, he was her Abhinav, perfectly relaxed and loving.

The initial days after the wedding were a haze for both Anushka and Abhinav as they tried to understand each other and gel with the other’s families. More than once Anushka noticed Abhinav becoming edgy. When new people came by, he will vanish inside and when she questioned about it, he would say he got a call from Vikram. By now she was becoming used to her husband’s absent mindedness and his preoccupation with Vikram. One of those initial days, as she went to the bathroom after he had just vacated it, she saw his phone lying on the sink. With idle curiosity as she was brushing, she went through his recent call log. She kept on scrolling looking at the names in the call log. Suddenly she did a double take. For days together the name Vikram never appeared in the call log. She remembered Abhinav saying he was speaking to Vikram on the day of their wedding. She checked the call log specifically for the date of their wedding. There were no calls to or from Vikram. May be he was using some other phone, she thought. Yet, as something nagged her, she went to the contact list on his phone. She selected the letter V and searched the names. There was no Vikram. Anushka made a mental note to check with her husband.

As she came out of the bathroom about to ask him about Vikram’s number missing in the phone, she saw him surrounded by children from both families. They were all over him and he was giving them all elephant rides on his back in turns. Just then his father entered the room and asked him to sign an invoice sent by the event management guy. Anushka bent to take the signed invoice from her husband and hand it over to her father-in-law. As she did so, her eyes fell on her husband’s signature on the invoice and she froze. The signature on the invoice spelt Vikram.

When they got some time to themselves that night, Anushka pulled out Abhinav’s phone.

“Abhinav your phone doesn’t have a contact by name Vikram. I have seen you couple of times introducing yourself as Vikram and earlier today, when your father asked you to sign the invoice, you signed it Vikram. Is your official name Vikram or something? Hey…what happened? Why are you so pale?”

“Nothing Anushka. I am so tired. I want to sleep now.” And he turned on his side and was fast asleep in few minutes.

Anushka couldn’t sleep. She Googled and scourged the internet. Warning bells went off in her head and she spent a sleepless night dazed by what she read. Next day she took an appointment with her friend Gina who was a psychiatrist.

“Going by what you say Anushka, I think I have a clue. Bring your husband to my clinic first, and then we will go out to a shopping mall.”

The next day Anushka and Abhinav met Gina in her clinic.

“Hi. I am Gina. Anushka’s friend. You must be….”

Gina paused.

“I am Abhinav”. He extended a hand to Gina.

Gina went on. “It’s been a while. I was abroad and just returned to India and couldn’t meet you both when you got married. So I called Anushka and invited you both for lunch. Shall we make a move? I know a nice place nearby.”

Gina took them to a crowded eatery in a mall. Suddenly Anushka and Gina squealed. “Hey. Look there. Seems like our entire gang is here.”

As the trio were surrounded by a group of friends, Gina nudged Anushka to watch her husband. He was introducing himself as Vikram…

“Abhinav is the loner Anushka. When you are alone, Abhinav is comfortable being himself. And his other gregarious identity Vikram manifests itself when there is a crowd and the loner Abhinav feels stressed out. This is called Dissociative Identity Disorder. You married Abhinav. You also married Vikram. When you are alone your husband will be Abhinav and when you are in a crowd, you will need to call him Vikram to get his attention.”

A stunned Anushka turned to look at her husband. Vikram was enjoying himself. She knew when they get home, he will be Abhinav. - Pramila Krishnan

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