Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or popularly known as OCD. So many of us suffer from it. It is not a good or a bad thing. It is just there inside us. I don't know whether there is any cure for OCD or not, but if it drives you mad, then please go look for its cure!

You might have heard this from many people that they are cleanliness freaks. Erm, to be honest, cleanliness freaks is more of a fashion statement than an OCD symptom thanks to Monica of Friends. But I do know certain people who suffer from an extreme case of OCD when it comes to cleaning. A friend of mine suffers from such an OCD. She has to clean each and every corner of her room. Everything has to be kept in its own place. She does not like it if you leave the mobile charger in the switch board, or comb on the dressing table, or clothes behind the door. She even arranges her wardrobe in colour coordinated manner - all blacks together, whites together, different sack for formals, semi formals, casuals, Indian wear, Sarees - phew!

When we were doing our masters together, we had gone to pune to appear for the exam. Now I suffer from OCD too. I cannot study in a very clean room. I have to have all my books around me when I sit down to study, whether I refer to them or not. I sit with the books of other subjects too, whether I have that exam or not. This makes me realize that I am done with my studies now. Ah I miss it!

Talking about my OCDs, my worst OCD is about reading. Once I start a book, no matter how pathetic it is, I have to finish reading it. I will give up on my sleep, my peace of mind behind that awful book, but I have to read the whole damn thing!

How clean is your desktop? I have to have items in odd numbers on my desktop. 3, 5 or maximum 7. More than 7 items on desktop makes me uneasy. Each night before sleeping, I clear chat history if it is there. I cannot keep any mail unread. If I am in hurry, I will open it and close it again, but I will not leave it unread. Any unimportant mail goes directly into trash. Trash is cleared too before logging out. Checking privacy setting every now and then is another habit!

And those calculations. I have this irritating habit of adding the digits of car numbers while travelling. If I miss out on one, I become too restless. It is my best passtime while travelling. Even when I am walking and pass by any parked vehicle, I calculate the digits. I keep a track of milestones. I look for patterns in them. If any of the milestone is missing a pattern, I feel weird. When I was in college, I knew which pole had what number plate it. On railway tracks, the kilometres are mentioned on a plate, and I knew the whole pattern by heart! It scared my friends a lot, but that is how my mind worked then. Now I no longer look for milestone or pole patterns, though digit counting continues.

Another habit was of remembering phone numbers and account numbers. I remember most of my friends' mobile numbers even today. I remember all my past and present account numbers. I remember my debit and credit card numbers, BB Pin, room numbers of the hotels I have stayed in so far - I am way too obsessed with numbers.

Too many OCDs! Phew! But none of them drive me crazy anymore. There is no extreme restlessness feeling when I skip some number calculation. It is still there in case of reading, but that's that. I read only fiction, so it does not as such harm me, but yeah, I suffer from OCD. So, what are your OCDs? Or there is only one?