Monday, April 09, 2007

Fears and phobias

Recently I realised that I harbor some really irrational fears. Most of these fears are due to real life incidences that have happened to others. Some of the things that make me worry unnecessarily are:

1. While driving under a flyover I feel that a bus or a truck will fall on my head :p

2. I always carry a duffle bag with my laptop inside while driving my Kinetic. Every now and then I must check the bag strung on my back to ensure that my lappie is inside. I am sure one day I might leave the zipper of the bag open and my lappie will fall down or someone will steal it from the bag at a red light or traffic jam.

3. I am very scared of geysers left too long to heat. I feel it will burst and spill hot water all over me.

4. I am scared of gas cylinders. I feel one will burst, chumma just like that when I am around.

5. My greatest fear is my lappie crashing and hence I do data back up once a week. I have a pile of CD's with data backed up. In fact it was this fear that made my last boss and this boss issue me with a PC too. But I still back up my files on a CD :p

6. Due to some horrible coincidence I almost always end up flying in an ATR aircraft. I am damn sure that one day those giant fans will come loose and make a neat pile of 'sliced silverine'.

7. While reversing the car I am so sure that one day I might run over a small child. So I double and triple check to see if there is no one behind before I reverse.

8. I am scared of construction sites and walk as far away as I can from them because I feel that something will come crashing on my head.

9. While walking my doggies I make sure that they walk to my left. I am afraid that a vehicle will go over them since they so small.

10. I drive both my brothers crazy if they are out late (and vice versa). I just cannot sleep properly till I know that all members of the family are all under one roof safe and sound. SMS'ing me just does not help.

11. I am damn sure that one day I will forget the password of my blog :p I can remember what I wore for my 4th birthday but I cannot remember passwords. To counter this when I change my password I immediately store it in my PDA.

12. Another great fear, now fast subsiding is someone hacking my blog and taking it away or worse putting objectionable content in it.

Now someone please tell me their irrational fears so that I know that I am not the only one.

35 comments:

Alex said...

Silverine,

I too think of the plane crashing and the car i travel in crashing. I never used to think so before. But after i met with a bike accident last year, these thoughts more or less pop in.

Amey said...

Now someone please tell me their irrational fears so that I know that I am not the only one.
What? And leave this wonderful chance to kid you? You must be kidding...

Do you really know somebody who had a bus fall on their heads while driving under a flyover? :o

Amey said...

BTW, you've been tagged... Check out my blog for details.

Neihal said...

I have loads... the one that comes to my mind is gas cylinders...all thru the winters I had this huge kitchen window left open, incase of a leekage,much to my husband's amusement.(I have no idea what amuses him?!!!)

Then geysers, oh yes, I have seen one burning, so I switch it off, before going for the bath.(that isnt irrational?)

Road accidents. Specially if I am driving a two-wheeler.

And I have this fear of falling down the stairs.

And yes I have this weird housewifey fear of running out of groceries. :P

Ashwin Raju said...

girl... you got a lotta Things falling over my head kind of fears. I am sure you would have been a pretty sight to watch while you were watching Final Destination.

mathew said...

You could have spared this one..I think you did a good job in instilling fear in us.. :-P
Now I have to look up everytime I pass under a flyover.And to make matters worse hit on a lamppost in the nick of time!!

btw for point number 2 your are reminding me again something terrible that happened to me!! ;-P

I am scared of falling off roller coasters..I have taken a ride only once in my life and it scared the hell out of me..

I am scared of superfast buses back home..They look menancing even at 30 km/hr..donno why!!

silverine said...

Alexi: Great to know I am not alone :D

fleiger: See Neihals comment!!! :p And yes I did witness a car falling off Richmond Road flyover :))

neihal: Let me assure u, that contrary to what certain feathered friend of ours thinks, you and me are perfectly normal :p

bleak: Thanks for warning me, I wont watch that movie brrrr

mathew: LOL!!! Me too have had close shaves with lampposts due to this phobia :p It was your lappie episode that reminded me how scared I am of losing files :)
p.s I am scared of roller coasters too after a fall, I still havent learnt it though my bro took to it like a duck to water :( About the super fast buses...I wrote a post once called "one for the road" and the comments by readers was enough to instill the fear of the Lord in me at the very mention of Kerala SRTC buses :))

mathew said...

you fell off a roller coaster!! :-O

and still in one piece!!

*shaking head violently!!*

silverine said...

mathew; oops I meant roller blades!! I havent been on a roller coaster yet!

Neihal said...

Final Destination!!
Never watch those....it has couple of sequels as well..they freaked me bigtime.... its all about ppl dying in weirdest manner....I was jittery months after watching it :(

Praveen said...

wow, thats a lot of fear, how do you survive ;)

Thanu said...

Now this post makes me sound so normal :)))

Unknown said...

Falling flyovers!!!

Thank you very much injecting another falling object phobia to me besides the perpetual fear of a rotating ceiling fan coming down on a sleeping me!

Alexis said...

Nice list. I too am afraid of gas cylinders because I have seen how carelessly they are stored and handled and many of them are past their retirement age.

Install a reverse sensor, or a CCTV in the car so that you can sense or see if somebody is behind the car :-)

Most of your irrational fears are very rational--the PCs crashing, geysers malfunctioning, etc. So you are not alone.

But bus falling over you from the flyover...and Mathew hitting the lamp post... ROFL

Amey said...

Weak-willed individuals all... The best strategy in such cases is to pull the leg of the person mercilessly, until he/she is ready to burst out in anger, and then mention in passing, "jokes apart, I too think..."

Did the car in Q fly over the wall of the flyover???

Anoop G said...

Good to know that me and Silverine have lot of fears in common...

Thanu said...

buses do fall off overpasses. Check this link

Also click on enlarge to see a clearer image.

Jina said...

i feel everytime i cross the road..i wud be run over as i presume the drivers wont be able to see me

i feel everytime i fly, my flight is gonna crash

i feel the escalator is going to eat me up and somebody has to hold my hand everytime..[well, and dat somebody always happens to be cute guys..hehe]..

and I thot I am paranoid..good to have found company..thanx silverine

Alex said...

And those big giant wheels are scary too.

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

I feel everytime I fly in Air Deccan they may cancel the flight and ask everyone onboard to jump down :D

I feel everytime I drive my bike I will lose my keys and constantly touch the bike key to make sure that it is still there :D

Whenever I have rode on a camel I feel it will bend down and I will fall over its hump and when I am over the elephant , I feel as if it may use its trunk to pull me down.These days I get into elephant and camel not to enjoy the ride but to enjoy the fear :).

Your fears seem to be Ok and normal. But where are the flyovers in Bangalore mentioned in point no 1. They are alwasy under construction as far as I remember :P

silverine said...

neihal: I am def not gonna watch it, the description itself is scaring me :(

Praveen: One day a time :p

thanu: *whew* thank you :)

rockus: A friend of mine had the same phobia :)

alexis: lol I even slow down if I see a bus passing on the flyover :p


fleiger: Yes the car fell down the flyover missing an auto with school children :(

Anoop: :)

thanu: brrr it looks scary!

ursjina: And that confirms that you are quite normal like me :p

Alex: Yeah that too!!

nariyal chutney: Bangalore is full of flyoivers now :)

Mathew: p.s. forgot to add that when Wonderla (not sure of this fact) first started operation the roller coaster malfunctioned leaving a teenage girl paralysed waist down and another child with a broken leg :( Political clout saw the owners go scott free!

Amey said...

Ouch... How is that possible?

Looks like you are too serious... So, let me list my phobias. First and foremost: Snakes.

And I worry that stress may affect me :D

Synapse said...

dont you feel that you may leave the PDA around or that it may get stolen n lose all the passwords! or that someone may use it to hack ur blog! just tryin to instil a new fear! :D

Jeseem said...

I have a irrational fear that i will die getting beaten by some girls sandal.
hmmm... then again that doesn't seem very irrational and only too real :-(

Jiby said...

geysers...oh yeah...the one in my bathroom is so big and right above the commode, i am always scared of them falling down on me...so can never get a relaxed release!!!

then i am scared of driving people coz i am sure i will get them killed...once i mentioned this "intuition" to my friend in the passenger seat, she got so freaked out, she offered to drive.

Anonymous said...

good list silverine.. and good to know that I am among the 'normal' people. here is some of mine..

1. I am scared of loosing my wallet. more than money, i am worried about loosing all my id cards, credit/atm cards, any othere notes that I keep in purse. So I keep on checking my pocket every now and then and especially while driving a bike (I lost my wallet once and i think i lost while driving)

2. When I drive, some times I feel that I am driving a car with a flat tyre. then I will park my car, verify all the tyres and find that they are in good condition. Actually I cannot feel the difference in driving comfert when the tyre is flat..

gostana

Di said...

i have this extremely strong fear of being late some place..it drives me insane! ...now i guess that almost beats all the absurd ones... :(

silverine said...

fleiger: Snakes are a legit fear!

synapse: Thank god I work in an office with cameras around so not a pin gets stolen :) But if my PDA is lost then it is as good as erasing my existence :( thanks for instilling a fear brrr

jeseem: You fear seems highly probable :P Kidding a nice guy like you doesnt stand a chance of getting slippered :p

jiby: That is a probability too!!! I fully understand because I have the same fear and wait for the oveheated geyser to let off steam before going in the toilet.

gostana: I used to have this fear that my Dad will be pick pocketed, Never happened but he keeps his wallet so carelessly in the back pocket :)

di:Chill, you are as normal as all of us here :)

Anonymous said...

My greatest fear is of geysers... The one in my aunts house caused the entire ceiling to collapse bacause it was rusted. Ever since then i cannot look at a geyser without my heart beat and pulse racing to extreme speeds. Everybody seems to think i'm a complete idiot. Its not so much the fact that it might explode, but the way they look.. and sound. I once stayed in a beach house and the geyser was in a cupboard and i wasn't expecting it so when i opened it i nearly died... i couldn't walk past that door, I had to run past.
Does anyone think the same as me??

silverine said...

Melanie: I have the same phobia of geysers. So I would say that you are as normal as I am :p

skar said...

1) I am scared to walk under birded trees at 6 pm :D

2) I am DAMN scared of pressure cookers. I'm almost certain they'll explode on me and kill me some day. So much so, to this day, I put the cooker on the stove and leave the kitchen till I hear the desired number of steams. And then quickly run in and switch it off! :-|

3)I am damn scared of dogs! Every dog I see, I'm certain its going to bite me.

skar said...

Anjali, thank you for your 'mail' comment on my blog. I like your two blogs so much that I spent all workday on Friday reading your blog, and then I woke up on Saturday morning and resumed. I didn't have my meals properly and was left with a headache as I went to bed! Today, Sunday,I'm here to make up for work I had to do on Friday, but I accidentally opened your blog! I'm planning to finish reading all the posts in both of them ASAP. But I'll try to keep my comments to a minimum. I realise a little time travel is fun, but it might test your patience if you had to go read every post all the way back until xxxx when you started blogging. If my week isn't too busy, I hope to get done by the coming weekend. Poomanam,to me, has all the flavour of the exaggerated British humour that I love, and 'my think pad' has been providing me much food for thought. Thank you!

silverine said...

@Karthik: "I am scared to walk under birded trees at 6 pm"

ha ha good one and I wouldn't stand under a tree with a crow "anytime"!!! Those guys are such sure shots! :p And thank you for the kind words. There are lots of people going thru the archives now and at any given time. But your comments reveal that you have really read all the posts specially at TP. I get all the comments via mail so it is easy to read them! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I have phobias at them moment. My newest is turning into paranoia.

I had an experience on the 6th April of being almost hit by an uncontrolable mini-bus. It's getting worse, everytime something happens and i'm in a car or on foot i panic, i reallywant to stop it. please, if you can give me help or tell me the name of my fear it'd really really help. Or even to know i'm not the only one with this horrid fear would be great.

silverine said...

LIVZ: You need professional help!