How Do Good People Turn Bad?

My grandfather was worshipped as god. He had all the 'good' qualities one could ask for. He was kind, patient, wise, and empathetic. My cousin Ramya believed that he was the most empathetic person on earth. He was very principled. He believed that children must always obey their parents. According to him, a child could be wrong but a mother is never wrong. He believed that spouses shouldn't fight. He never yelled at my grandmother. Whenever she yelled at him, he didn't react in an attempt to calm her down. He preferred peace over quarrels. My grandmother was very abrasive and rude. She had absolutely no empathy for me. How do you think my grandmother tranmsformed my grandfather?

My grandmother used to love me before my parents divorce. After their divorce, she started hating me because she hated my dad. She treated me like a punching bag. She was constantly watching me like a hawk and trying to yell at me as much as she could. She was obsessed with me. There was never a normal conversation with her. She yelled at me even when I tried to make a nice conversation with her.

I avoided her as much as I could. I used to run to my room after coming home from school. I used to study as much as possible. One day, I took a ten-minute break to watch TV. She found an opening to yell at me. She immediately took it. She screamed at me infront of my grandfather. I remembered the advise my grandfather gave me. He advised me to take a break and not study so much. However, when my grandmother screamed at me, he didn't stop her in any way. He never dared to speak up against her.

One day, I didn't eat my lunch properly at school and brought back the half empty lunch box. My grandmother screamed, "That son of a bitch left you with me". Instead of telling her that it was wrong to talk to me that way, my grandfather defended her by saying, "You should have eaten your food. Your grandmother was hurt". He either kept his mouth shut or took her side. He never took my side.

One day, I went home late. My grandmother asked me where I was. I told that I went a friend's place to pick my hall ticket up. She asked me to show the ticket. I told that it was downstairs in my bike. She demanded me to go get it. When I refused, she screamed at my grandfather that I was lying. I then went downstairs and brought it. She calmly started reading my hall ticket. My grandfather knew that my grandmother was clearly wrong. However, he didn't utter a word.

I got a 99% in math in my tenth grade. My grandmother, being the cruel person she was, yelled at me because the neighbor got a 100%. I tried to defend myself by saying that Ramya too got a 99% in her tenth grade. My grandfather sarcastically said, "Why do you compare yourself with Ramya?" Didn't my grandmother compare me with the neighbor? When they do it, it was allright but when I do it, it was wrong. My grandfather felt compelled to defend his wife and blindly support her. He was brainless. Because his wife was bad and he believed in his stupid principles (never fight with wife), he also turned out to be a bad guy.

He also loved his daughter (my mom) along with his wife. When mom was constantly torturing me, he didn't utter a word. However, when I reacted and shouted at mom ONCE, he was so angry. He suggested mom to kick me out of the house.

Once, my principal told mom that I had a boyfriend and that I visited his room. He came to that conclusion just by seeing a man's name in my slam book. My grandfather shouted at mom, "Think that you haven't ever given birth to anybody. Send her to her dad's place". When my dad told him that mom was having an extra marital affair, he didn't believe him. He believed my mom. However, when my principal told horrible things about me, he readily believed it. He didn't even ask me if that was true. He hated me and was so evil with me.

Things got interesting when I left India and mom moved in with my grandparents. Mom was constantly yelling at my grandmother. My grandfather loved both mom and grandmother. He didn't know how to handle the situation. He chose to remain silent and let mom torture my grandmother. When mom was torturing my grandmother, sadness was written all over his face. He couldn't pick a side. I feel that it was the right kind of punishment for him for being so evil with me. He wanted to shout at mom and defend his wife but he couldn't. That was torture. He suffered silently for 8 years until my grandmother died.

Her last words were, "My daughter told me that she was waiting for me to die". Even after her death, he wanted to confront my mom many times but he couldn't. He died within a year of my grandmother's death. I don't think he died happily.