Tales of honesty, white lies and black lies…
Harvinder Khetal
Honestly speaking, stories of honesty spark a hundred songs in our essentially simple hearts. As devices for devious dishonesty develop into deep disgraceful deeds by dishonourable devils, those who dare to deviate from deceitful designs do stand out: like Dipchand did. The simple story of this simple man simply touched me.
Dipchand Gupta (30), a ragpicker, while picking up discarded stuff recently from the railway tracks near Thane station, came across a purse lined with debit and credit cards and wads of notes worth Rs 33,000. Indeed, a temptation, specially the cash. But, the upright Gupta didn't pocket it. The squeaky clean man very diligently handed over the lost property to the stationmaster. Its rightful owner, who had been frantically looking for her belongings that included her pay packet, was overwhelmed by the poor man’s honesty. As a token of appreciation, she and the stationmaster, gave Gupta Rs 2,500 each. The conscientious man got an honest award.
The story reminds me of that devastating time when I felt my purse lighter. Taking advantage of the massive multitude of movie-goers surging up the narrow staircase for the matinee show, a slick thief slipped away after sleekly pulling out my wallet from the purse dangling from my shoulder. It had cash and important documents: debit and credit cards, ID, driving licence, car registration certificate, cash. After the initial shock, I gathered my wits — too bad, but for now, I thought, let me enjoy the film (Devdas). My friend had to foot our coffee-popcorn bill (the thief must be splurging and slurping somewhere in the hall on coffee-popcorn-burger-cold-drink-and-more!). With this auto-suggestion, I actually got over my desolation and managed to appreciate Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s production with a cool air about me. Amazed, my friend said she wouldn’t have been able to sit through calmly in that state of mind.
I learnt a lesson that day: always hold the purse close to yourself, in the front.
Post the movie, I got down to the nitty-gritty of recouping my loss: blocking the cards, lodging an FIR. In the following week, I was just bracing myself to go through the whole haul of getting my documents remade in government offices — a tough call, specially in those pre-online work days, — when a phone call had me again feel lighter. I was beaming widely. All these few days of lamenting my lethargy and putting off the visit to government offices, gave way to celebrating my laziness. My wallet had been found!
A cop had called to inform me that a wallet with documents bearing my phone number had been found abandoned near the Sukhna Lake, but there was no cash. I rushed to the police station, relieved to have recovered the documents. Truly, I happily bore the loss of money.
Then, a couple of years later, I again became a victim of wallet-snatching. But this time, I was not so lucky; I had to undergo the ordeal of getting the documents made all over again. A friend recounted how she had received her stolen documents by post, perhaps sent by the thief who was only interested in cash bounty! A part-scrupulous thief is better than an uncaring one!
To tell the truth, it’s difficult to be squeaky clean (beyond reproach; without vice). Honesty has its shades, too, just as there are white lies and black lies.
Honest stresses adherence to such virtues as truthfulness, candour, or fairness. Its etymology can be traced to Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin honestus honourable, from honos, honor honour. Honourable suggests a firm holding to codes of right behaviour and the guidance of a high sense of honour and duty.
A white lie is a harmless or trivial lie, especially one told to avoid hurting someone's feelings. It lacks evil intent, as opposed to a black lie, which is most certainly malevolent. The origin of these terms is not known, but whiteness has long symbolised purity and innocence.
While we are all guilty of telling white lies, it is the politicians who are notorious for their black, dishonest dealings. The straight and narrow (the honest and morally acceptable way of living) among their breed are rare. One of them is Manik Sarkar, MLA since 1980 and four-time CM of Tripura from 1998 to March 2018. Though the impeccable man won the Assembly seat in last month’s election too, his party failed to get the majority and lost power. Known as the ‘poorest CM’ of India, he does not even own a house. The 66-year-old leader leads a no-frills life with his wife Panchali. The couple do not have children. He has been donating his salary to the CPM and in return, the party pays him a meagre subsistence allowance.
As Thomas Jefferson said, “Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.”
But in one story, a father, who in all goodness resorted to a white lie, learnt that honesty is the best policy the hard way.
Worried about her Papa going bald, Tina asked him, "Papa, why is your hair reducing every day?"
He smiled, "It's the hair thief. He visits my head at night when I'm asleep. One by one, he pulls out my hairs, as many as he likes. And there's no way to catch him!"
Tina determined to help him. She grabbed a hammer and tiptoed into her sleeping parents’ room at night. Soon, there was a shadow on her Papa’s head. With all her might, she swung the hammer down.
Thwack! Her father let out an enormous yelp and leapt out of bed. The lump on his head was already big, and growing. Trembling, he turned the light on, and saw Tina brandishing the hammer.
"I nearly got him, Papa! But it seems he escaped!"
The mother burst out laughing."Well, that's what happens when you tell silly stories," she said, amused.
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