Be true to yourself

I was a brilliant student all through my schooling days, I won awards and was well-respected by my colleagues and teachers. I had been invited by Economics teacher to the staff room where he read my homework paper to the amazement of other teachers; a teacher was jolted by the work that he gave me money to buy groundnuts. I had never cheated once in all my exams and I would cringe at the acts of anyone trying to do such – largely because of my religious believes.

It was an examination on this same Economics - that same subject I was excellent at. I was in the middle row. A student at my left, who wouldn’t dare ask me for anything during exams, whispered across my table to the other guy on my right for what the answer to number one question was, it was a multiple-choice question. I had answered close to ten questions when I had the other guy whispered ‘D’ back to the inquirer. Now, it happened! I quickly went back to check what I chose and to my amazement I had chosen a wrong answer to “whose gave that generally accepted definition of Economics”. I can’t remember how it was worded , but that was the question. 

I knew the answer was D, not because the guy said D, but because I knew that was the right answer. I had chosen a wrong answer. So, I quickly erased my answer and shaded the square box beside D. That was the first and the last time I did anything close to cheating. I cannot forget this incidence that happened 23 years and 7 months ago. I got an A1 in the paper which means I scored above 90%, I know missing that one question could neither have made any difference in the score I got, matter in what I have acquired as wealth nor affected who I have become today. After the exams, like again today, something hit me as it did the character Venky in the novel - 'Rewind and Play' authored by my friend Tarun Gautam … ‘Be true to yourself. Hmm…Remember this’.