A Memoir About Why Honesty Is The Best Policy!

What is honesty, and why is honesty the best policy in life?

To my way of thinking, honesty means being truthful in your actions and words you do and say to others, and most importantly, it means being true to yourself. 

Honesty basically contributes to every aspect of a good living.

When you’re being generous to others, there’s honesty in you. 

When you’re being helpful to others, of course, without aiming for any personal gain, with a clean heart, there’s honesty in you. 

When you’re passionate about your goals and dreams and continuously work toward them, there’s honesty in you. 

When you love someone and always uphold their trust, there’s honesty in you. 

When you truly feel someone’s pain, and although you sometimes cannot help them, you feel and pray for them, there’s honesty in you. 

Honesty is one of the most important characteristics every good person has, and it’s what really makes a person a good person. 

There is some good and some bad in all of us. We are all the same, but what you think and act on the most is what defines you as either a good or a bad one. A good person always has goodness in him/her. His/her actions and words don’t cause anyone any hurt or sorrow. 

But again, even if you’re a good person, you may sometimes end up hurting someone or another unintentionally. This is where your honesty comes to your aid to salvage that goodness in you. 

When you know that you’ve hurt someone, but it was never your intention; as soon as you realize this, you keep all your shame, ego, anger, and ill feelings for that person aside, and you go ahead and admit your regret for your wrong actions or words done or said to that person. You ask for his/her forgiveness. Whether that person forgives you or not, you don’t expect that; you just simply know that you’ve done someone something wrong, and you want that person to know that you’re aware of your wrong actions or words and that you’re sorry for your hurtful behavior toward that person. 

Now, if you’re able to do this self-analysis every time you end up hurting someone, which is bound to happen every now and again, no matter how good a person you are, it certifies that there is a sense of goodness in your heart. 

Your honesty gives you the courage to admit your bad behavior toward another person and it eventually sets you free and makes you a guilt-free person. 

So, if you ever want to judge anyone, always first judge yourself, your ways and words toward other people, and also how you treat yourself. 

Honesty is being true to yourself first and then to others by taking full responsibility for your actions and words. 

In my whole life of almost four decades now, I’ve always tried to be honest with myself and others. Also, I’ve always tried to be honest in upholding my life’s passions. 

In every job I worked, I worked it with honesty in my heart. I’m not a celebrity or any renowned personality, but one thing is for sure, wherever I’ve gone or worked, I’ve always walked and worked with my head held high like a superstar, and thanks to the Creator of the universe for that. 

I’ve always been able to make eye contact with the people around me and also with myself in the mirror. 

And now, I’m going to share with you three interestingly most defining chapters of my life where I got to experience the importance of honesty in life, and learned why it was and is the best policy. 

The lessons I learned about honesty from these situations have stayed with me throughout, and they will stay with me until my last breath.

Chapter 1. She taught me my first lesson about honesty:

When I was a kid, around 10-11 years old, we used to live in a town where there were very few grocery stores back then. And, I clearly remember this one grocery store, where most of the people from that town would throng every morning to get fresh milk. That grocery store was just near our house. 

So, with my father being gone to his work, me getting ready for school, and my Ma being busy cooking us our breakfast and fixing me my lunch box for school, she would send my little brother, who is around three years younger than me, to get us milk from that grocery store.

So, Ma would give my brother a 10-buck (INR) bill to get the milk. Please don’t be surprised to hear about 10 bucks for milk, back then, everything was cheaply available. 

Many times my brother would come home with the milk bag, and he would give it to Ma, and then he would whisper to me, “Big brother, that shopkeeper gave me the milk, but he didn’t take any money from me. There were a lot of people there who were pushing each other around, and I got pushed back after he gave me the milk bag, so I couldn’t pay him!” 

And then my brother would happily show me that same 10-buck bill in a secretive manner. We would then eat some crackers and chocolates with that money without letting our Ma know about that. And this would happen frequently, because of the morning crowd at that store. 

I remember, one morning, it was a school holiday, so Ma gave me a 20-buck bill and asked me to get the milk from that store. I went there, and as usual, there were a lot of people thronging outside that store. So being a lean, agile kid, I made it to the front of the store through the crowd and got us our milk. But before I could pay the shopkeeper money, someone shoved me aside, and then some other people hurried to the front, and I got pushed back.

So, I went back home and gave Ma the milk bag and the money. She looked at it and it was still a 20-buck bill, it should’ve been 10 bucks in return after buying the milk for 10 bucks. 

So, she immediately asked me to go back to the store and pay the storekeeper his money for the milk. I went back to the store and paid him his 10 bucks for the milk I had bought. He gave me back my remaining 10 bucks and also gave me a small, sweet bun for free as my reward for going back to pay him his money. 

I came back home and gave Ma that 10 bucks and showed her my reward, she allowed me to eat it. Then, my brother and I told Ma about all of the past incidents like that and how we had hidden them from her. She chastised both of us with some harsh words and told us never to do that again and that it was a wrong thing to do. We promised her that we wouldn’t do that again. So, she hugged us, as she would always do, after punishing or scolding us. 

From that day on, I never took anything that was not mine. So, that was the first-ever lesson I learned about honesty from the best and the wisest teacher of my life, my Ma–my sweet Mother.

Chapter 2. I lost honesty, and along with it, lost my dignity:

After a couple of years, we moved to some other town. I got admission to a new school there. I was still in elementary school, in my eighth grade. 

Up until seventh grade, I had always been the topper in my class and school in the previous two schools that I had studied. All of my friends used to call me a ‘scholar’, that’s the term we would use to describe someone smarter than others. Teachers would love and pamper me a lot. I was an A-student in each subject. And especially in English, I was a super A-student, it was my favorite subject. 

By the time I got into eighth grade, and after moving to another school for the third time, my smartness began to fade away all of a sudden. I was not a so-called scholar anymore. I don’t know, maybe because I had lost all my old friends from the old schools after we moved to another place. Or maybe, it was a bigger school than my previous two schools, and the teachers at this new school had a different approach toward teaching than the teachers at my previous schools. Also, I was probably overwhelmed by all of it and began to lose focus on my studies. 

One subject that troubled me the most during the later years of my schooling was Mathematics. I just couldn’t understand algebra or geometry anymore, but I immensely wanted to get back to being that scholar student I once was. 

However, I continued to struggle in Math. In other subjects, I was decent, I would get good scores, if not great. In English, I always topped my class, but Math was a big troublemaker for me. 

This new school had a system wherein, they would conduct four tests for all of the subjects in every schooling (academic) year, no matter what grade one was in. The school would conduct the first test only two months after starting a new school year, they would call it a Unit Test. 

And after three more months, they would have a First-Semester Test. And then, after two more months, there would be a second Unit Test. After three more months, there would be a Second-Semester Test–The Final Exam for that schooling year. 

Before I tell you about how I lost my honesty, let me tell you that I never failed a grade in my entire schooling and college years. In other words, I never wasted a single year of schooling or college. I would always advance to the next grade on the first attempt, without ever having to repeat the entire academic year. But unfortunately, I would always fail in Math in some of the Unit Tests or sometimes even in some of the First Semester Tests during my elementary and high school years. 

As I mentioned before, I was in the eighth grade, and we had finished our first Unit Test for all subjects, including my not-so-favorite Math. 

Every time we had a test, the teachers of all subjects would give us our test answer sheets (papers) for each subject, mentioning our scores on each of them. 

I remember, we had gotten our English test scores, and I was already a topper in the class in English. Then it was time for our Math class, and our Math teacher was distributing the answer papers in the class. He was making a roll call, and the student with that roll number would walk up to the teacher’s desk and get his answer paper with the score mentioned on it. 

The teacher called my number, and I was already damn sweaty. I knew what the score was going to be because I hadn’t been able to grasp most of my math lectures since that school year began. So, I knew in my heart that I was not going to make it. And if I made it, it would be only a passing score of 35/100. 

As the teacher called my roll number, I got up from my desk to get my paper, all sweaty, heart throbbing, and tummy wrenched inside already. On my way to the teacher’s desk, I saw a friend of mine coming toward me to get to his desk in the back with his paper in hand, so I quickly asked him, “Pass/Fail?” He nodded no and walked by my side over to his place in the back.

I walked up to the teacher’s desk to take my paper. As the teacher was handing me over my paper, I saw the red score on it, and I was already heartbroken, shaking, and sweating. As I took the paper from his hand, he said, “You need to get your father’s signature on it. You failed!” 

And Good God, the tears were already rolling down my cheeks. I saw the score in red, and it was 28/100. I had failed that Math Unit Test. 

I went back to my desk where my friend, who had also failed, was sitting and looking depressed, I still remember his face. We put our heads down, and I cried like hell. I was sobbing like a baby, and I still remember. 

Then it was our break time. My friend and I talked to each other about how our parents were going to react when they saw our test scores. We were both worried like hell. 

Then my friend had an idea. At that time, I was only 13-14 years old, and so was my friend. So, we couldn’t possibly have any conscience to discern wrong from right. 

Although I had always remembered my Ma’s lessons about honesty, and I had always tried to live by that honesty, even when I was an adolescent kid, I gave into fear. It was the fear of letting my parents know that I had failed for the first time in my school life. 

So, my friend’s idea was to erase that score of 28/100 from my test answer paper, and his score was some 30 something/100, and make it 38/100 for me and 40/100 for him. 

So, after school, we went to a shop and got the razor blade that adults use to shave. And then, with help of that blade and an eraser, my friend gently erased that red part of the score on our papers. And then he changed his score to 40/100 with a blue ballpoint pen. And I changed mine to 38/100 with the same pen. And, we decided to sign our papers ourselves by making our fathers’ respective fake signatures on them.

The next day, we were in school, and the teacher was collecting the papers back, that was how they would do things in that school. They would ask each flunked student to get the signature of his/her parent as an acknowledgment. The students who passed would only have to bring their papers back to school after showing them to their parents. 

So, we had already signed our papers ourselves, forging our fathers’ signatures. 

I went before my friend to submit my paper, and the teacher looked at my score and tallied it with my roll number and name on the students’ test score list he had with him. And he caught me red-handed then and there. 

The teacher got really mad at me and started scolding me, “Satish, did you alter your score? Tell me the truth, or else, I’m taking you to the principal’s office now!” 

I started sobbing very hard with my head down. The whole classroom was quiet. I didn’t even dare to look up. He made me stand aside because he needed to collect the other students’ papers too. 

The next in line was my friend, my accomplice, or the main perpetrator, either way, we were both culprits and going to be punished badly. So, my friend handed over his paper to the teacher, and the teacher also tallied his score with the list he had and caught him too then and there. The teacher started scolding him too, but he wasn’t crying like me. He only had his head down. 

The teacher collected all the other students’ papers, and the entire classroom was dead silent. The teacher went to another classroom and came back with another teacher who happened to be our English teacher. They both came into our classroom and started scolding us badly. 

I was sobbing like hell, and that English teacher asked me harshly, “Why did you do it?” and I started sobbing even harder, and then he slapped me really hard. He gave me two big, fat, tight slaps, and I can still feel their ripples and piercing pain on my cheeks, even to this day. And then he turned to my friend and slapped him hard too. 

They started admonishing us that they would take us to our principal’s office if we didn’t tell them why we did it and how we did it. So, I started telling them the whole crime story that had led me and my friend to such an ignoble act. 

The teachers admonished us not to repeat such actions ever, and they asked both of us to get our fathers to meet them the next day. 

I spent that remaining day at school crying and thinking about what Ma would do if she found out about this act of dishonesty of mine. I was not worried about my Pa that much because he would mostly be drunk after his work. And I didn’t talk to that friend of mine for the rest of that day in school. 

I came home and told my Ma about what had happened. She scolded me too and told me harshly not to do it ever again. 

My Ma told me to tell the teachers that Pa would be at work, so she would come to meet them and told me to ask the teachers if it was okay. 

Fortunately, the next day was Sunday, a no-school day. On Monday, I mustered the courage to go to school, although I felt like quitting school right away. 

My Ma gave me the confidence that I needed to go to school. She hugged me and gave me my lunch box with my favorite french fries and fried rice in it. 

I came to school in shame and fear. I kept shunning and hiding from those two teachers and my friends in my class. I spent that whole week laying low, just going home from school and coming to school from home, not talking to anyone. 

Fortunately, no teacher asked me or my friend about our parents’ meeting with them during that entire week as if they had forgotten about it. 

Then came Sunday again, but it was the longest week of my life. The new week began, but still, no teacher asked us about the meeting with our parents. I limited talking to that friend and started concentrating on my studies. 

I continued to struggle in Math but got a passing score in Math in the First Semester Test. Then even in the Second Unit Test, I managed to get through in Math. And I did well in other subjects’ tests. 

Then came the Second Semester, which was also the “Big” Final Exam. I studied well for the Second Semester. When our final results came out, I was already in the ninth grade. And that friend of mine had failed the eighth grade. Unfortunately, he would have to start the eighth-grade schooling year all over again. I barely talked to him or saw him again. 

As for me, in ninth grade, I did well in all of the tests during that year and managed to do okay in Math too. 

Then came the tenth grade, which is considered to be the last year of high school here in the world where I live. 

During my tenth grade, I once again kept failing in Math in the Unit Tests and even in the First Semester and all of the preliminary exams before the big, fat Final Exam of the tenth grade. But, I never repeated that act of mine from the eighth grade. 

So, whoever passed that tenth-grade Final Exam, he/she would get to go to college. During my tenth grade, after looking at my entire school year’s performance in Math which was obviously not so good, our Math teacher came to our classroom and shouted my roll number. 

My friends had told me that he had been hunting for me for quite some time, but whenever he looked for me, I would either be absent or when I was present, that teacher would be unavailable for some reason. So, we had not encountered each other after our preliminary exam evaluation. 

But this time, we encountered each other. He called my number and asked the class if I was present. The entire class pointed at me, saying to the teacher, “Yes, sir. He is here!” 

So, I stood up, and in front of the whole class, he said it out loud, the words that I could never forget, and I never will — He said, “Satish Kadam, you are a disgrace to this school, a big disgrace. Our school has always maintained its 100% success and passing rate in tenth-grade final exams over the last several decades. No student has failed in the tenth-grade year of this school ever before in several decades. But looking at your performance this year, you’re an utter disgrace to this school’s reputation!” 

Once again my head was down, and I was teary-eyed, but I was able to control my tears this time because I was kind of a grown-up 16-year-old boy by that time. However, I was so ashamed of myself and disheartened too, but something inside me gave me that motivation that I could do it, that I could prove that teacher wrong, and that I was no disgrace to my school’s reputation. 

So that day, I went back home and gathered all of my math notes from that year and all of the preliminary exam answer papers with all of my test scores mentioned on them. The school had allowed us to keep those with us for our reference until the final tenth-grade exam. 

So, I started reviewing all of it, what wrong I had done, and what I was supposed to do. I tried to understand it again, and then I tried to solve it again. I knew I was getting better at it. 

The final exam began, and I was very confident about all other subjects but still a little diffident about Math. But, I knew I was ready and was going to prove that teacher wrong, and I was not going to be a disgrace to my school. 

The exam was over, and then there was a break of a month and a half before the final results were announced. 

I kept reassessing my tenth-grade final exam question papers and how I did in all the subjects. I had even marked my expected score for each subject on its question paper, including math. 

I was somewhat confident. After my vacation was over, the final results were announced. I went to my school to collect the final result with my Pa and some friends who came with their fathers. As I reached the school, I saw the school’s result for that year’s tenth-grade final exam written on a big blackboard just right outside the school’s main entrance. Those were big, celebratory words, “Congratulations to all students and teachers on this year’s tenth-grade result!” and I saw it was 100%, which meant I was already through, and I was not a disgrace to my school. 

I stood in line to get the print of my final result, and the school’s clerk said, handing it over to me, “Satish Kadam, passed with first-class percentage!” I was on cloud nine, thinking I was going to get to go to college with my friends. 

Then I went to the washroom in the school because I needed to pass water and release the pressure I was under all that time. In the washroom, I encountered, none other than that same math teacher who had called me a disgrace in front of the whole class. He smiled at me, so, I smiled back at him. He said, “You got through!” I just smiled back at him and said, “Yes, sir!”

I came out smiling and showed it to my Pa. He was sober at that time. He smiled at me and held me close to him as if he was proud of me, but he didn’t say any words to me. 

Then I said bye to my friends. Pa took me to my favorite restaurant. I ate my favorite Rava Dosa and Sambar (It’s a famous South Indian recipe–Rava Dosa is made from rice and semolina liquid paste, and Sambar is like a spicy broth made from lentils and fresh vegetables). Pa also bought some sweets for my brother and Ma and some neighbors. I was going happily crazy looking at my tenth-grade result print, but most important of all, I was happy because I was not a disgrace to my school. 

Chapter 3. I regained my honesty and never lost it again.

After I got out of school with honor in my heart, I was in college. I did okay in my first two years of junior college, which were eleventh and twelfth grades. 

And then, I got enrolled in a senior college program to study for a three-year bachelor’s degree course in Science. And believe it or not, I ended up majoring in Statistics. I got my BSc. degree in Statistics, and I was the first college graduate with a degree in Science in my whole family of uncles, aunts, and their children– my cousins. 

For anybody else, it would seem like an ordinary thing, but for me, it was something that made me feel really good about myself. It was worth all the sacrifices my Ma had made to get me to graduate and get that degree. And especially after what had happened in my eighth grade, and now here I was with a degree and all by studying and learning with honesty in my heart all the time, I was kind of proud of myself.

After a few months of graduating from college, I got a job at a company located in the city area. I would have to take the train to get to my workplace on my working days. 

Since it was a daily commute, I would buy a train’s quarterly pass to save some bucks, because buying a ticket daily to travel from my homeplace to the workplace would cost me 20 times more money than having a quarterly pass. And also, there would be so much rush in the line in front of the ticket counter, so buying a quarterly pass was the optimum option for a train commuter like me back in the day. 

Some 2-3 days before the expiration of my train’s traveling pass, I would go to the train station ticket counter to get it renewed for another quarter. This was my train travel routine while I was working that job. So, I would set myself a reminder to get my train’s pass renewed ahead of its expiration. 

One day, I set myself a reminder to get my pass renewed because it was going to expire in 2 days, but I forgot to renew it ahead of time in my rush to get to the workplace because I was running late on those 2 days. 

So, my train pass had expired. And, if I did not renew it, I would have to stand in a long line to get a ticket to travel to my workplace. So, I continuously kept myself reminded that I needed to renew it this time, no matter what, after I got to the train station which was a 25-minute bus ride away from my residence. 

I got off outside the train station, and I saw a train pulling over to the platform just a few meters away from me on the road outside while I was stepping into the station. As I was already running late, I ran toward that platform, and I got onto that train quickly in a hurry to get to the workplace on time. 

The trains don’t halt at the platforms on the stations for more than 30 seconds. So all of the passengers getting off or getting on the train have only a few seconds to do so. All the getting off and getting on the train has to be done in those 30 seconds by all the train passengers, that’s how the trains function in this part of the world. 

So, I got on the train hurriedly, as the other passengers got off. The moment I got onto the train, I realized, “Goddamn it! I forgot to renew my train pass today also, it has expired already, and in my haste, I forgot to buy the ticket too.” I was cussing myself really badly because I had never traveled on trains or buses without a ticket or a pass in my whole life ever since I started traveling on trains and buses. 

So, once again, I gave myself a strict reminder to get my pass renewed after I got off work later on in the evening. The pass could be renewed at any train station. 

So, I got off at the train station where my workplace was. Fortunately, there was no ticket checker there. Here, at every train station, there are ticket checkers. They are dressed in their uniform of black pants and a white shirt, a black tie and black coat, and a black cap. A ticket checker’s job is to randomly ask any commuter for a ticket or pass because sometimes, many passengers travel without a ticket or pass, maybe because either they don’t have any money to buy the ticket or pass or maybe they just want to save their money by making their journeys to their destinations illegally.

So, the ticket checker’s job at all of the train stations is to catch such illegal travelers and fine them for their illegal train travels. That’s how the train system works here in this part of the world. 

So that morning, I was safe because fortunately, I didn’t encounter any ticket checkers while I was on the train to my workplace. Sometimes the ticket checkers also travel on the trains to catch illegal passengers on their journeys. 

Also, fortunately, I didn’t encounter any ticket checkers after I got off at the station near my workplace. But I had this fear of getting caught the moment I realized that I had not renewed my pass, nor did I remember to buy the ticket. 

So, at the workplace, I was friends with one guy who was a colleague and also a good friend who used to live in the same area where I lived. Sometimes, we would take the train to our work together. Other times, when I ran late, he would go alone ahead of me to the workplace. But in the evening, after work, we would mostly make the return journey together. 

So that day, as I was at work, I was working and continuously reminding myself of buying a new pass. I must have reminded myself of it at least a hundred times while I was working that day. 

So after our working hours, that friend of mine and I got to the train station near our workplace. We had cold drinks at the food store just outside that train station. Also, we were discussing something, as we were having cold drinks. We finished our drinks and started walking toward the train station. 

Just outside the station, we saw the indicators where it would display information about the next train’s arrival time and its final destination. 

We would need to climb a railway overpass to get to the other platform where we could catch a train going to our home place. 

So, we got inside the train station. We climbed the overpass and then climbed down to the other side on the other platform to catch the train. We were still immersed in some conversation. We checked the indicator on that platform, and the next train was going to arrive in a minute, and it would go through the route where our homeplace train station was.

As we were having some conversation, and I don’t exactly remember now what that was about (it’s been so many years), the train arrived at the platform. So, we got on the train, still immersed in our discussion. We found ourselves two seats. We sat and finished the topic of our conversation. 

And then, we started talking about some other topic and then another and another, because it was about a 20-minute-long journey from our workplace to our homeplace train station. Then all of sudden, out of the blue, my friend started telling me about how he was once caught by the ticket checker for traveling without a ticket some time ago. 

The moment my friend started telling me his story, it struck my mind hard, and I remembered that I had once again forgotten to get my pass renewed. And before I could tell this to my friend, he said jokingly to me without knowing anything about my situation, “Satish! You are an a-hole. I know you’re traveling without a ticket right now!” 

And I was worried like hell, “Goddamn it, I forgot to get my pass renewed and didn’t buy the ticket either. I did the same thing while I was coming to work this morning. I was in a hurry, and I got on the train immediately after I saw it pulling at the platform in front of me. And now we were so immersed in talking that I forgot it this time also. What if there’s a ticket checker at our train station?”

My friend responded to me this time in a serious tone, “Damn, man! Are you serious? I was just making fun of you. Are you telling me that you seriously don’t have a ticket or a pass?” 

I replied to him in a worrying tone, “Goddamn it! I forgot it, man! And this is the first time in my life I’m traveling illegally without a ticket or a pass. I’m feeling so guilty right now, man!”

My friend responded, “It’s cool, man! We all forget things, it’s not big a deal, but the deal is that there are ticket checkers at this time at our train station. I hope you won’t get in any trouble. They’ll charge you 25-30 times more money than a regular ticket fare. They’ll take some 250-300 bucks fine from you if you get caught. That’s what they do. Well, let’s see!” 

I was restless and fearful as if I had committed some heinous crime. I had never done anything illegal after that eighth-grade school incident. I’ve always lived by honesty and played by the rules. 

As the train approached our home train station, my friend said to me, “Hey Satish! Let’s do one thing, we get off at the station, and then I’ll go up on the overpass and see if there’s any ticket checker there. If there’s any, I’ll signal you from up there to stay on the platform for a while. Usually, they don’t come on the platforms because of the rush hours. And then after some thirty minutes or so, I’ll check again to see if he’s moved to some other area because they don’t stand in one particular area of the station for a long time. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you behind, man!” 

I was all sweaty and afraid, and my trouble was not just getting caught, but it was also that I only had some 100 bucks in my wallet. I was still some 200 bucks short of the fine (penalty) money if I was not lucky and got caught. 

And this was the first time ever that I was traveling without a ticket or pass because of all the hurry and failure to remember to renew my pass despite thousands of self-reminders for them. Also, I was devastated that my dignity and honesty were at stake for the third time in my life. 

So, we got off at our train station. As we had planned, my friend started walking up to the overpass stairs, blending in with the crowd of people that had just gotten off at the station along with us from various other compartments of that train. 

I was still standing at the bottom end of the overpass stairs on the platform, waiting for my friend’s signal. He was already at the top end of the overpass stairs. Then he looked around the overpass area where people were jostling each other, coming down to the platform, and walking out of the station on that overpass toward the exit.

So, my friend stopped at the top end of the stairs and signaled me to come to the top because he saw no ticket checker there in a black and white uniform. So, I trusted my friend’s judgment and observation, and I climbed up quickly and got on the overpass. I put my head down to avoid any eye contact and started walking in a hurry to get off the overpass with my friend walking by my side. 

As my friend and I were walking quickly to get to the exit end of that overpass which was also the exit from the train station to the main road, I heard a strong voice, “Hey hey hey, stop right there!” I looked up, and through the crowd of people just about when we had taken a few quick steps to reach the exit end of the overpass, someone came from behind and grabbed my arm tightly. He asked me to stand aside in the corner. 

I looked up and saw a guy to be my pa’s age, in a black and white uniform, and realized he was none other than the ticket checker himself. 

I looked at him and then at my friend, I was scared, confused, and at a loss for words, and my heart was pounding like hell. That ticket checker pulled me to the side, and my friend was still with me. 

The ticket checker asked me, “Boy! Show me your ticket!”, I responded in a quivering tone, “Sir, I’m….I’m sorry I don’t have the ticket, nor do I have the pass. I was traveling without a ticket or a pass, but it was not my intention at all. I totally forgot to renew my pass, and then I also forgot to get the ticket. I was in a hurry because I was running late for work, so I forgot. Sir, I swear to God, I’ve never traveled without a ticket or pass ever before. I’ve never done anything illegal in my life. My mother has always taught me to be honest in life. This was an absolute unintentional goof-up I made. I apologize to you, sir. Please let me off the hook this time!” 

And then my friend started vouching for me, “Sir, he is a real honest guy. He never does anything illegal. He just made an error because he forgot. Please let us go!” 

Then the ticket checker softened up a little and said to me, “Son! You look like a good boy, and I know you made a mistake, but it’s my job if I catch anyone, I have to fine that person. I have my officers to report to. You’re going to have to pay me 250 bucks now, and I’ll give you this receipt for it. And, don’t do this ever again. Always renew your pass ahead of its expiration!”

I started ransacking my wallet. I had a 100-buck bill. After looking in all the sections of my wallet, I found some more 20 bucks of coins in it. So, in total, I had 120 bucks now. I asked my friend to check his wallet, and he said he didn’t need to because he only had 10 bucks on him. 

And, remember, when I told you we had cold drinks before catching the train? I was the one who had paid for both our cold drinks by using a meal coupon. Back then, the company I was working for would give its employees a bunch of meal coupons that we could use at certain stores and restaurants, whichever accepted it, and I would have to pay no money to them for their food or cold drinks. So, I still had some meal coupons worth some 150 bucks. Also, I had my bank ATM card where I could go to any ATM outlet and withdraw money whenever needed. 

So, I asked my friend to give me his only 10 bucks and added it to my 120 bucks. And then, I took some of my meal coupons and added them to my 130 bucks to make it like a total of 250, cash of 130 bucks, and coupons worth 120 bucks. And I stacked them all together and handed that over to the ticket checker.

He was watching all this quietly what I was trying to do. And I said to him, showing my cash and coupons, “Sir, these are 130 bucks in cash, and these are coupons worth 120 bucks. You can use these coupons at McDonald’s and many other restaurants!” 

The ticket checker laughed and said, “Son, I’m sorry, I can’t accept the coupons. Please check your wallet again. See, if there’s more money there, coins or something!” 

I responded to him, “Sir, there’s nothing there, and my friend doesn’t have any money either. This is all I have. Please take this, sir!” 

My pretty face was just looking like a once-pretty-now-faded flower. I was about to cry. The ticket checker looked at me and said softly, “Son, it’s okay. Give me your 130 bucks, but I can’t take the coupons!” I gave him 130 bucks and kept the coupons back inside my wallet.

He made the fine receipt and handed it to me, and said with a smile, “Son! You do seem like a good boy from a good family. Please don’t do this again. I’m sure you won’t do this again!” 

I took the receipt with a heavy heart and said to him, “Thank you, sir. I promise I won’t do this ever again. It was a huge mistake I made today. I’ll remember this forever! I’m sorry once again, sir!” 

He smiled back at me and said, “It’s okay, son. You can go now!” 

He started stopping and checking on other passengers passing through on the overpass. Many passers-by passengers watched my scene of embarrassment by stopping there for a minute or two. Even when I was under stress, I had this realization that I was embarrassed in front of hundreds of people for an unintentional, but grave mistake I had made. 

As I was climbing down the overpass stairs to get to the exit end of the station, I was still thinking about what had just happened. I was thinking, “After that eighth-grade incident, I’ve always done everything with all honesty in my heart. And today I make this unintentional mistake, I get caught and didn’t even take my full punishment. I only paid half amount of the fine!” 

Then it hit me hard, and I said to my friend, “Hey! Let’s go to the ATM outlet near the station. I wanna withdraw some money right now!” 

My friend responded, “Why do you need the money? We can catch the bus to our place. I have the extra money for the bus ticket in my jeans pocket, which I didn’t show you when we were talking to the ticket checker because we needed it for the bus. Here, take the money!”

He started handing me over some bucks, and I said to him, “Hey, I’m going back to that ticket checker to pay him the remaining 120 bucks of the fine amount. Look, I’ve always been an honest guy my whole life. But today, I made this mistake even though it was not my intention, I should be punished fully for it. I wanna take full punishment for it!” 

My friend was like, “Are you crazy, Satish? It’s done, man! The matter is already settled. Let’s go to the bus station, catch a ride and go home!” 

I said to him assertively, “I’m Satish Kadam, and I’m an honest guy. I’ve always lived with honesty in my heart, and if I made some mistake even if it was unintentional, I must and wanna take full punishment for it. That’s my way of getting redemption!” 

My friend said to me in an annoying tone, “Man! I’ve never seen any guy like you in my life. You are a real crazy honest guy!” 

So, we went to the ATM, I took some cash out. Then we both went back up the overpass. That ticket checker was still there checking the passengers for their tickets. There was also one more ticket checker in another corner of the overpass, doing the same thing. 

We walked up to the ticket checker who had just fined me, and I said, “Excuse me, sir! Here, please take the remaining 120 bucks of my fine!” 

He looked at me and immediately knew who I was, so he said, “Son! I can’t take this money now. I’ve already given you the receipt for it. I can’t make another receipt for you!”

I insisted, “Sir, I don’t want any receipt, just please take this money. I’m an honest guy. My mother always taught me to be honest. I’ve never stolen from anyone nor have I deceived anyone in my life. And today, I make this mistake because I failed to remember the renewal of my pass. I know a mistake is a mistake, so I wanna take full punishment for it. I wanna pay you the full fine money!” 

He called the other ticket checker and started narrating the entire sequence of our events to him. He was telling his co-worker, “Look at this boy! He couldn’t pay me the full fine earlier. I took from him all the money he had, and now he has come back to pay me the remaining balance of the fine. I’ve never seen anyone like him. Please tell him that I can’t take the money without issuing a receipt, nor can I make him a new receipt because I already made one for him. You tell him this. He is not willing to listen to me!” 

Then that other ticket checker started saying to me, “Son, we can’t accept this money now. The matter has already been settled. We’ve already given you the receipt, and we also appreciate your honesty. You are an honest guy who just happened to make that mistake, and I’m sure you won’t do that again. Please go home, son!” 

Then they both asked my friend to make me understand all that. I didn’t know what rules they had to follow, but eventually, I agreed with what they were all saying to me. 

My friend and I smiled at those ticket checkers, and they smiled back at us. We thanked them, and with my friend walking by my side, I walked out of the train station with my head held high. For some reason, despite being penalized by that ticket checker, I was feeling good that I got caught even though it was an unintentional error of mine. 

The next day in the morning, on my way to work, I went to the ticket counter at the train station and got my pass renewed. Then in the evening after work, the same friend and I made the return journey together from our workplace train station to our home train station. 

We got off the train at our station and got on the overpass to get to the other side of the train station, where the exit was. And on the overpass, we saw that same ticket checker again. He looked at me and my friend and happened to recognize us, especially me, so I smiled at him. He looked at me, smiled back, and made a gesture with his hand, “ Go go go!” He didn’t ask me for my ticket again. 

Then I saw him there a few times again, but he never asked me for my ticket or pass ever again. Every time we looked at each other, we exchanged smiles. He never forgot me, and I’ve never forgotten him. I never forgot that day when I was caught by that ticket checker, and I never will.

For me, honesty is staying true to yourself, no matter what. What being honest has given me in my life is that wherever I’ve gone, I’ve always walked with my head held high. Nobody has ever dared to lay his finger on me saying that Satish Kadam is dishonest and of low character. Honesty defines your character. It gives you the courage to be what you are, and it earns you respect in your own eyes, and also in the eyes of the people you deal with in your life.

So, always be true to yourself–in your actions and words. You’ll never have to bow down to anyone. Always walk with your head held high wherever you go because a person with honesty in his/her heart has nothing to fear in life. 

Also, please note that honesty is not about being rude to others by picking at them, finding flaws in them, and telling them bluntly about it. It’s not honesty, it is rudeness. 

Honesty should be a part of your character. It is about always being true to yourself. It is about respecting yourself and other people’s feelings.

So, this is the story of my sweet and honest affair with honesty, and now you know why honesty is the best policy in life.

May there always be a light of honesty in every human heart.

Disclaimer: The pictures used in this article belong to their copyrighted owners.