Learning the hard way....

In the journey of life we may come across  few people who influence our life to a great extent and we can't help but thank them for doing so. Some incidents help us analyze good and bad and leave an impact on us permanently. I'd like to share one such incident that I can never erase from my memory on this Teacher's Day.

I was in my 7th standard when this incident took place. I was one of the most talkative students of my class and I also excelled in academics. I was a favorite to majority of my teachers (except Telugu) so I obviously thought that I am never at fault. One of my classmates (whom I thought as a good friend) always had a lot of cash with her (around 100 bucks which is a lot for a 7th class kid!) daily. On asking her, she used to tell me that her Mom gives her money daily to have snacks after school. I believed her all the time but still had a doubt as to how she can have money daily with her.

One day one of our classmates complained to our class teacher, Ms. Sumathy Ma'am, that 100 bucks from her school fees was missing. As a tradition, everyone's bags and pockets were checked and this girl (my so-called friend) had 100 Rupees with her. She told Sumathy Ma'am that her Mom had given her that money. Ma'am asked her to call her parents and prove her point. During our lunch break my so-called friend came up to me. She wanted me to tell Sumathy Ma'am (if she asks me) that she had shown me the money when we were on our way to school in the morning (which she din't) as she told our Ma'am that I knew she had money with her. She told me that she actually found the money on the road and she lied to our Ma'am that her Mom had given her. I told the same thing to our Ma'am ( a lie) as directed by my liar friend.

Back home, she told her Mom that she found the money on the road and her teacher suspects that she has actually robbed it. Her Mom, believing her, promised to see our teacher the next day.

The next day I din't go to school so I din't know what happened. The following day was Sunday so again a holiday. On Monday, during the lunch break, Sumathy Ma'am called me to the staff room. She asked me for the final time very firmly, looking into my eyes, if what ever I said was true or not. I couldn't speak! She understood I had lied and the next moment I felt a hard slap on my face! Tears welled in my eyes and I stood there dumbstruck! At that moment I realized what a loser I am! I apologized to her and assured her that never in my life will I support a liar. She made me realize that it was not my friend but it was me who was at a bigger fault as I supported a wrong thing despite knowing the truth.

On this Teacher's day, I would like to thank Sumathy Ma'am for showing me the consequences of supporting unethical things. Thanks a lot for that slap Ma'am! That slap had never let me do things against my conscience. Happy Teacher's Day Ma'am! :)

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