What lies in a ‘Lie’

Why do we tell lies?

I’m not seeking an answer for this here, but narrate an incident that happened during my childhood days.

I am sure everyone would have told lies, at least once in their lifetime.

Lie comes in various forms like our clothes — small, medium, large, XL, XXL etc. Well.. it’s not global definition but just a classification to put a size or measure it, based on the impact and its proportion!

For some , never a day goes without a lie. For some a trivial lie - a fib is sometimes okay (like lying to teacher that the bus got late as the reason for coming late to school, which is most of our childhood pet peeve) . They call it harmless.

For some its good when we lie for a purpose but not to harm others, gain advantage or may be to hide a seemingly harmless behavior ( ! )

We tell lies to please others, please ourselves, and sometimes even to please none!. For some — it’s just exaggeration of facts , they never lie ! .

Some people blows their own trumpet, though everyone around them can easily understand its an over ‘cooked’ story !

You must also have heard about telling lies to ourselves! Yes, we got to do that sometimes to make us feel better, forget something, hurt less.

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Many years ago, I got a priceless birthday present from my grandmother, just because I told a lie! . Well, to me it was a small lie but the cost I had to pay for it was in XXLs !. For some reason this incident is very dear to me, may be an eye opener which I realized years later because at that age it was too much for me to fathom.

So, my great grandmother was a terror. I would need to tell about her before I actually narrate the incident. My Grandmother was a self-made women, very kind but only to people who are kind to her ! . She was blessed with many virtues or rather qualities , that the other fellow ladies in her age who lived nearby had not to claim. She could easily recite poems in Sanskrit , play aksharshlokam , talk about worldly affairs with no formal education whatsoever. May be that gave her an upper hand among them and hence she ruled the roost!. Since I lived with her, away from my parents, I was basically under the tight control of her ! When she gets angry, the whole street goes empty !

So coming back, I was then studying in a local public school in our village .I had a young , sister- friend who accompanied me to school those days, studied in my school. About her , she was a Brahmin kid, sweet and simple. We were neighbors and it was my responsibility to ‘take care’ of her during our journey to school.

Our school was just about 3–4 kms from our house and we walked daily . We almost looked like a real sister and brother and after a few days of walk together, I realized it was very nice to have a sister ! She was really a bundle of cuteness and we got along really well doing all kind of pranks, all the way to school and back.

I often wore a brotherly hat, overprotective, telling her stories from Shaktiman, mythological stories and also some half cooked stories from my wild imagination- she would hear all out it without batting an eye !!

On a fine evening , during one such a walk back home after school ,we spotted a new mittai shop opened near school. It was a small one , rather looking like a nest, making use of every space possible. To attract kids they had lovely colourful madama pooda ( it translates loosely to hairs of white lady since it’s a sweet spongy hair like thing- a cotton candy in other words that folks sell in big glass vat strapped to the back of their bikes) , sip ups, coloured chocolates, honey candies, gas candies, lemon candies etc.

I wanted to get her some chocolates of her choice , something which we both can enjoy till we reach our homes. But all that the little boy had on his pocket was a very small change , just to get one or two small chocolates. To be honest I was not given pocket money at that age, nor did I had courage to ask my grandmother for some!.

What next, he mustered courage and managed to glide a bottle full of chocolates to his bag !!!

Walking back home with chocolate on hands, bags, mouth and left overs on cheeks , she and I were like the most happiest kids around!. I left her at house , promised her to attempt more of these ‘lifting’ in the coming days. She bade bye with a usual giggle . At home I presented these ‘lifted’ chocolates to be of something I got as a gift from my beloved teacher !.

So next day on my birthday, I was so happy to give away plenty of chocolates to my fellas group. Needless to say they were all surprised to see the ‘new me’ distributing sweets not just to our batch, but also to other sections of the class ! Obviously my crush at school got the fair share !!

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I rushed back home that day thinking in mind about the special dishes waiting for me at home !. Mouth watering payasam and special appam from temple were all that was in the little boy’s mind. I managed to run and reach home early, put my bag on bed and ran to kitchen calling out for food, but the poor boy had yet another feast waiting for him in the corridor.

I saw my granny with a very thin but a well-tailored ‘specially crafted’ tamarind tree stick locally sourced from our inner courtyard, waiting to pounce on me. She was accompanied by her mates as well, who gathered from nowhere to see the trial.

So the first question thundered on my ears. When did you start lying to me? Followed by how did you get courage to do all this ?

Now, like every other naive liar I made a vain attempt to cook an impromptu story but before I could weave and present it well under the shuddered noise thundering my ears, I had a shocking realization that the news about my shoplifting ‘heropanthi’ has already reached her ears through a well-known messenger..!!

Well ,I was totally paralyzed. What happened next was obvious, so all that happened. I was not worried for the punishment but the shame I had to go through in front of others which hit hard on me. My head shone with humiliation, immeasurably sad, distraught, disconsolate I went to bed that day.

But when I look back , this incident have paved the way to tell truth no matter how adverse the circumstances are, to remain calm and accept it, something which I follow even today.

Also this taught me one more thing- Always think twice or exercise utmost caution when you choose your partner in crime !!! :)