Tuesday, September 25, 2012

A little bit of honesty goes a long way


Incident-1

From Rajiv Gandhi International airport, Hyderabad, I had to catch a morning flight to Kolkata. Not wishing to eat the bland breakfast served in flight I decided to have breakfast in the airport. I ordered a plate of Guntur-Idly in a food joint at the airport which costed a whopping price of Rs.85! In a hurry, unable to yield to a large queue of customers, the cashier gave the bill to me but surprisingly, got confused and did not take money for the order. I tried to tell him but he refused to listen to me and shooed me away saying I was holding the line of customers.








Oh shoot! I thought the restaurant won’t suffer losses if it didn't charge one plate. I had the free breakfast triumphantly, happy that I saved a lot of money. Seriously Rs. 85 for two idlis is too much!! I planned on eating soon and slipping away lest he realizes his mistake later. I was gulping down the idly and then midway I had my guilty conscience probing and disturbing me.  I could not eat any further. Then and there, I got up, went behind the counter and explained to him that by mistake he forgot to take money from me. He was very happy at my honesty and thanked me. He said that his boss would have chided him at the end of the day if the cash and the bill accounts did not tally and he would had to pay from his own pocket. It might not be a big transaction, but I felt very good with my sincerity and ate the rest of my breakfast in peace.


Incident-2
I was shopping with my family on a hot mid-afternoon.  My father was very tired and hungry. He wanted to buy a plate of fruit salad from a vendor on the street. The vendor handed over the plate to my dad but my dad was unable to hold it properly and so it fell on the road strewing the pieces of fruits here-and-there.  Disappointed and hungry my dad gave the vendor his money and we proceeded to go home. But the vendor called us back and gave another plate and did not accept money for the second plate which was totally unexpected.

He earned my respect as he was a man of strong integrity, who didn't feel greedy for money though it was rightfully his, only because his customers were not satisfied. 

13 comments:

  1. Very well written. Honest people do exist in this world.

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  2. such honest and nice people make this world a worthy place to live in na..

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  3. I liked the second one for it was generosity by a roadside vendor but the first one brought out your sense of unease for not having paid the money for the breakfast and your honesty in insisting on payment though 85 rupees for two idlies ia just day light robbery.
    Pray tell me what is Guntur idly and how they make it.Never heard it.

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  4. Honesty though in small numbers still does exist in today's world :)

    It surely makes you feel good about it!

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  5. @KParthasarathi

    @KParthasarathi: Guntur idly is just like the basic idly but it comes smeared with ghee and chutney powder made of chillies and lentils.

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  6. You write so well, I enjoyed reading some of your blogs.

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  7. sweet.. I too have had both experiences..yes the first one too...ditto..busy shopkeeper who dint hear-eat-realised-paid-eat-satisfied :-)

    A huge thanks for following my blog :-)

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  8. some 2-3 years back, i bought some cigarettes at a local shop. It was around 11 PM. I was in a hurry, the cost was 70 rs so i gave him 100 rs As soon as he returned me 30 rs i immediately left from there. The shopkeeper shouted from behind "Paise le lo, aapke paise le lo". It took me some time to realize that he was actually shouting at me. By mistake i gave him 500 rs note.

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    Replies
    1. That shopkeeper who sold cigarettes is really honest! He could have easily kept that money!

      Thanks for reading Jahid.

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  9. Honesty is the result of understanding that we can't really 'tame' the system and bend it to suit our whims. It comes naturally to some people and in cases like mine, it comes after having said a lot of (unnecessary) lies. Honesty is the first sign of having grown up!

    Destination Infinity

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    1. Right. Or honesty can come from parent's upbringing and by inculcation of moral values by teachers in school at an early age. Kids are impressionable minds and they do imbibe such virtues.

      Thanks for sharing your opinion!

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  10. Some things really stick out in our mind isn't it?
    And good things like these don't happen daily, but its matters like these that keeps us going :-)

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  11. Such refreshing, heart warming stories. Thanks, Aparna.

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Please be nice :)

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