Here lies the truth

       I was  reading out aloud to my wife Ether. "You know it is said that Government has so far spent Rupees 31 crores on Kasab. One news estimated it to about 50 crores.”

“What would be 10% of that “
 “About 3.1 crores”
 “And what about 5% of that?”. About 1.55 crores. Just think, if we had that we could have conducted the weddings of our 2 daughters in style.

Now how much Income-tax Governmentt has to pay for that?”

“What do you mean? And why Government has to pay tax on the money spent by it. It is  Government’s money”

“Look at it like this . If you were to spend a crore on your daughter’s wedding wouldn’t the Income Tax departmentt come sweeping down on you asking you to account for the money and ask you to pay the tax due, whatever.And if instead of the Governmentt if some private party was to maintain Kasab wouldn’t the Income-Tax dept ask them to account for the money and ask the party to pay the tax due .Then if it is the Governmentt itself why shouldn’t it pay the tax? I must know. I will invoke the RTI (Right To Information) act if necessary.  “

“See it is the Government’s money part got from IncomeTax paid by the likes of us .It can spend it anywhere it likes and sees fit.It is only accountable to the Auditor General and the parliament.”

“ okay.But if you were to take a loan from a bank then we have to pay interest on the loan and if we default then they charge us for the interest on the interest also. Similarly I think Government t should pay tax on the Tax money spent on Kasab, It is only fair.”

“Now Ether look at it like this. If you were a landlord and had lots of rooms to let and you also stay in one of these , you would charge rent from others but you are not going to pay rent your self”

“But if you  re a Gujarati landlord or if you are business like and if you rent one of the houses to even your Son in Law you are going to charge him rent. Business is only business”

It is all so unfair”

"Yes indeed it is .In our country where there are hundreds of villages without electricity, water supply and with poor sanitation and places where children are dying of malnutrition and farmers are committing suicides, it is very unfair. Why go far? In the villages and tribals of Karjat  we can still see men with just enough clothings to cover their modesty,and women who are bare chested.” “That they are trying to imitate their urban sisters in showing off cleavages,”

"No, they are not showing off cleavages. They are showing off their whole breasts . This is no latest fashion either. They just do not have enough  clothes to cover their chest and hence they don’t cover their breasts.and they are all so malnourished"

"It is so unfair," said my wife nodding her  head. "It is really unfair if they were to ask poor Kasab to pay tax on the money spent on him."

Here lies the truth- IVPentothal

My wife Ether as she usually is, is very encouraging “Tut Tut what nonsensical title is this?.Here lies the truth. It is an antithesis as your whole life has been so far. At least you should have consulted my mother who is an English teacher before this Hanumanic jump to this meaningless title. I can assure you of one thing no erudite lady will ever even glance at your article with a title like this. How can truth lie? How can a boy be a girl? How can a night be day? How can white be black? And remember it is the ladies who read such meaningless columns-don't know why  they do that-whatever the reason. So, the first thing to do is to retract.  Say I am extremely sorry to the readers .Tell them that your MIL who is an eminent English professor has made you see reason and told you to alter the header. How do I know what title to add now. Follow what Hemingway did, choose your title from Bible or even your Bhagwad Gita. “

                        Whatever wavering I had experienced regarding the suitability or otherwise of the title disappeared once I was certain that my wife and esp my MIL thoroughly disapproved of the title. It must be really good to get such raving reviews. Now that part is settled to everyone’s satisfaction I must plan the content of my columns. Now you might say how can you call it settled when my bitter-half  is quite bitter about it. I am one of those who leave avenues for my wife to carp about. Now she and her mother have a lifetime to talk about . If my column turns out to be a failure as they expect, they could say we told you so. And contrary to all their expectations if  it succeeds they can say we were checking on your resolve and knew all the time that if we criticize, you will adhere stubbornly to the wonderful title suggested by my mother.

1. “And my mother says you should do some research before you put the pen to the paper. You should be very clear whether it is the apple or the cherry or the peach tree that Washington jr cut. So for once as a favour to you, as this is your maiden attempt at writing my mother has agreed to let you know from her treasury of knowledge that it was the apple tree which was cut. This wasthe same tree from which the apple fell on his head and Washington discovered the law of gravity.
2. My dear readers !don’t, please don’t ever think of contesing this. If my MIL says Washington discovered or even invented Gravity, leave it at that. She will refuse to entertain any other notion or if she is in a condescending mood she might accept that someone with …… ton discovered G for all she cares.

Could be Newton, Washington or even Princeton – the latter, in fact  is a place in British Columbia, where a close bridge friend stays. I play a lot of internet bridge and have many international friends and have found the Canadians to be full of warmth and love when compared to others who are also friendly but a little arrogant. Please note the fact that most of these are ladies as ladies outnumber the gents among bridge players and playing regularly with them they become  your friends.
In the next column I will try to explain why I chose this header and this pseudonym.

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Here lies the truth- IVPentothal

Honesty is the best policy
I was in 8th std then,it was our first CA class, None of us knew what CA meant, but we were supposed to talk on this topic, and funnilly none of us really knew the terms honesty, best or policy either. Not that we understand the terms in depth now but we are better acquainted with the ramifications now than what we knew then,  We did have some of us talking on it, about it, and around it. I cannot now recall exactly what we talked about. But our teacher was n’t really unhappy about it, So it seemed okay.
I think we must  have talked about Harischandra the honest king, George Washington and the
woodcutter who lost his wood handled axe in the river. May be we just went blah blah about the need to be honest in all matters of life.”Honesty being the best policy” was then considered to be an inviolate thing, not to be talked of otherwise.
Now over years I have gained valuable inputs into these things the meaning of which were not very
 clear in those formative years. So today “Honesty” packs a lot of punch and one is clear about its usage. It is ofcourse very personal what meaning you attribute to it.
Let us take the case of Washington who had cut a tree whether an apple tree or  a cherry tree or a
 peach tree is irrelevent, but the fact remains that it is against all environmental safety measures and the perpetrator who ever it is would come under the scrutiny of law and I am sure that George’s father would not be very keen for his son to own up what he did though it might catapult him into eternal fame as an honest youth. If it was in India the Muncipal Authorities would be at your door with all embarrassing questions thereby sidelining honesty into a bylane.
         In this context it would be interesting to discuss a one act play written and directed by Kader Khan for an inter collegiate competition which won him an award after years of waiting”Badi dher kar dhee meherban aathe aathe” (The benefactor took a lot of time to arrive).It is about a man trapped under a fallen tree who could not be rescued in time because of all the red tapism and environmental issues involved in the  cutting of the already fallen tree.
More about this in my regular column”Here lies the truth” by IVPentothal.