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.