I was in the Intermediate Class in College. In the main subjects I was considered a good stude...
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I was in the Intermediate Class in College. In the main subjects I was considered a good students, not a great one: essentially because I had other fish to fry: I was active in cricket, playing initially for the College B team and then captaining it: I was not good enough to be in the first eleven at Loyola, which had one test player and three Ranji Trophy players and I did not wish to be the perennial 12th man and so I chose to be in the second eleven. I also was in the NCC on the way to becoming a pilot. in the Air Wing. However, I was known to be excellent in Hindi as this was Madras and the first language I had learned in UP where I was born, was hindi. So it might have been a case to quote Desidarious Erasmus""In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king". However, most of the English medium types took Hindi as the second language, as Tamil was too difficult and Sanskrit too esoteric.
This was the final examination, a University examination with two invigilators and the whole nine yards of supervision. I had completed my Hindi examination within the time allotted with about half an hour to spare. I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs, when my friend(since school) Govind, casually reached over and picked up my answer paper and busily started copying. I was in a quandry: Govind was a friend of ten years standing, and that at 17 is a major portion of your life. I decided I could not report him, as my friendship was more important to me than the ethics of the situation. For about half an hour while Govind was busy copying, I died several deaths. If Govind were caught. not only would he be failed or worse, but so would I as a party to the copying. If I was not caught during the examination I would surely be caught if they compared our two answer papers after the fact. In that case they would not be able to establish as to who was the copier and who the copied. However, Govind was not caught and I went on to win the Hindi Prize that year, a Prize that was given to me by the then Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamaraj Nadar.
This was an interesting dilemma that I faced fifty years ago: I handled it in a certain way. How would you have done it ???
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FANTASTIC
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Girdhar Gopal,
There seems to be something in the Pune water - we didn't have any ppl in our class who tried to cheat - yeah, the hostelites did it, but mostly amongst their own gangs. 
In fact, the day scholars were so segregated and egoistic dat asking for 'help' wud have seemed to them a very 'laachaar' thing to do.
Hmm.....interesting and equally interesting r the comments.
No, I wudn't report my 'friend' for trying to cheat, but I wud prob'ly beat her/him up (mostly wid unkind, cruel words).
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Hobson's chocie or Catch 22 - pick yours. I would have gone by what you did, however uncomfortable that might have been. I believe these situations start initiating us (when we are young) the ethics.
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Hello Girdhar,
Wondering why or how come your friend did not share that first prize with you!
After all, he was a great copier!
Reminds me of my SSLC exam when one invigilator was the elder brother of a girl in my class. SHe in turn had a whole group of friends in the same room. The Biology paper was pretty easy and I was busy writing page after page when the invigilator walked up to me and asked if I could share some of my papers with his poor sister and her friends. I was absolutely shocked. I was very strict about NOT copying from anyone nor did I like to share with anyone. I was afraid that the guy would damage or lose my sheets purposely if I refused. It was a dilemma that stressed me out and I decided to share only one page and then lied that I was not sure about he rest of my answers. That scared them and they left me alone.
So, I guess diplomacy always wins!
Ranjini
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Dear Girdhar ji,
I would rather copy your situation and would have helped your synonym .
Hindi as you know was not favourite of Kamraj,who started anti hindi agitation.
Unlike Uttar Pradesh,where one cannot survive without hindi, southern and eastern regions have limited utility for hindi.
So,if your pal was not aspiring to be a Hindi translator,nothing unethical about it.
Then, we all know, association teaches you better than dozens of books.
I believe the best language is of human touch,which you showed to your friend in distress.
warm regards,
yours,
ashish
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I searched my heart and came up thinking that i would have done the same.
Avinash
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Melody:I grew up in an atmosphere at school in which one never 'sneaked' to the master(teacher) about what another student was doing. Those who told on friends were called 'sneak-pots'. Right or wrong that was the code I lived by even though I was then in colllege. But, looking back I am not sure what I should have done. It would be a difficult decision. But I think if the crime was more serious, the more prone I would be to warn a friend not to do it and then report it if I found that habits did not change. The more serious a crime got the more prone I would be to report it.
Rgds, Girdhar
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Girdhar
...
At seventeen, I was too idealistic to let pragmatism colour my thoughts. I would have simply reported the 'friend' and stood up for myself. I continued being idealistic for a few more years - fighting corrupt bus conductors, auto rickshaw drivers etc etc. I wouldn't give up even if I was fighting a losing battle and becoming a source of worry for my parents.
Today, having grown older and become pragmatic and all that, I don't know how I would react even if the crime was a serious one. Society has become even more venal and idealism has become punitive
And that's the dilemma.
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I agree Rampu: I did not have the heart on telling on my friend: but as it has been pointed out that if my friend did what he did, he was no friend of mine. In an increasingly venal society these dilemmas must be proliferating: the question is where do you draw the line. I did not do it on copying, would I have done otherwise, on a serious crime, I think so. But, I will never really know as I was not faced with that eventuality.
Rgds, Girdhar
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No, you have not handled anything. It's your lady luck that did the job for you (and your friend).
Even my wife faced similar situations during her PG examinations when one of her friends sudddenly grabbed her answer sheet when she finished one and returned minutes before leaving the hall. When the results came out, he actually scored more than her in that subject.
For this reason till this day she regrets her inability to prevent him copy her answer sheet.
I too faced similar kind of situation just once during my SSC examinations... but this time a chit that was intended for the guy sitting next to me landed on my desk from another row. When the examiner demanded explanation after noticing this- I, for once without any hesitation pointed to the guy who threw it and told him coldy to whom it was intended.
I was let off the hook. Even those guys were let off with a stern warning and they didn't dare to repeat this act , though they invented better ways of copying.
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