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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You are right Gopal ji ,people try to exploit in every possible way and specially in India where I scratch your back and you do mine is so common , jaaye to jaaye kaha
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Ash: After that examination we went our own ways. But, this kind of thing might be happening every day: honest people are like the three wise monkeys in an increasingly corrupt society. My old friend Sundar, a senior member of the Indian Revenue Service,( on whose death I wrote a blog) once told me that in his forty years he had only met one thoroughly honest man, who not only took no bribes, but also did not use his influence. I wonder what that honest person felt when faced by a dilemma like mine ? Did he report or did he let sleeping dogs lie ?
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devil and the sea.............
then i feel what you did and what happened was the best although i must say that I would have distanced myself from such a person not because he cheated but because he can choose to endanger his friend for his benefits
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Jitendra: I had anther course open to me, I could have reported my friendsb to powers that would have rusticated him foe a number of years. I hope if it comes to a serious crime I would report friends or others dear to me. I have never faced that contingency. Some would consider copying in an university examination a serious offense. I was in the horns of a dilemma, and I acted by NOT acting.
Is that not the crime that most people face in an increasingly corrupt society ?
Rgds, Girdhar
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Ash: The facts are that I had never encouraged him to copy: he just reached over and took my answer paper. At that point I had two courses open to me, I could have reported him to the authorities or stayed I had no other options open. What should I have done ??
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I would have surely helped him in cheating but not in such a blatant way ..just to the limit where he does not loose his one year , this is the line which I would draw
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Hullo GG
A good samaritan in the making.
A 'Dharma Sankat' is a 'Dharma Sankat'. A different response is unthinkable.
Jitendra
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Naval: I am not so sure. Where do we draw the line: If I saw him take bribes, would I have reported him. If I had found out that he had committed murder, what would have been my course of action. At seventeen,. I did what was expedient, but was I right ?
Rgds, Girdhar
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To Girdhar Gopal jee,
A friend in need is a friend indeed: that is what I would say for what you have to suffer in the examination hall during the last thirty minutes .
Naval Langa
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