One of the best phases of life is when you have girlfriend, pocket-money, a two-wheeler and no responsibilities. Roaming around the streets on a two-wheeler with your girlfriend sitting behind, you tend to think that you can do no wrong. Thankfully I had this phase for about four years in my life where the main agenda of the day for Pallavi and me used to be to roam around the streets of Mumbai on Kinetic Honda. We used to have roughly around a pool of 30-40 rupees between us (early nineties with petrol costing just 6 rupees it used to be a tidy sum).
One such day on a Sunday morning - traffic was easy and we were going past Dadar (can be called a center of the city). A traffic cop caught me jumping the signal. First thought in my mind was economic situation. Sunday used to be a day when both of us used to go to South Mumbai for a movie (an ultimate class act given our general economic condition!). If the traffic cop had charged me the regular penalty for jumping the signal, Sunday was gone! At the age of 22, this is equivalent to losing a million dollars!........... I parked my kinetic honda, asked Pallavi to be there and went on to negotiate with the cop ….. Finally we settled for Rs 10 (If I remember right the fine was Rs 20 then). The traffic cop pocketed the money and went away …… Sunday was saved ….. On the way back home I proudly told Pallavi about how I saved the Sunday …. As she got down at her place she told me, “Your value system is saleable for 10 rupees, so next time I don’t want you to tom-tom about your value system and integrity” I was furious and we argued about the how she lacks maturity and does not understand the value of money (after all I was three years older than her!) “Anyway, right now you are capable of only 10 rupees corruption …. Who knows what you would do when you are capable of more?” and she walked away ….. Her sense of timing in terms of walking away from arguments in style has remained intact all these years! I was so furious that I reached from Worli to Vile Parle in less than 20 minutes (usually a distance of 30 minutes those days) ………… I couldn’t think of anything else the whole night ……
next day when we met, both of us had calmed down
“Perhaps I was little harsh yesterday but I get bugged with any form of corruption but I guess I stretched a little too far” ….
“No you were right. I agree with your last statement about my ability limited to only 10 rupees now. If just for having a Sunday my way, I could do this, god knows what I would do in future”…
“Don’t be a fool, I really did not mean it that bad!”….
“No you were right and be that way so that I can reserve my rights to tom-tom about my integrity and values in front of you whether I achieve anything in life or not!” and we both had a hearty laugh…..
This happened about 18/19 years back ….. till date, I have not bribed anyone in any form though life has seen some tough moments …. If a cop catches me I apologize, plead guilty and pay the fine if he demands so!
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I have experienced the same and my Father taught me a lesson. On breaking the traffic rule (Off with Car seat belt, he requested traffic cop to fine me for my mistake and have asked me to pay the fine from my pocket money. A good lesson learnt to maintain a sense of responsibility, value & respect for system and earned money.
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