Caught in a Friend’s Lie
Anand noticed that Jothi’s eyes were wandering constantly towards the door and away from the computer project they were there to do. Finally, Anand complained, “Jothi, I also want to go out and play. I stayed back to help you complete your assignment, but you’re not paying attention. At this rate, we’ll be here all night.”§
After a few more minutes of Jothi’s fooling around, Anand felt his temper rise a bit. He said, “Jothi, focus, or I’m leaving!” Nikhil and Ved, who were the only others in the room, looked up. They were surprised at the sharp tone in Anand’s voice. Seeing the two boys looking at him, Jothi flushed and barked back at Anand, “Oh, you think you’re a big shot, huh? You know all the answers, and the questions, too. I’ll complete it at my own pace.”§
“In that case, you will have to do it on your own,” replied Anand. But just as Anand was getting off his chair, Jothi’s strong hand caught his arm from behind. “No, my friend, you can’t just leave. Let’s wrestle. If you win, you can leave. If I win, then you have to complete my assignment.”§
Jothi then pulled Anand toward him. Anand lost his balance. As he was about to fall, he tried to grab the edge of the desk. Instead, he caught only some cables and fell hard to the ground. The keyboard came down, landing off to one side of the table. Then, with a loud crash, the computer monitor fell on the floor in front of him.§
For a few seconds, there was total silence. The boys were in shock. Jothi was the first to speak: “Get up, you fool. If the teacher sees you lying down like that, we’ll be in trouble.”§
Quickly, Jothi picked up the monitor and put it back on the table. He switched it on, but the monitor seemed to be dead. Nikhil and Ved looked at each other fearfully. By now Anand had gotten up. He said, “Why did you push me like that? Look what happened!”§
Jothi calmly replied, “Anand, it was all in fun. This doesn’t have to be anyone’s fault. When our teacher Mr. Kumar asks, all of you can just tell him that I tripped on the cord and knocked the monitor down.”§
Anand said, “But that’s a lie. That’s not the truth.”§
“So, who cares if it’s the truth or not? We’ll get in trouble if we tell the truth,” replied Jothi.§
Just then Mr. Kumar walked into the room and asked, “What was that noise, boys?”§
Jothi gave a soft smile and said, “Sir, my foot caught the power cord on the floor and it pulled the monitor off the table. I think there’s a problem with it, because it won’t turn on.”§
Mr. Kumar looked from one boy to the other. He switched on the monitor, but nothing happened. Turning to Anand, he asked, “What happened, Anand?”§
Anand lowered his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jothi staring threateningly at him. Telling the truth would be bad for Jothi. Already the boy had gotten in trouble several times this school year. Another incident, and he could be suspended. In spite of his better senses, Anand said, “It happened the way Jothi just told you, Sir.”§
Shaking his head, he turned to the other two boys. They were obviously scared and backed up Jothi’s story that it was all an accident.§
Jothi smiled broadly and said, “Sir, they say I told you the truth. Do you believe me now?”§
The teacher shook his head again and said, “You have to learn to be careful. This computer is valuable. You should take care of it the way you take care of your personal belongings.” Saying these words, Mr. Kumar began to walk out of the room, but just as he reached the door, he turned suddenly and looked at Anand. He was quick to notice the way Anand immediately averted his eyes and stared at the wall. Mr. Kumar knew someone was lying.§
Anand walked out of the lab room feeling upset and confused. Why had Jothi pushed him down? After all, he had been trying to help Jothi! And then he had to lie for him! Maybe Jothi wasn’t such a good friend. This certainly did not feel right.§
Anand set off to walk home. The evening sun was slowly setting. The tops of the trees glowed with a bright orange shade. The sunlight reflected on the clear blue lake on the way to his house. He saw a flock of swans land gracefully on the water. Surely they never had to lie about anything, he thought. Why do people lie? Isn’t it easier to speak the truth? Yes, sometimes speaking the truth is scary because you can get yourself in trouble, but at least that will be the end of it. But one lie always seems to lead to another. The problem might be covered up, but inside, deep inside, something will always bother you.§
Anand suddenly felt someone walking beside him and turned his head. He saw his father smiling. “Daddy, I’m so happy to see you,” said Anand and reached for his father’s arm.§
The father looked at his son and knew immediately that there was something wrong. He smiled softly and said, “Had a bad day, son?”§
Anand couldn’t look his father in the eye. How could he tell him the truth? But then if he lied, it would be another lie and soon he would be caught in a web of lies. He trusted his father and decided to tell the truth. He told the story of the day—trying to help Jothi, the wrestling, breaking the monitor and finally lying to Mr. Kumar.§
His father had always been kind and gentle with him. He believed in ahimsa, nonviolence. He had never spanked or slapped his son. The few times he had become upset and spoke harshly to Anand, he apologized afterwards. When Anand misbehaved, his father carefully explained what he did wrong. His punishment was loss of privileges, such as not being able to play with his friends for a week. Anand trusted his father because he was kind and patient.§
“Anand,” his father said, “I’m proud of the fact that you decided to speak the truth to me. You realized there was no point in continuing to lie. You were wrong to have lied to the teacher. Yes, Jothi is your friend, but you don’t need friends who make you do wrong things. You need to stand up for yourself and for what is right. You should not just go along with people who get into wrong situations, say wrong words or do wrong things. There are no excuses for what you have done. For your own peace of mind, you must fix this. You can start by confessing to your teacher.”§
As soon as he reached school the next morning, Anand went to the staff room. Mr. Kumar could see Anand was upset and said, “Come here, young man. What’s troubling you?”§
Anand looked straight at his teacher and said, “Sir, yesterday I lied to you. What really happened was quite different from what we told you. I fell down and in the process pulled the monitor to the floor.”§
“You fell down? How?” asked Mr. Kumar.§
Anand hesitated for a second. He knew telling the truth would get Jothi in trouble, too. But Anand knew his father was right and he could not live with this lie anymore. It just wasn’t right. Finally, he said, “Sir, we were fighting. I wanted to go home, and Jothi was stopping me.”§
Mr. Kumar quickly understood what had really happened. The boys knocked down the monitor during their fight. He said, “I appreciate your coming and telling me the truth. But the fact is you lied yesterday, and that was a mistake. Make sure that this does not happen again.”§
The tough words were softened by the gentle expression in Mr. Kumar’s eyes. Smiling, he said, “You are a good boy. You have a good value system which will always guide you. But don’t make friends with people who influence you to do things which you know are not right. That’s my advice.”§
Jothi and the two other boys were called in to the staff room. Jothi repeated his earlier lie, but Nikhil and Ved confessed the real story. Jothi was not allowed to use the computer room for a month, which meant that he would have to catch up with the others later. Anand and the other boys did not escape punishment either. They were required to spend time after school cleaning the computer room for two weeks.§
After the incident, Anand was polite to Jothi. But he no longer considered him a friend and did not spend time with him.§
The next year, Jothi was caught in an even bigger lie and was suspended from school. Anand thought, “If I had continued to lie about the computer accident as Jothi wanted, I might have still been his friend. I might have been involved in this new trouble he caused. I could have even gotten suspended like him. My father was right, one has to be very careful when choosing friends.”§
