Whither Lying

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I had my first taste of bringing up modern day children recently. We went to a zoo some weeks ago when Taarinie was not 5 yet. The zoo had free entry for kids under-5. So when I proffered the entry fee for three adults, leaving out our under-5, my little one couldn’t bear the insult (that’s how she must have thought) of free entry and shouted ‘I am 5 appa’. The counter clerk looked at me as if i had plundered a nation and people around me must have thought no less. I had to explain to the zoo authorities that she still had a week and half to go for the Fifth one and it was an accepted practice to round-off to the higher number of age once someone crossed 183 days after a birthday. It was thereafter resolved honorably

But a few questions remain to be answered. Do we parents unwittingly teach our children to tell lies? I remember having gone through such ‘honorable’ practice in my childhood without a protest. I rather inculcated that art of lying across places – cinemas. buses, trains, circuses, sports (entry barrier) – wherever it mattered. And it was an accepted form of smartness. There were friends whose great-grandfathers had once served the police, there were others who had a family member that was in the army during the Indo-Sino war – but they all clamored for some concession or the other. And these past soldiers came in handy to fetch that petty exemption. It was a veritable exercise in falsehood, beautifully cultivated under the garb of thrift. Yes, this was done to save a few pennies or thereabout for the family.

This possibly was the fountain-head for corruption in a way. I may not belong to that tribe of morally defunct characters but I know what my generation must have started off on. Over a period of time, this relaxation in moral standard morphs into moral abyss. And we are lost.

Not this generation. They appear to have started off on a much better footing. More virtuous mores.