Honesty Indeed is the best policy

During a half marathon during college time which was organised by the Mountaineering club of AMU, The race track was to pass through many villages and consequently village roads. Although there were many race invigilators deployed but they were stationed at designated points on the way. The race began soon and we all were running. After a few kms participants of the race developed a unique strategy to subterfuge the invigilator, whenever they saw some cycle passing they would ask a lift and do pillion riding. Soon the strategy went viral and most participants started using it to complete the race.

Many cycle riders who were on the route gladly obliged and whenever the runner would spot a invigilator he would get down and start running. I however decided to cover the journey myself and did not accept offers of help from passing villagers. When i saw that my co-runners are overtaking me by pillion riding it was a bit sad but i pursued in my resolve to complete the race honestly. Race finished in time and i was proud of completing it all by myself though bit sad noticing the fact that my rank could have been better provided it would have been a fair play. The ability to speak without lowering your eyes I discovered is a great feat and greatly enhances the self confidence.
4 years after this episode in Frankfurt, i saw one of my german colleague Dan running the full marathon of 42kms. 42 Kms was a just wow number and i got inspired to run a full marathon. I soon decided to train for it but training was irregular due to my yoga classes that I used to conduct and had only few days to train. With little training and remembering the fact that i have run in past an almost half marathon gave great courage to me. I discovered long distance running is more a game of mind rather than being of body. If 4 years ago i would have been dishonest during the process i would not have the courage to run a marathon.


8 years after episode, my conviction is rock solid that Honesty indeed is best policy. It makes you an integral individual and that is source of courage to handle challenges of life. 

When i Insulted unintentionally - Swaccha Bharat

I recently spent around 21 days in Himalayas alone and also spent a long time staying in Ashram of Uttarkashi. In the Ashram many devotees used to come and its expected to refer women as Mataji instead of auntey ji. I had used this word number of times and it was somehow linked with woman.

Now some days later after i had recently returned from Himalayas, on my birthday on 10th oct, i decided to spend some time in India gate. I purchased an ice cream and started eating it in park. A young girl also bought ice cream. As she opened the packet inside park she dropped the plastic cover on the park ground. I had recently cleaned the gangotri pathway and clean india mission was top on my mind, i immediately reacted and said "Mataji dustbin is there". She looked at me and without saying a word picked the cover and dropped it in dustbin.

Word "Mataji"when used for young girl is surely offensive but i had no intention to hurt her. However i just blurted out it as it was on top of my mind and was associated due to staying in the traditional ashram for some days. A lot of times people do not have intentions to hurt us but they end up doing so because of some past hurts or experiences. One should learn to forgive and not give too much importance to words.

Post was written In Oct 2015: