Moment of Truth

As a teenager, we all are a little rebellious. We don’t see the logic behind most of the rules set for us. At that age, breaking those rules gives us a sense of freedom...later followed by guilt, of course. I was in tenth standard and our school cancelled the Children’s Day celebrations. The entire school was agitated as that day marked casual wear, stalls and loads of fun. But being the senior most class, we decided to celebrate the day outside the school. So, a mass bunk was planned by our class.

Plan was to wear the casual dresses, meet at a place close to the school and keep it a secret. We all decided not to tell our parents. Most of the class went along with the plan but some backed out and went to school. We had a great time - we went to park, zoo, played games and ate at the restaurant with our pooled-in money. For us, it was the best Children’s Day ever. We took pride in this little rebellious act. But the joy lasted till afternoon. As we reached home, we started getting calls that there was a huge scene in the school and we all were asked to report to principal’s office in the morning. I was really scared. I was the monitor of my class and I knew the blame would eventually fall on me. I was pretty angry on all those who backed out. I lied to my parents about the mass bunk and I knew, they would have never approved such an outrageous thing in the first place. But, I had to tell my parents, before they got any communication from the school. I was in a mess. And I knew telling my parents meant I would be grounded for at least a month. But this time I wanted to speak the truth, without caring about the consequences. Some of my friends thought of telling it to their parents only if the situation worsens. Some lied, again. They were too scared. For me, all of the tension and guilt was too much to bear. So, I decided to tell everything to my mother and was ready to face the punishment. Truth seemed to be the only way out of that guilt of lying. Telling truth to my mother seemed to the right thing to do.

I waited for mom to come back from Office. I collected all the courage I had and told her what happened. To my surprise she didn’t scold me. She simply said to speak the truth again in front of the Principal and never do anything without telling her first. And never be a part of such adventures. I promised her that I would say away from all such things in future. Honestly, after telling her about that, I was not scared to go to school and face the consequences. Speaking truth to my mother unburdened the guilt. It was very relieving. From that incident onwards, I never lied or hid anything from my parents. It was the one incident that taught me two things - breaking rules means trouble and speaking truth is the best way out of it. I still follow that. No matter how hard it seems, speaking truth is always the best thing to do. And, there is nothing more relieving than speaking truth in tough moments.

*This post is written for ‘Kitna chain hota hai na sanchai mein’ campaign sponsored by Kinley