Many years back.when I was a child..might be studying in 3rd grade or 4th.I used to be a very good student.An ideal child..listening to my parents and teachers favourite ..Getting things done in perfection was my sincerity.Still,having all these things doesn't let a mind be at it peace..and we still want something more..
I remember the time when there was a new admission in my class and a new boy had come..very silent,quiet..Very different from others and I noticed he was good in studies too.I very soon found out teachers praised him a lot for his handwriting and also the way he answered .I was at discomfort with the sudden attention this new student was getting even though I was still the favourite.
He could make sentences very easily and could frame answers without much effort unlike me.
During those days children were made to sit 3 on a bench two girls and a boy in between..due to some reason..might be the number of students exceeded the siting arrangement.
Whatever and this new boy was made to sit next to me.I was very shy of a kind then..and usually never talked to anyone besides my closed friends.
Once during a social studies class,the teacher suddenly decided out of blue to take test ,to judge what the students have understood and how many are actually studying ..
It was a small class test with few questions and as usual I finished it before time as I knew all the answers and was happy doing and completing the same before anybody else could.
The teacher signalled me to sit at my place and wait for the other students to finish off.
Having finished my work,I started looking here and there ,observing everybody's face with all kinds of expressions .I was amused and suddenly I noticed the new guy still writing answers quietly.Out of curiosity ,I peeped into his paper to see what is he writing..
I found he was giving good long answers to all the questions for which I had just written few lines.
My confidence was shaken as I felt he was doing a good job than me..
And before I realised ,I again peeped back into his paper and rewrote my answers copying from his paper.
Being a child and oblivious of all the things needed to cover up the process of cheating,I had just striked down my old answers and had written the new ones just below them.
After a while ,as our teacher collected the papers and checked them,she announced the person who got highest marks and to my surprise it was the new boy again!
Few minutes later she summoned me and asked from wher did I wrote the answers,I bluntly said on my own.But she was adamant and scolded me for cheating from my neighbouring classmate's copy.
I kept on denying untill she told me that I had written all my answers correct previously and then had striked them down to copy the answers which weren't that correct.
I was really dissappointed,shocked,sad..confused..and wasn't able to face myself..
For in my lifetime that was the first time I had cheated and the teacher had got such a bad impression of me..
That moment I promised myself whatever comes in my life,wherever Iam,in school,in college or in career,I wont' cheat as the feeling I got after that, I felt it was better to lose or fail than to cheat and being unable to face our ownself.
That was the only time in life when I cheated and I learnt,sometimes we are right and capable of doing things very correctly and perfectly,just the loss in our confidence and faith leads us onto the dark path of cheating,be it in a small exam or in life.
Rather than looking at others and being jealous or getting an inferiority complex,we have to believe in ourselves and work towards our goal and aim.This incident in my life made such an impact on me and I gradually turned into such a strong person where in I started believing nothing is impossible if we really wish and work hard for the same.And nothing is greater than self respect and self belief ,even a reward or prize won is minute in front of the tussle won by us between the consience and our mind.
A person 's head is held high not by the accolades he won,but by the deeds he did,and the way he has reached to achieve the same. If he struggles and strives for the best still being on the path of truth and sincerity,success is bound to be his companion forever.
