“Who has time to think about honesty, Sir?” Jitendra seemed almost resigned in his stoicism. “Three fourths of the population is hungry – all they think, worry and dream about is their next meal. Those who have enough to eat are busy accumulating more – so they are never short of anything.”

“That is an extremely pessimistic view. I am sure there must be many who are still honest,” Saksham disagreed.

“I will tell you who is honest these days. Jiska daav nahin lagta, sirf wohi imaandar hai (one who hasn’t yet found a shortcut to make money, only that guy is honest). People are honest by their circumstances… not by choice.” Jitendra sounded bitter as he shared the belief he had learnt to live by.”

– Chapter “A Beautiful Day, Interrupted”