CHEATING IN THE GUISE OF FRIENDSHIP

Every human being has to confront certain shocking experiences in his or her life. Some of these will happen unexpectedly that too in unthinkable manner.  Moreover, it will be too late before these come to light.  Naturally, in certain cases by that time one will be left with no remedy to repair the damage caused.

An incident of cheating in the guise of friendship on above  lines concerning me that had happened is cited here.  It had happened as far back as during the 70s when I was working in New Delhi. After marriage I used to go to the locality where I led my  bachelor life for meeting my family friends etc.  During such a visit to a family we happened to get acquainted with another family consisting of husband, wife and a male child.  They have invited us to their residence which we visited the following Sunday.   We reciprocated their gesture and gradually the friendship between two families blossomed into a close one.  Going to see films, on  picnic etc., were a frequent affair.  Two years have gone by like this.  Meanwhile those family friends through whom we got acquainted with the new family cautioned us on several occasions that  we should not take it for granted that our friendship with the latter will remain intact.  According to them prior to our becoming friends with the new family friends the latter was very close to them and it was only after we became their friends they have abandoned them. Initially we did not take their advice seriously; however, with passage of time we felt from their behavior that what was told by our old friends is true  Whenever we visited them, they started avoiding us on some pretext or the other culminating into cutting off relations with them.  Later on I learnt that the said ‘friend’ has left for Gulf.

When we were having cordial relations I had got passport for the husband ‘friend’ in the said family by getting application signed by my boss. On obtaining passport for himself  that ‘friend’ got passport applications signed for 2-3 more of his colleagues through me who were known to me. This included a Keralite who had left for some Gulf country on obtaining passport.  

After elapsing of one year or so, I came to know that the Keralite for whom my ‘friend’ got passport application signed through me, had come on leave and gone back.  This acquaintance who told me about it further informed me that that Keralite was very angry about me and told him that my ‘friend’ had told him that I wanted Rs.100/- for signing passport application which he had given to my ‘friend’ for being given to me.  To say the least, this revelation came to me as a rude shock for I never dreamt that the so-called ‘friend’ can stoop so low to commit such a mean act.

I have a gut feeling that that the  ‘so-called friend’ must have collected money from the other  2-3 people also. My efforts at tracing them proved futile as they had left the organization where they worked and their whereabouts were not known.  The thought that like the Keralite who had obtained passport through me, they must also be nurturing the notion that I have taken money for the same continues to haunt me even today.  The cheating by the ‘so-called friend’ still pains me  which remains fresh in my memory