It’s not bribe, take it as a gift

The man in the white shirt points towards the man sitting on the table at the corner with an indication to pass him a part of their lot. They didn’t hesitate to distribute or rather, tried to include everyone in their part of crime. They didn’t want anyone to spot them as corrupt and inefficient; rather they were happy when people cursed the entire system.

“Sir, this is for you”, said the man and kept those few thousand bucks notes on his table that was entirely black earning and which they shamelessly concealed in a white envelope.

The man kept looking. He hadn’t been given any such envelope ever before. He hesitated to place it in his pocket, as he wasn’t used to accept such gifts. He couldn’t reject so easily because of the recent happenings at his home. He went into a state of confusion where on one hand had the temporary recovery of the discomforts at his home if he compromised with his principles and on the other hand was to return back to the discomforts and live complaining about his meager earning,

“It’s not a bribe, take it as a gift”, said the voice of his colleague who was elder to him in age.

He looks at him and gives enough clues to everyone around regarding the state of discomfort that he had been going through to keep that envelope in his pocket.

“Your dad is detected with cancer and with the amount of money that you earn it is impossible to admit him to a good hospital. If you start taking such gifts, probably you can take him to a better hospital,” said another officer from his table.

“You see when I was of your age even I hesitated to take such gifts. With time I had to compromise” said another person to make him feel comfortable with the different stages a person had to go through while molding himself from an honest officer to a bribe hunger.

The young boy thinks of his father and he feels justified to accept the gift. He couldn’t have let his father die in front of him. He gives another thought about his father. His father had been a school teacher and if he gets to know that his son had been a part of such malpractices to save his life, he would probably die at that instant itself.

The young officer walks out of the room. His modesty pushes him to say a word of apology to his colleagues as he had betrayed their proposals but he didn’t. He thought to be manner less with such people whom his father always used to hate.

“Your father is dead. Come home soon, we have to start with the cremation before it gets dark; but finish all your work before you come home. In his last words, dad refrainedme from calling you during your office hours. He thought probably you would be disturbed. Come home soon brother, the body is starting to get cold and he needs your shoulder”, said his younger brother with a broken cold voice.

He realized his eyes getting wet, yet he picks up his head in pride. He didn’t let his father down even in his last minute. His father always said him that whenever he died he always wanted others to know him because of his ideologies and honesty, and his son held that high even in the worst minute of turmoil. He kept the thoughts of his father alive even if he had passed away, probably giving the best gift that his father ever expected.