It’s was the time when I was excelling in my study.

Basically when I was improving from poor in study to average in study :)

I was in 9th standard, the final exam was in full swing.

No objective choices. We have to write the entire solution in the paper.

Does cheating happen in the exam at that time? Yes of course :)

There were many innovative ways of cheating that were followed.

The easiest form of cheating was giving or accepting assistance from the student sitting right, left, opposite, and behind.

Also whether one is good or bad in the study is evident from taking extra sheets when provided answer sheets were not enough ;).

I was average in other subjects but was good in Maths and Science.

So by that fact, I was asking for the extra sheets to complete those answers. In reality, it was more of a show-off :) :) :)

Looking at my performance, my friend sitting next to me asked for a few solutions that he was stuck in.

Since he was my friend, I had to help him.

I have shared the answers to a few questions correctly and one question answered him wrong intentionally.

I don’t remember why I did that. I think it was due to competition or inferiority complex :(

My friend was very happy that I have helped him.

We went back home after submitting the paper.

I narrated the entire story to my parents.

My father came to me, gave me a tight slap, and started yelling at me.

I was kind of shocked and started crying.

He was completely unhappy and told me to remember one thing for life and not to repeat it ever again.

He advised me, with an angry face -

“Don’t cheat. Even if you are helping someone else in an exam, it is cheating. Even if I assist someone with such information, I never pass wrong information.

This could be one of a case but if it becomes part of the attitude, it will remain there and can create a bigger problem later”

That slap and lesson were so important and it remains green and fresh with me.

Thank you, papa!