Man Who Threw One Lakh Rupees Away | LakshyaJournal

Lakshya threw away the cheque given to him worth one lakh rupees in a trash can. He was walking away slowly, after turning his back. Hands inside the pocket, eyes looking down at the path, and mind wandering around the time when he received that check and the reason why he threw it.

Ping

Five days ago…

*PING* “New Message Arrived.” “Electricity Bill due a week. Pay ASAP, otherwise the electricity will get cut down from next week”

*PING* “New Message Arrived.” “hey, buddy. Remember I lend you ***** rupees, last month?? I’m gonna need it back, now.”

*PING**PING**PING*

Lakshya was in huge debt. He bought and used quite more than what he earned. His ignorance towards this problem was enough to make it worse. Money, if it doesn't offer you happiness, sure brings you pain, when gone. It was critical time now. He was totally occupied by finding a solution and to bring enough money to pay these debts. He went from asking a raise in his salary to finding some side business which can make him money. He gathered all the stuff that had cost him a lot, selling them will make it easy, he thought.

Proposal

The next day, an unofficial agent from the bank reached him with a proposal. A proposal that would have solved his financial problems. There was a property, owned by Lakshya’s neighbours, just outside the town. This agent, with a builder, wanted to get his hands on that property to establish a city mall. He had convinced the owner to give it up for a certain amount of money. But the only witness was his son who was not at all interested in giving away his home.

The son turned out to be Lakshya’s close friend. The agent knew this and also knew that the owner had a good relationship with him, too. He proposed that if Lakshya will sign this paper as a witness, a total sum of two lakh rupees will be given to him as a commission. This agent was aware of the debt Lakshya was in. He made sure to mention that he is only trying to help.

Two Lakh Rupees?! Blown Away! Lakshya was out of control. Everything in his life from the past seven days was about collecting all the money to pay the debt. Now, he could visualise a peaceful life after paying all the debt. 

“I will do it tomorrow”, Lakshya agreed to the offer. He asked the agent to give him half the amount, in advance, if he wanted those signatures. After some yes and no, the agent was convinced that he would not abandon this offer. The agent, right then, wrote a cheque to Lakshya worth one lakh rupees.

Lesson

Back in the day, when Lakshya was around ten to twelve years old, he stole twenty rupees from his older brother’s purse. Certainly, he was not good at this. Lakshya’s brother found out quickly. One should’ve scolded him for this behavior. But his brother was wise enough to know that this was not the solution. He, willingly, gave another twenty rupees to him asking if he wants to eat ice-cream.

His brother inculcated this feeling of regret in Lakshya from that day forth. Whenever he even thinks of betraying anyone’s trust, stealing from someone, cheating someone, lying to someone he feels deeply regretted. This lifelong lesson was still with him. Guiding him to do the right, as hard as it may be.

Two Kids

Same evening, Lakshya went out heading to the bank to make some monetary transfer with that cheque in his pocket.

At the gate of his house he saw two kids running after each other and playing and shouting all over the place. Next, at the corner of his lane, two kids were feeding biscuits to roadside puppies. Down the bridge, Lakshya saw two kids catching fishes and playing with mud. Obviously, it was summer holiday, every kid was out of their homes. 

At last, he saw something that freezed him. He couldn't move his arms, mouth starting to dry up, fingers started shivering. He was as silent as a cold night. Everything stopped at that moment. Tears dropped one by one from his sad eyes. It was as if he has experienced several traumatic experiences all at once.

Two kids holding ice-cream, one man holding both of their hands were walking right towards him. Lakshya was staring right at them, standing totally still under the hot sun. He could see his own childhood coming slowly. The man looked like his neighbour and the other kid looked like his son. It was like all the summer they have spent together.

Just not them. While standing there, Lakshya realised that he saw himself and his friend running around each other at the gate. He saw himself and his friend feeding biscuits to puppies. They were both of them catching fish and playing with mud.

The reason Lakshya was drowned in sorrow was because of the overwhelming regret that he felt because he was going to take away their home, that too for his own self interest. 

The same home where he has spent more than half of his days playing around. The home where the whole summer afternoon drifted away watching favorite cartoons and where the garden was the only place they could be found from evening to dinner time. 

He will not be able to live peacefully if he does this, no matter how much money he has in his bank account. He could see the restlessness will make him hollow from the inside if he doesn’t stop this.

True Nature 

Lakshya, from deep inside, would not have even thought of doing such injustice to the people he was so close to. There were different kids and different people around the place on his way to the bank. But his true nature, his intuition, made him see what a big mistake he was going to make. Such a mistake that will not be undone.

They have not even met once for about three years. Still it doesn’t change the relationship Lakshya has with them. 

Even if his neighbour has agreed to the conditions, he is no one to make the decision to take away their home. Even, his choice falls after the decision of his friend.

Decision 

Despite, burdened by huge debt Lakshya could not make this decision. Lakshya felt grateful for this enlightenment. God has stopped him from committing a great sin. He knew he would figure out a way to deal with financial problems. Surely, he couldn’t afford the cost of losing his friend’s and his uncle’s trust.

Lakshya took the cheque out of the pocket, opened and gazed at it for a while. Tearing the check from the middle, rolled it like a ping-pong ball. Aiming at the bin, he swung his hands in the air and…

You know the rest.

Reality

What is important is that one should value the underrated emotions and relations more than materialistic things. Because material forms the outer world, whereas emotions and relationships, like friendship, trust, love, respect, integrity, etc, create the person AND his outer environment. Emotions are mightier than materials. With emotions in the right direction, any material is achievable. Though, vice-versa is not possible.