Mussadi meets Gandhi

Thirty-one year old Mussadi was staring at the Income Tax notice in front of him. It was the tenth time in past two days he had read the notice . The notice said he owes income tax around  five lakh rupees for filing false returns for past nine years . 

Mussadi was sitting at his office desk, it was five to ten in the night , he was the only guy sitting on his floor . He folded the letter, shoved it in his laptop bag . He also folded the laptop without waiting for it to shut down. As he was moving out of his cubicle , he saw the "I am Anna" cap on the desk which he had purchased a month back from Ramlila ground where he had gone to register his protest against corruption .  He was so proud to be Indian then . People who were farmers, common folks , and young people like him had come there . 

When Kejriwal was taking oath , along with thousands of people he also took the oath of neither paying nor accepting the bribe. Though in his case he never paid any  bribes, except on a few occasion like when he used to make a 'jugaad' of sleeper coach ticket while boarding the train with general class ticket  and  the ticket checker used to managed it for few hundred bucks  and never accepted any kind of favours from his clients (which was indeed a difficult job in his profile of marketing). Only  Diwali /Dusshera gifts in line with festive occasion was acceptable.

 

The day Mussadi  took the oath , he decided do away with these small favours/jugaad too with considering  consequences. 

"May be truth was only for Gandhi " thought Mussadi. He took the cap , and was about to  drop it in the bin, someone called his name  from behind,  he turned . 

There stood a figure of the famous short man

from the history of the world and India, Gandhi. The Mahatma wasn't dressed in his usual dhoti, his attire consisted of Pagdi and his Suit which he wore when he practiced law professionally,  As if to protest against the mockery which was being made of  his principals and him.

 Gandhi walked towards him. He took the cap from Mussadi and asked , "you are giving up truth ,may I know why?"  

Mussadi looked at Gandhi confused, he was not drunk for sure.

Gandhi said again, "sit down, Mussadi." placing his hand on shoulder and gestured him to sit .

Mussadi finally spoke in past  two days ," Life was much easier prior to that day. " Gandhi said "the day you took the oath ?" Mussadi said "yes , much easier , happier and financially better. " Gandhi asked ,"How your life worsened after you  took the oath ?" Mussadi begun ," The day I took oath , I decided not to use any types of 'jugaad' . First my dad fixed my sisters marriage on a short notice , fllight was too expensive to travel . I didnt get tickets for train , and I had to travel in general class like a cattle. " Gandhi almost smiled , puzzled Mussadi asked , " why are you smiling ?" Gandhi said ,"Isn't Shashi Tharoor was backlashed  for using "cattle class" for  economy in flights." Mussadi replied in tired tone,"Yeah , but thts how they bring people in general compartment of train and thats not the only thing . The contractor for wedding told us that if we paid 15 % in cash , we will save some money . I told him we want a whole invoice , he agreed and we ended up paying a lakh more . Dad cursed himself for calling me for wedding arrangements . He said , they  ended up spending more for everything . And the major blunder has been income tax. My consultant repeatedly told me not to pay more taxes , I told him its what I owe to government this year. I paid  more than double tax  compared to previous year . Infact every year I get returns to the tune of 12000. And what  the department does to my goodwill of high income tax payment , slam me a notice of 5 lakhs. I dont even have that kind of a cash and Dad has refused to help . My tax consultant told me to shell out 50k to burry the matter . " Mussadi  conitinued " You know what , I am done with this corruption thing , patriotism and truth. All I want is a normal life ."

 Gandhi who was sitting on Mussadi's desk , stood up and walked around. Then he took Mussadi by arm and took him to the balcony , he looked at Mussadi and then at the populated dense city view from balcony , " Normal life means a house , car , a wife and kids." Mussadi noded slowly in agreement. After a pause Gandhi asked " Do you regret that you also refused a wrist watch , I mean a "Swatch"  from one of the clients last week ? " Mussadi replied immediately "No , absolutely not , infact , I closed an order at my price.  The feeling was ecstatic.  Why are you asking. ? " Gandhi ignored  the question ,  " You also strictly followed the 10 o'clock deadline on your sister's wedding  for sound and banned noise making firecrackers. Do you regret ?" Mussadi  " No...err where are you leading me, Sir. " Gandhi replied  ," I am  indicating  at things which money doesn't buy. " Mussadi still  looked confused . Gandhi continued ," 5 lakh is a life changing amount for a youth like you . So , I leave it to you , how you tackle the notice in today's time . We live in changed times and money is important .Living by law might be difficult especially when you know they are made by other human beings , but whatever you do please once think about that one person who lives in much worse conditions . How your decision affects him ? " and Gandhi left from the door . Mussadi who was standing at balcony was stunned. Only a few seconds later he ran to the otherside to find noone .
Mussadi returned to the desk , a security guard was standing there . Mussadi in anticipation replied " I am leaving now, you can lock ." He looked around , no one was there.  By the time he took the elevator to ground floor , he understood what he wants to do with the notice.
At home , he opened his laptop and drafted a reply to income tax .