The Cage of Lies

They said that honesty is the best policy, but I never learned this lesson in my house. In my house, the best policy is a good lie. I remember the day when I lied for the very first time. It was to save myself from my mother, a figure I feared. That day, when I came home after a quarrelsome fight with Yaanav at school, in my soiled clothes, my mother got a knee-jerk reaction and she started scolding me for those dirty attires. She put a ton of questions on me and blamed me that I might have been engaged in some useless work and that I had intentionally spoiled the clothes. I wanted to tell her the truth that I had a fight with Yaanav and it was only because I denied to bunk with him. And when he forced me, I complained the teacher about him, but seeing her so discontented I lied that I had fallen off the swing while playing in the school playground.After listening to this her anger subsided and she freed me from all the questions she had put on me. I lied because I remembered the times when I had been beaten after saying the truth. One of the incidents which I clearly remember is when I was asked to help my younger brother in completing his drawing homework which he had to submit the next day and I didn’t help him because I had to revise for the following day’s test. The next day he submit the incomplete work to his art teacher and she made him stand for the whole period. He was very disappointed by this and complained Mumma that I was responsible for all that as I didn’t help him. Despite all my attempts to be heard, Mumma deliverer a lengthy and untie scolding. In her eyes my explanations were merely a string of constant excuses.That day I realized that the brutal irony is that the truth locks the door, while a well-placed lie offers the only key. Thus, I learned that honesty is a luxury not always afforded in the face of harsh judgement. From that moment till this day I had spoken numerous lies one after another and every subsequent lie built the cage that eventually trapped me.