Meet K. Sudhakaran. He is the owner of a shop in Kanhangad, Kerala and sells, among other things, lottery tickets. So it was work as usual when, last year, he was asked to set aside 10 lottery tickets for a customer.
Mixed up in those tickets was one that would fetch its holder a mammoth Rs. 1 crore. Sudhakaran found out about this and what he did next is unbelievable.
He gave it up.
While the customer had no real claim over the ticket for he had neither paid for it, nor did he know about the numbers, Sudhakaran knew he couldn’t keep what wasn’t his.
“My father always told me that if you need to, you can even beg, but you must never snatch other people’s rights.”
Could he use the money? Sudhakaran makes a meagre Rs. 10000 a month and has to feed six mouths, including that of his physically challenged daughter. But that did not get in the way of his ideals.
First published in The Better India , this is the story of a man who looked temptation in the eye and refused, simply, because it was the honourable thing to do.
That’s not all.
This year, Sudhakaran found a gold chain on the train, while he was on his way to work. Needless to say, he returned it to the police who were able to track down its rightful owner.