The Art of Lying

Well yes, lying is an art. Though only people who got caught while lying seems to know it. They only understand how tough and skillful the art of lying is. It needs a man of common sense and commanding presence of mind to speak a lie. I admit I am a liar and a seasoned one. Well that’s nothing unusual, we all lie or most of us. It is just that some people never accept it. There are some who even claim that they don’t lie, they never lied in their life, and this is something I find hard to believe. Those who claim to be always honest and truthful may never have been in any difficult situation. This I can bet.

       Usually we all lie when we are in a trying situation, lying is an easy option. Here I am not talking about habitual liars, those who lie without purpose, just for the sake of lying. For instance, there are some individuals if you ask them what they are reading they will answer “history” hiding the “geography” book. This blog is not for them. This one is for sincere liars. People who lie when needed.

       Personally I feel nothing wrong with lying, if it’s not intentional. I have been doing it since childhood, since the time I can remember my first school. It all started with pranks at rickshaw while our way to school and back to home. The driver complained, whenever he caught us and for our defence lying was the only option. Later on as our pranks increased so do our frequency of lying and as they say “practice makes a man perfect” we achieved near perfection. If we ever got caught and called in to principal’s office, we would never go to him straight, always we’ll meet before office, decide what and how to lie, who will speak what and then with weary, ignorant faces we’ll enter the office, showing as if we were the most innocent kids GOD ever produced. Several times that rickshwallah got kicked because of us. Subsequently we learnt that a liar should have a very good memory, commanding presence of mind, a good understanding of the nature of the individual we are dealing with and his/her emotional weaknesses. Lying is safe if performed single but in groups it requires precaution, coordination and proper communication. There are some fools (in every group they are present) who speak without thinking and they make everyone suffer. The important thing is to identify such stupid-teammates, they could be ordered to keep their mouth shut. Initially we suffered a lot from such stupid fellows but once we traced who made a mistake they were strictly prohibited from speaking. It all worked out fine. Basics learnt in the childhood worked very well in teenage and later in university.

One more precaution to be taken during lying is its repetition. A lie looses its credibility if repeated more then twice. Two grandmoms can be in ICU at a time but not three. So I made it a point to be the first one to give excuse if 15 other persons are involved in internal bunks. Obviously, one who will wait till last would be left with no reliable excuse (hurry should be in mind, not in action and ex-pression). The whole charm of lie lies in novelty.

When I established myself firmly in this field of lying, then I practiced honesty (who kya kehte hein: nau sau choohe khaa kar billi haj ko chali. what they say in english I don’t know). Restricting to minimum lies. Lies don’t work wherever personal relationships are concerned. It hurts and it hurts badly, sometimes damage is irreparable. In relationships, hiding the truth is almost as heinous a crime as lying; also it erodes trust which is very difficult to build up again. So I think it’s better to face the anger instead of lying.

  But professionally, it’s a necessity, minimum 2 or 3 lies a day otherwise I feel hard to maintain the job. Now what they say in management lingo: communication skills, social engineering, all these things are a revised, refined version of lie. What to speak, to whom, when and how it all depends on the conscience and common sense of the person. Like any other art lying needs practice and concentration. I don’t know what you people think. But would very much like to know you views.

“Any fool can tell the truth, but it needs a man of some sense to know how to tell lie”  : Samuel Butler