India, May 7 -- In the fable of the honest woodcutter, the poor man accidentally drops his axe made of rusted iron in the river. There is immediate divine intervention and a goddess taking pity retrieves his axe. However, as the custodian of moral laws, the goddess administers a test to verify the woodcutter's ethical credentials. She first offers him a golden axe and then a silver one. When the woodcutter exhibits unimpeachable integrity and doesn't succumb to temptation, his honesty is rewarded and he heads home with all three axes. The moral: Honesty is always rewarded and the standard proof is not staking claim to things that don't belong to you. The story came to mind when a few days ago I unknowingly accepted a fake Rs.500 note. The moment the vendor returned it, saying "Babuji ye note nakli hai (This note is fake)", I felt like the woodcutter as I too had accidentally lost a precious belonging through sudden devaluation. The chances of divine intervention seemed bleak when with tariff wars going on and powerful nations accusing one another of trade deficits, all gods are busy deciding whether it is China or the US that has a bigger axe to grind. With the fake currency note in my pocket, I started recalling all transactions I had executed the previous day. Segregating the online ones from the offline, the needle of suspicion pointed to an attendant at a petrol station I had visited the previous evening. Justice demanded paying back in the same coin and using the note at the petrol station, preferably under cover of darkness, and retrieving my axe without divine intervention. However, I knew the buck wouldn't stop there. If the note got noticed at the petrol station, the fuel attendant (most likely not the same one) would have to reimburse the owner from his own pocket, if not, it would go to another unsuspecting customer and the same story would be repeated, perhaps till the next round of demonetisation. Two days into the ordeal, I saw an opportunity when a beggar, who comes to our house every alternate day, rang the bell and repeated his usual request for a Rs.10 note in a loud voice. An idea struck: Why not give the note to the beggar and tell him to make the best use of it? The advantage would be threefold. I would get rid of the fake note, the beggar being street smart would encash it, and my act of charity would be counted as good karma (deed). Taking inspiration from the honest woodcutter, I decided against it. Such a recourse would amount to moral chicanery. First, it would amount to ridiculing someone's poverty, someone who's too poor to refuse even a counterfeit note. Secondly, the note would go back in circulation, if not directly then through a proxy. So, I kept the fake note in a corner, thinking that a papier mache axe had replaced the real one. However, the consolation was that I had stopped the buck. Every act of honesty may not be the stuff of fables. Most of the times, honesty is a personal choice and may go unnoticed and unrewarded....