There is this one definition of character:"How you behave when no one is watching"; a line which exactly touches the theme where it should.

Well, how would one behave when no one is watching? Of course the survival instinct would take its position and we behave as per “What we are", unless one has a severe identity crisis. The most accurate time to gauge one’s character is definitely the moment when he is caught in crisis. It is this moment of turmoil when we subconsciously stop to rely on what others think is appropriate.

Now, let’s take a crisis situation. Take for example, a silly one. I am caught in a traffic jam when I needed to be the earliest at work, say I have a video conference to conduct. A very 'holy' approach would be to make as much way I can and push myself as ahead as possible, to zoom past as soon as the light is about to turn green. But I don’t, if I find that the elements of the jam do not know me. I still speed past, rendering a couple of not so soothing sentences to anyone in the way. And what is the thought which comes to mind as soon as we race beyond the signal? "Ah! I am there! Good, no one noticed me"!

For the basic fact that one often tries to “put on” or even explore the untouched attributes of others’ personality, imbibing them in his own, it becomes really difficult to sketch a character. But, crisis is one severe juncture where more than often, we have one option left, at the maximum. This is the condition, when we name the situation as crucial, a moment when one needs to think at the blink of an eye, nevertheless one seldom thinks! Sharply at this point, when, there isn’t any second left to “put on” or “behave”, we give it a shot, and act in accordance with what we actually are to come out of the crisis.

Who then bothers what was taught in the ‘Value Education’ lecture in the second grade? I badly need these five bucks to purchase cigarette this morning. Let me grab the note and squeeze it in my wallet, who bothers if it’s actually my maid servant’s? As it is, she hardly comes to work on time!