Shon Mehta

Hari was an upright and honest man, and he expected others to be upright and honest as well. One day, someone stole his favorite shovel from his garden. He promptly went to the local police station, filed a complaint, and demanded swift action. He waited patiently for three months, but the police could not catch the thief. Deeply disappointed, Hari concluded that he was living among dishonest people.  He decided to move somewhere better—a place where thefts did not happen. He traveled from town to town, asking the same question at every police station. “How many thefts have been reported in the last year?” Some officers answered a hundred.  Others said fifty. Some said twenty. After several weeks of searching, Hari arrived at a small town and posed the same question. The officer smiled. “I have served here for almost ten years,” he said. “Nobody has ever reported a theft.” Hari was delighted.  At last, he thought, he had found an honest town. “A hundred men could li...