What is Beautiful and what is ugly?

A stag was drinking water in a pond and had a look at its own reflection on the water. It thought, “what a beautiful horns I have. So sturdy, yet so graceful. This would save me in any combat, for sure. But look at my legs! They are so thin and so weak. It is very shameful to have such an ugly pair of legs. It is a wonder that these legs can carry my weight at all”

At that moment, a lion approached the pond for having water and noticed this beautiful stag. The lion was so hungry, and about to pound on the stag. The stag started running very fast, in order to save its life. It ran all over the plains free of trees, chased fiercely by the lion. Its ‘ugly’ legs carried the stag so well that it maintained a very safe distance ahead and the lion could not catch it.

But, when it had to pass through a woody place, the stag’s horns were caught by the overhead branches. Before the stag could release itself from the branches, the lion reached it and instantly killed it.

During the final moments, the stag thought, “how foolish I have been. The things I doubted and despised saved me, while those which I trusted and admired have brought about my end”

Moral:
Appearances can be deceptive.
What you think as your weakness could prove to be your real strength.
Look beyond the appearances, and recognize real strengths and weaknesses.

Ego !

Once there was a sculptor, who could make perfect wax models. His wax models were so perfect that it was almost impossible to differentiate the original from the reproduction. He had been very popular in his city and everyone was admiring his rare talent.

One day, he learnt that the angel of death was searching for him. He had decided to somehow dodge his death. He had reproduced a dozen wax models of himself. When the angel came down to pick this guy, she was at loss to know which of the thirteen specimens before her was the sculptor, so she left them all alone and returned to heaven.

This happened for quite sometimes, when ever the angel came for the sculptor, she would get confused and would go back.

Being an expert of the human nature, the angel came up with a clever idea. She said “ sir, you must be a genius to have succeeded in making such perfect reproduction of yourself. However, I have discovered a mistake in your work, just one tiny flaw”

The sculptor immediately jumped out and shouted, “impossible! Where is the flaw?”

“Here it is!” said the angel as she picked up the sculptor from among the reproductions and took him off.

Moral:
While our skills take us high, our ego pulls us down!

As Prof Bala Balachandran of Great Lakes Institute of Management puts it,
I Go, YOU Go, Why ‘E’go?

The goose that laid golden egg (New Version!)

Long Long ago, there lived a farmer in a countryside. He was very poor and found it very difficult to make ends meet with his earnings. He met a saint in the forest who used to be mostly in meditation, under a huge tree. He requested the saint to help him tide over his poverty.

The saint gave him a special goose, which could lay golden egg. Every day, the goose laid one beautiful and glittering golden egg. The farmer would collect the egg and sold it in the market and made lot of money.

Soon he has become very rich and leading a very happy life. But, after some time, he had become very impatient with his goose, which could give only one golden egg a day. He thought, this goose might have lot of eggs inside and decided to get all of them at once. One evening, he killed the goose and cut open its stomach. To his horror, there was no golden egg inside and he had lost his valuable possession.

With no more income from the goose, the former become poor again!

Moral:
Think before you act.
You should not be greedy
Those who have plenty and want more may loose all they have.



New Version:

This story happened very recently! The farmer’s great grandson had heard about this story. He felt sorry for his great grandfather, in fact, he was even very angry with him. Because of his foolish deed, this guy is also into poverty.

One day when he went inside the forest he found another saint meditating under a tree. Reminded of his great grand father’s source of the extraordinary goose, he also requested the saint for a goose. This saint was also kind enough to gift him a goose, which can lay golden egg.

From the next day onwards, he was getting a golden egg every day. He has been selling that egg in the market and becomes rich again. However, the greediness is still there in his blood! He has been looking at ways to get more eggs, without killing the goose.

One day, he happens to meet a scientist, who is specializing in cloning. Cloning is a scientific method of multiplying identical living things. The scientist explained about this method and also told him that this method is very expensive.

From the next day onwards, the farmer started saving some money from the selling of golden egg. When he got enough money, he approached the scientist and requested him to clone his goose. Through this, he got another goose, which can also lay golden egg every day! His source of income now has doubled!

Over a period of time, with the help of the scientist, he could get multiple geese through cloning and has become very very rich!

Moral:
Think before you act!
Learn from the mistakes
Think differently to solve problems.
It takes money to make more money

Untidy Neighbour

A woman was very unhappy with her neighbour. She always felt that the neibhour does not bother about cleanliness.
She complained to her visiting friend,
“ You should see how dirty she maintains her house. It is almost a disgrace to live in the same locality as her’s. Take a look at the cloths she has hung out on the hangers. Look at the towel there, see the black streaks on it”

The friend walked up to the window and said, “I think the cloths are pretty clean my dear friend. Look at your window. The black streaks are on your window”

Moral:
It is better to correct ourselves, before finding fault with others.

Hotdog Story

This story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Hotdogs by the roadside.
He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers.
He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio.
He was so busy preparing and selling Hotdogs, so he never had time to watch the television.
But was very enthusiastic and was selling lots of hotdogs.
He was very courtesies with his customers and always kept their interest in his mind while selling his Hotdogs.
His customers liked his hotdogs very much and more and more of customers started visiting his store.
His sales and profit went up.
He bought better and bigger buns. He also ordered best possible sausages for the Hotdog.
This brought still more customers into his store.
He ordered more and more raw material and buns and used to sell more.
He recruited a few more supporting staff to serve more customers.
He had expanded his business to other parts of the town.
Over a period of time, he had set up more than twenty stores in the town and was very successful.
His Hotdogs have become a benchmark of quality and taste in the entire town.

He has become very successful and wealthy in that town.
He sent his son to a premier business school. After successful completion of the course, his son also joined his father.

Then something strange happened.
The son asked, “Dad, aren’t you aware of the recession that is coming our way?”
The father replied, “No, but tell me about it.”
The son said, “The international situation is terrible. The banks have fallen”.
”The domestic situation is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times.”
”We need to immediately resort to cost cutting. We may also start planning about reducing our staff”

The man thought that since his son had been to a business school, read the papers, listened to the radio and watched TV, he ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly.

So the next day onwards, the father cut down his raw material order and buns, removed all the special schemes he was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic in his business.
He reduced his staff strength by giving layoffs.
He no longer focused on the quality of the raw material. He has started ordering inferior sausages. He also reduced the size of the buns, to save cost.

Very soon, customers realized the changes in the quality of Hotdogs from his stores.
Over a period of time, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his hotdog stores.
And his sales started coming down rapidly, same with the profit.
He had to close down some of the stores, as it was no longer profitable to run those stores.
Over a very short period of time, he had to close down all remaining stores as well, and came back to the road side.

The father said to his son, “Son, you were right”.
“We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you warned me ahead of time.”


Moral:
It’s all in your MIND!
Most of the time, the danger may not come from outside, we only would have created it by our actions.
Do not confuse intelligence with good judgment.
Listen to your advisers but use your own judgment.

More importantly,
NEVER COMPROPMISE ON QUALITY…
NEVER LOSE YOUR FOCUS ON YOUR CUSTOMERS …

NB: I heard this story from a popular Tamil TV channel last month. I really liked this, as this is timely. When Swaathi and Shreya insisted on a new story, I just told this story to them, not sure whether they can understand this story! When I finished this story and asked them for the moral, the immediate answer from Shreya was “Never compromise on quality"!!. This is one of the favorite stories of Shreya now a days.

I learnt another moral after telling this story to them. "Do not under estimate kids and do not suspect the understanding abilities of them". Though this story is relevant for the bigger kids like us, try telling this story to your kids and see their response. You'll be amazed!!!

Tortoise and Hare Story (New version!)

Presume all of us have heard the famous Aesop story of the tortoise and the hare. Let us start with the classical story and along with some newer versions…

That was a beautiful forest. There lived a hare, which was very fast in running. It always boasted about how fast it could run. It would call other animals for a race to prove that he really was the fastest animal in that forest. Tired of its repeated boasting, one tortoise had finally agreed for a race. All the animals in the forest had gathered to watch the race.

The race started. The hare sprinted very fast and was leading the race by a long distance in the initial minutes. The hare looked back and found the tortoise was very slow and was way back in the track. It had decided to take a nap under a tree, as it felt very tired. It also thought that the tortoise could never catch up with him as it was very slow. It had a nice and deep nap.

Unmindful of the actions of the hare, the tortoise was running slowly and steadily without any break. It soon overtook the hare, which was still in the nap and marched forward towards the finishing line. The hare woke up after some time, but could only realize that the slow and steady tortoise had already reached the finishing line.

The speedy hare had lost the race!

Moral:

Slow and steady wins the race.

How much ever competent you are, never relax in a race. Do not take any opponent lightly.

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The story continues:

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and did some soul searching. It had realized that the tortoise was taken lightly. It had concluded that it was over confident and lax. Had it not taken things for granted, the tortoise would have never won the race.

So, it called the tortoise for another round of race. This time, the hare had decided not to make any of the mistakes that it had done in the earlier race.

When the race started, the hare ran all out, without a stop. It took no rest and no nap this time. It ran steadily towards the finish line and won by several miles. The tortoise, as usual, ran slowly and steadily, but lost the race to the fast and consistent hare.

Moral:

Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady.

It is good to be slow and steady. But, it is better to be fast and reliable.

It is OK to make mistakes, but realize the mistakes quickly and correct them.

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The story does not end here:

The tortoise did a soul searching this time. It realized that it could never beat the hare in the current format of the race. It had called the hare for a race again, but in a different route. The hare had also agreed. By the earlier success, the hare now had become more confident that it could beat the tortoise in any terrain.

The race stared. With the self-made commitment, the hare ran fast and consistent, without any break. It was leading the race by many miles until it stumbled upon a broad river. The finish line was a mile away from the other side of the river. The river was very deep and the hare could not cross it anyways.

The slow and steady tortoise reached the river after some time and swam through the river effortlessly. It reached the finish line, steadily moving forward.

The hare was beaten again!

Moral:

Even if you are slow, select your route carefully. Know your strengths and work according to your strengths.

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The story has not ended yet!

By the time, the hare and the tortoise have become pretty good friends. They realized the potential of each other and knew the earlier race could have been run better. They both have decided to go for another race, but had decided to do it as a team.

When the race stared, the hare carried the tortoise on its back until the riverbank. Then, the tortoise took over, carrying the hare on its back and swam through the river. On reaching the other side of the river, the hare again carried the tortoise on its back.

This time both the tortoise and the hare won the race together. They both felt a sense of satisfaction and pride than they had felt ever before.

Moral:

It is better to be individually talented but, if you work together with other talented people, you could achieve still higher.

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To sum up, here are the morals:

• 1. It is good to be slow and steady
• 2. It is better to be fast and consistent
• 3. It is OK to make mistakes, but realize the mistakes quickly and correct them.
• 4. When challenged in any situations, never give up. Instead look for alternatives
• 5. Always work towards your strength
• 6. Instead of competing against the individual, compete against the situation. Work with each other.
• 7. Together, everyone wins in a team.

Three fishes

Three fishes lived in a big lake. They were very good friends. The yellow fish was very intelligent. The Black fish was very shrewd. The white fish was very lazy and believed in the fate. However, all three fishes were happy being together.

One evening, the yellow fish saw two fishermen walking along the lake. It overheard what they were talking. The first one said “Hey buddy, look, there is a big lake here. How come we have never seen this before? Come, let’s spread our net and catch those big fishes” To which the second one replied “Oh, it is already very late. Let us come tomorrow and catch them all”.

The yellow fish immediately rushed to its friends and told them to leave the lake immediately. “Hey, tomorrow those fishermen will come with their nets and will catch all of us. Let us leave this place now itself”. The white fish refused to do so. It said” I have lived in this place for long, and I’ll not want to leave. If it is destined that we’ll be caught, let that be. We can not change the fate”. The black fish thought for a while and said ”Let me wait and watch, I know what to do if they come. I’ll manage”

The yellow fish decided to leave immediately. It did not want to wait until the danger comes. It swam through a small canal and left for a nearby bigger lake.

The next day, the fishermen came and threw their big nets. They caught most of the fishes from the lake. The black fish and the white fish were also caught.

The black fish pondered over the issue and decided to come out of it shrewdly. It closed its eyes and held its breath. It pretended as if it was dead. The fishermen spread the fishes on the ground and noticed the black fish. “Hey, this fish is already dead. Let us throw it back into the water” They threw the black fish, along with some other dead fishes into the water again. The black fish thus escaped from the danger and swam safely in to the deep area of the lake.

The white fish was jumping to somehow go back to the waters. The fishermen noticed this and gave it a big blow and put it inside their bag. The poor white fish could not escape from the fishermen and get killed later.

Moral: We need to be careful in assessing the danger and escape from it before the danger strikes, like the yellow fish. Prevention is always better.

Even if we can not avoid the danger, we need to be shrewd enough to escape from it, like the black fish.

We should not be foolish and resign to the fate, without taking any action, like the white fish.