Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment. The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral lessons:Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later

WHO IS A WINNER ?

A Winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS......But one who NEVER QUITS!!!"Need a proof? Read on................... 10 Real Life Incidents and Learn not to Quit in life and always have a hope in life that you will be successful. Failures are stepping stones for success
1) Officials rejected a candidate for a news broadcasters post since his voice was not fit for a news broadcaster. He was also told that with his obnoxiously long name, he would never be famous. He is Amitabh Bachchan.
2)In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record auditionfor the executives of the Decca Recording Company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, "We don't like! their sound.Groups of guitars are on the way out." The group was called The Beatles
3)In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married". She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.
4)In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired a singer after one performance. He told him, "You ain't going' nowhere son. You ought to go back todriving' a truck". He went on to become Elvis Presley
5)A small boy--the fifth amongst seven siblings of a poor father, was selling newspapers in a small village to earn hisliving. He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets. The first rocket he built crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple times and he was made a butt of ridicule. He is the person to have scripted the Space Odyssey of India single-handedly. He is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. President of India
6)When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers.After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said,"That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?"
7)When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process".
8)In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long yearsof rejections, he finally got a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention--an electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid became Xerox Corporation
9)A little girl--the 20th of 22 children,was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with aparalyzed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year shedecided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl-- Wilma Rudolph, went on to win three Olympic gold medals.
10)A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematicsand for not being able to solve simple problems. She told him that you would not become anybody in life. The boy was Albert

The cucumber seller of Chennai

On a hot July day, my colleague Moses and I were trying to locate our car on Chennai’s Nungambakkam High Road in front of Nalli Silks when I saw a roadside cart laden with cucumbers. The seller was vacantly gazing at passersby. Clad in a white shirt and a dhoti worn in the traditional Chennai style, he had long hair and an unkempt beard. I did not know Tamil, and asked Moses to find out the price. One rupee apiece, came the reply.
We wanted one piece each. The cucumber seller began deftly slicing them to put salt and the delectable red chilly powder on the neat halves. As we bit into the cucumber, I asked Moses to tell him that his pricing was too low, and that he should raise it. Moses conveyed this. The seller shook his head, and replied that “customer satisfaction” is more important than extra profit. The words ‘customer satisfaction’ were in English. I gulped my patronising comment. At this time, Moses excused himself to find our car. After a few moments, the seller asked me in English where I was from. From Bangalore, I replied. What follows here is our conversation. His statements are highlighted.

Isn’t the Karnataka budget due to be presented tomorrow?
Yes, that is true. Living in Karnataka, it was easy for me to concur on this.

I wonder how the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will ever solve the watersharing problem. Man cannot solve this problem. It has to be God. After all, it is an issue of how much rain is going to fall!
I nodded. I was not sure if I had a view at all.

See the way the monsoon is progressing. It does not look good. The progress of the rains is leaving a ‘V’ of a dry patch as the clouds move north. Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and the states up north will have problems. Politicians are the ones who use such problems to create a divide among people. They always do it. They use water, religion, anything they can, to create a divide. Look at the way Amarinder Singh of Punjab is taking a stand.

I looked at him, in part admiration and part disbelief.

You’re from Bangalore. Things are going well for you folks. But I don’t understand how people with shady business interests can become representatives of public opinion there.
It was part complaint and part observation.
At this point, a fellow peddler arrived — helped himself to some of the cucumber, and the two had a quick conversation on some issue I did not understand. After the other person left, I asked him if selling cucumber was his full-time vocation. He told me that right now it was. Earlier, he sold lottery tickets, the trading of which has since been banned. As a result he had to switch his business to selling cucumbers on the wheeled cart. No complaints and no issues. Meaning to engage him further, I asked him his religion. This drew an instant look of disappointment from him:
“Sir, I am an Indian. That is my religion. In my eyes, all people are equal, and it does not matter to me at all.”

The clarity of his response and his conviction took me completely by surprise. His net worth was probably equal to his day’s turnover. The newspaper and magazines he reads, to keep abreast of things, wipe off the disposable income he generates. Bare feet on this busy, dusty road, he sold a low-value, perishable product from a rickety cart. At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in poverty. But in his presence, it was I who felt poor.

“We are not complete if we are not connected. It is only when we are connected that things make sense. Only when things make sense, we can form an opinion. Standing there, I wondered how many in the corporate world know who the chief minister of Punjab is, and about the progress of the monsoon! How many have an informed view on river water politics and budget proceedings of another state. “

Soon, Moses appeared with our car. It was time for me to go. I shook hands with the nameless cucumber seller of Chennai.

Actually, I wanted to touch his feet.

At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in
poverty. But in his presence, it was I who felt poor

The author is co-founder & chief
operating officer at MindTree
Consulting.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS

A successful businessman sent his son on a long journey to learn about the secret of success and happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through different places for many days in search of the wisest man. At last he was guided to a beautiful castle, atop a hill by some people saying that there lived a wise man. On entering the main room, the lad saw a hive of activity, diamond merchants and other traders came and went, people were conversing in the corners, there was a group of musicians playing instrumental music., etc. The wise man was conversing with people and the lad had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given attention. The lad finally met the wise man and explained to him why he had come. The wise man listened patiently and advised the lad to look around the castle and return in two hours.

“Meanwhile I want to ask you to do something”, said the wise man, handing to the lad a spoon containing three drops of oil. “You can wander about the castle, however, you should see that you are not allowing the drops of oil to spill in the ground”. The lad went here and there climbing and descending many stairways, keeping his eyes glued to the spoon. After three hours he returned to the wise man. The wise man asked, “How many wall hangings studded with gold you had seen ? How many pictures you had seen in the drawing room ? How many statutes you had seen in the main hall ? Had you visited the nine jeweled royal temple ?” The lad was quite embarrassed and confessed that he had observed nothing as his only concern had been not to spill the oil in the spoon.

“Then go back and observe the marvels of this castle”, said the wise man. “You cannot trust a man if you don’t know his house”. The lad again picked up the spoon and started exploring the castle. This time he observed everything with full concentration, returned to the wise man and explained in detail about the things he had seen in the castle. “But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you ?” asked the wise man. The lad then noticed that there were no drops of oil in the spoon

“The secret of success and happiness is to see all the marvels of the world and never forget the drops of oil in the spoon .” The lad understood the meaning of the two drops of oil – the vision and values. Vision is the mental picture of our desired future and values are our emotions based on which we choose and decide things and how we accomplish them.”

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

A milk vendor used to sell milk on his motor cycle in a town. He was carrying four milk cans, two on each side of his vehicle . One day, while he was calling on a house, two students approached his motor cycle and pushed frogs one each in two cans. The happy frogs started finding themselves in a tight position.

The frog in one of the cans studied the situation. It made a SWOT analysis. His strength was – to swim effectively in any liquid. He recollects from his “WISDOM BANK” that most difficult times come only for a short time and will not last long. He starts swimming and swimming and finds himself sitting on a butter lump formed due to the churning action of his swimming. He is now safe for a while. When the milk vendor opens the cans for his next call, the frog leaps to his freedom .

The frog in other can does not turn on his attitudinal bulb. He blames the student for his misery and started cursing him. He blames God for making him so small that he can neither lift the lid of the can nor he can drill a hole in the can. With all these negative thoughts, he eventually drowns in the milk and dies.

What is the moral of the story ? It is about ATTITUDE. While the first frog was a ‘ I CAN’ person with a positive mental attitude, the other one was a “I CAN’T” person. You can be a “CAN” or ‘CAN’T’ person. The choice is with you alone.

Noone except yourself can make you a ‘CAN’ or ‘CAN’T’ person.

THINK FOR A WHILE

Various programs were going on at a circus. A juggler started doing his performance. As he went on to perform more and more difficult tricks, the excitement started to rise from among the audience.

At last, he came to the most difficult of the tricks where he had to basket a ball on a 12 feet pole attached to the plate that he was holding with his legs, while lying on his back.
The awe struck audience began to applaud, anticipating a perfect basket. For a split second, the juggler thought about the loud applause that he would get after the successful performance. The concentration wavered and down came the ball with a thud which was followed by a long oooh…from the audience.

Had the juggler had kept his concentration intact on the trick instead of anticipating the applause of the audience, he would have definitely succeeded in his performance.

Let us think for a while. Do we too perform to get appreciation or let appreciation come as a result of good performance ?

What is the moral of the story ?

Let us focus ourselves on doing the job rather than wondering about the results.
The results will be always fantastic.

TAKING AN INTEREST IN PEOPLE

There are things we like doing and enjoy talking about. But we also have to be prepared to take an interest in what interests the people we have to live and work with.

If you are taking an interest it will not happen often because you will find that people interest you whatever they happen to be doing or talking about.

Try to develop an enthusiasm within you. If you can feel strongly enough about something to take time and trouble over it, you can be sure that the zest will never depart from your life.

Enthusiasts are constantly up and doing. There are always people they want to meet, things waiting to be done, new fields to conquer.

Taking an interest in the people we meet should be based on fellow-feeling, not on any desire to poke and pry. All of us know what it is to feel tired, said, lonely, and to make fools of ourselves.

We have experienced what it means to be pleasantly surprised, wildly excited, deeply fond of someone. The fact that we share these as experiences with others, that they are common to mankind, should act as a bond between us and other people

People who do not take an interest in anyone or anything outside themselves find it hard to understand those who do. They want all the attention they get, begrudging anything they are called upon to do for others. Yet it is a remarkable paradox that when we take an interest without wanting, let alone expecting, anything in return, we get interest back fourfold.

People who are concerned only with themselves are not happy. They grow old and tired before their time. Conversely, if you are taking an interest in people and the things that are happening around you, you will not have the time to grow old. You will be far too absorbed in it all to bother about yourself.