When Adversity Knocks

Mary was a young girl. She used to get annoyed with everything. She had a negative attitude towards life.

Once, when she felt that life was unbearable, she asked her father what to do. She told him that if she was able to manage and solve one problem, another one followed quickly.

Her father consoled her and took her to the kitchen. He asked Mary to take a potato, an egg and two spoons of tea leaves. Mary was surprised, and asked her father, “Do you want me to cook?”

“No,” her father said.

He then took three vessels and poured one cup of water in each vessel. The vessels were placed on the stove. Once the water started to boil, he dropped the potato in a vessel, egg in the second one and the tea leaves in the third one.

“Why are you doing all these things?” Mary asked, really annoyed with her father.

“Just wait fifteen minutes,” said her father.

The impatient daughter managed to wait for around 15 minutes.

Father removed the potato from the pot and placed in a plate. He did the same with the eggs. He filtered the tea decoction using a cup.

Now, he placed the two plates, one with the potato and the other with the egg, and the cup of tea in front of Mary.

He asked Mary, “What do you see?”

“Potato, egg and a cup of tea,” said Mary.

“No, you are wrong,” said her father. “Look at it closely and answer me.”

Mary replied the same.

“Now touch it and answer me.”

The potato was cooked and was soft, the egg was boiled hard, and the tea carried a nice aroma.

Mary couldn’t find the correct answer.

Her father said, “The potato was so hard and strong before it was boiled; now it has turned soft and smooth. Also, the egg was delicate but after boiling it became hard. Sip the tea. It is delicious!”

Mary asked, “What does it mean father? I don’t understand!”

“Each object responded differently to water. Each object was put under the same kind of circumstances, faced similar adversities, but reacted differently. The potato, when put in boiling water, became very weak. The soft egg became very hard when we put it in boiling water. And the tea leaves are unique. It changed the water itself, giving it a unique flavour and aroma! It gave something new.”

Mary understood that we can create something new and unique even when we experience adversities.

So, what are you? A potato, an egg, or a tea leaf?

Cocoon and the Butterfly

Many of us know that a beautiful and colourful butterfly comes from an unappealing worm! Here is the story of a butterfly that was never able to live its life as a normal butterfly.

One day, a man saw a cocoon. He loved butterflies and had a craze for its wonderful combination of colours. In fact, he used to spend a lot of time around butterflies. He knew how a butterfly would struggle to transform from an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful one.

He saw the cocoon with a tiny opening. It meant that the butterfly was trying to make its way out to enjoy the world. He decided to watch how the butterfly would come out of the cocoon. He was watching the butterfly struggling to break the shell for several hours. He spent almost more than 10 hours with the cocoon and the butterfly. The butterfly had been struggling very hard for hours to come out through the tiny opening. Unfortunately, even after continuous attempts for several hours, there was no progress. It seemed that the butterfly had tried its best and could not give any more try.

The man, who had a passion and love for butterflies, decided to help the butterfly. He got a pair of scissors and tweaked the cocoon to make larger opening for the butterfly and removed the remaining cocoon. The butterfly emerged without any struggle!

Unfortunately, the butterfly looked no longer beautiful and had a swollen body with small and withered wings.

The man was happy that he had made the butterfly come out of the cocoon without any more struggles. He continued to watch the butterfly and was quite eager to see it fly with its beautiful wings. He thought that at any time, the butterfly might expand its wings, shrink the body and the wings could support the body. Unfortunately, neither did the wings expand nor the swollen body reduce.

Unfortunately, the butterfly just crawled around with withered wings and a huge body. It was never able to fly. Although the man did it with a good intention, he did not know that only by going through struggles the butterfly can emerge to be beautiful, with strong wings.

The continuous effort from the butterfly to come out of its cocoon would let the fluid stored in the body be converted into wings. Thus, the body would become lighter and smaller, and the wings would be beautiful and large.

If we don’t want to undergo any struggle, we won’t be able to fly!

Struggles make us shine!

The Greedy Mouse

A greedy mouse saw a basket full of corn. He wanted to eat it. So he made a small hole in the basket. He squeezed in through the hole. He ate a lot of corn. He felt full and was very happy.

Now he wanted to come out. He tried to come out through the small hole. He could not. His belly was full. He tried again. But it was of no use.

The mouse started crying. A rabbit was passing by. It heard the mouse’s cry and asked, “Why are you crying, my friend?”

The mouse explained, “I made a small hole and came into the basket to eat the corn. Now I am not able to get out through that hole.”

The rabbit said, “It is because you ate too much. Wait till your belly shrinks.” The rabbit laughed and went away.

The mouse fell asleep in the basket. The next morning his belly had shrunk. But he wanted to eat some more corn. He forgot all about getting out of the basket. So he ate the corn and his belly was really big again.

After eating, the mouse remembered that he had to escape. But obviously, he could not. So he thought, “Oh! Now I will go out tomorrow.”

The cat was the next passerby. He smelt the mouse in the basket. He lifted its lid and ate the mouse.

The thirsty crow

One hot day, a thirsty crow flew all over the fields looking for water. For a long time, she could not find any. She felt very weak, almost giving up hope.

Suddenly, she saw a water jug below her. She flew straight down to see if there was any water inside. Yes, she could see some water inside the jug!

The crow tried to push her head into the jug. Sadly, she found that the neck of the jug was too narrow. Then she tried to push the jug down for the water to flow out. She found that the jug was too heavy.

The crow thought hard for a while. Then looking around her, she saw some pebbles. She suddenly had a good idea. She started picking up the pebbles one by one, dropping each into the jug. As more and more pebbles filled the jug, the water level kept rising. Soon it was high enough for the crow to drink. Her plan had worked!

Moral:

If you try hard enough, you may soon find an answer to your problem.

The Answered Prayer

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island.

The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island.

He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers be answered.”

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

The Most Beautiful Heart

One day, in a heavily crowded place, a young man began shouting.

“People, look at me. I have the most beautiful heart in the world.”

Many people looked at him and were stunned to see his beautiful heart in a perfect shape, without any flaw. It looked quite amazing. Most of the people who saw his heart were mesmerized by the beauty of his heart, and praised him.

However, there came an old man who challenged the young man, “No my son, I have got the most beautiful heart in the world!”

The young man asked him, “Show me your heart, then!”

The old man showed his heart to him. It was very rough, uneven, and had scars all over. In addition, the heart was not in shape; it appeared like bits and pieces joined in various colours. There were some rough edges; some parts were removed, and fitted with other pieces.

The young man started laughing, and said, “My dear old man, are you mad? See, my heart! How beautiful and flawless it is. You cannot find even a bit of imperfection in my heart. See, yours? It is full of scars, wounds, and blemishes. How can you say your heart is beautiful?”

“Dear boy, my heart is just as beautiful as your heart is. Did you see the scars? Each scar represents the love I shared with a person. I share a piece of my heart with others when I share love, and in return I get a piece of heart, which I fix at the place from where I have torn a piece!” said the old man.

The young man was shocked.

The old man continued, “Since the pieces of heart I shared were neither equal nor in the same shape or size, my heart is full of uneven edges and bits and pieces. My heart is not in shape because sometimes I do not get love in return from those to whom I gave it. Your heart that looks fresh and full with no scars indicates that you never shared love with anybody. Isn’t that true?”

The young man stood still and did not speak a word. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He walked to the old man, tore a piece of his heart and gave the piece to the old man.

Many give importance and respect to physical beauty. Yet, real beauty is not physical!

Money Can’t Buy Everything

Nick was a 10 year old boy. He was the only son to his parents. Nick’s father was a very busy businessman who could not spend time with his son. He came home after Nick slept, and was off to office before Nick woke up in the morning. Nick yearned for his father’s attention. He wanted to go outdoors and play with his father just like his friends did.

One day, Nick was surprised to see his father at home in the evening.

“Dad, it is a big surprise to see you at home,” Nick said.

“Yes son, my meeting was cancelled. So I’m at home. But after two hours I have to catch a flight,” his father replied.

“When will you be back?”

“Tomorrow noon.”

Nick was in deep thought for a while. Then he asked, “Dad, how much do you earn in a year?”

Nick’s father was taken aback. He said, “My dear son, it’s a very big amount and you won’t be able to understand it.”

“Ok dad, are you happy with the amount you earn?”

“Yes my dear. I’m very happy, and in fact I’m planning to launch our new branch and a new business in a few months. Isn’t that great?”

“Yes, dad. I’m happy to hear that. Can I ask you one more question?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Dad, can you tell me how much you earn in a day or even half a day?”

“Nick, why are you asking this question?” Nick’s father was perplexed.

But Nick was persistent. “Please answer me. Can you please tell me how much you earn in an hour?”

Nick’s father gave in and replied, “It will be around $ 25/- per hour.”

Nick ran to his room upstairs, and came down with his piggy bank that contained his savings.

“Dad, I have $50 in my piggy bank. Can you spare two hours for me? I want to go to the beach and have dinner with you tomorrow evening. Can you please mark this in your schedule?”

Nick’s father was speechless!

The greatest gift a parent can give his child is time. Money can’t buy everything!

Power of Selfless Prayers

Kim and Ray were very close companions. They were neighbours, classmates at school, and later, colleagues at work.

One day, they decided to go on a sea voyage to explore strange lands. They began their voyage in a cruise ship, and travelled far and wide. However, in the course of their trip, the weather turned very destructive. The ship was wrecked in the middle of the ocean. Most of the passengers were killed, but Kim and Ray could swim to a nearby island.

The island was deserted; not even a tree was there. Kim and Ray realized that they could not survive on the island without divine intervention. They decided to pray to God. They wanted to see whose prayer would be more powerful. Kim moved to the eastern tip of the island, knelt down and began to pray there. Ray went to the western tip of the island and prayed there.

Kim prayed to God to give him food to survive. Surprisingly, he got a pile of food, fruits and vegetables on the sea shore.

After two days, he requested for a beautiful girl as his wife, as he was feeling very lonely on the island. In a few hours, there was a ship wreck near the island and a lone survivor; a beautiful girl. Kim married the girl.

Whatever Kim prayed for, was granted to him.

Almost a month after the ship wreck, Kim decided to move back to his hometown. He prayed to God to send him a ship to take him home. Sure enough, there came a ship to take Kim and his wife home.

As the couple was about to enter the ship, Kim heard someone speak to him. It was just a voice. “Are you going alone, leaving your companion of life here?”

Kim was surprised, “May I know who is this and whom you are referring to? I have my wife with me!”

The voice said, “I’m the one to whom you offered your prayers, whom you requested to save your life, and whom you requested food and shelter and of course, a wife!”

Kim knelt down in awe and said, “Thank you God!”

Then Kim remembered about Ray, whom he had forgotten all this time. He was overcome with guilt.

God said to him, “I was not answering your prayers. I was only fulfilling Ray’s prayers. He prayed for only one thing! He said ‘Please fulfill all of Kim’s prayers’. That was his only prayer.”

Kim was in tears and rushed to the other side of the island. He realized that he had not even thought about his best friend Ray, and was happily enjoying his own life.

He could not find Ray there. He asked God, “Where is Ray?”

God replied, “I took him with me. The man with the golden heart should be with me! But I will fulfill all your prayers as I promised him to do so!”

Kim was completely broken. He realized why his friend’s prayers were more powerful. It was because Ray’s prayers were totally selfless.

Moral: Selflessness is the highest form of prayer.

THE STRANGE BIRD WITH TWO HEADS

Once upon a time, there lived a strange bird with two heads; one facing the left and the other facing the right. The two heads used to fight and argue with each other, even for very simple reasons. Though they shared the same body, the two heads behaved like rivals!

The strange bird lived in a big banyan tree, along the bank of a river.

One day, while flying over the river, the left head of the bird saw a beautiful tree that had a bright red fruit. The left head of the bird wanted to eat the fruit and the bird flew down to pick the fruit from the tree.

The bird plucked the sweet smelling fruit, and sat by the banks of the river and started eating it. The fruit was eaten by the left head. While it was eating, the right head asked, “Can you give me a piece to taste?”

The left head said, “See, we have only one stomach. So even if I eat in my mouth, it will go only into our stomach.”

“But I want to taste the fruit, so you should give me.”

The left head replied in anger, “I saw the fruit and hence, I have the right to eat it without sharing with anyone.”

The right head felt sad and became silent.

A few days later, while the bird was flying over the river again, the right head saw a beautiful pink fruit in a tree. The bird flew down near the tree and tried to pick the fruit and eat it.

The other birds living in the tree said, “Don’t eat it. It is a poisonous fruit. It will kill you.”

The left head shouted, “Don’t eat it. Don’t eat it.”

However the right head did not listen to the left head. The right head said, “I will eat it, because I saw it. You have no right to stop me.”

The left head shouted, “Please don’t eat it. We will all die.”

The right head said, “Since I saw it, I have the right to eat it.” Clearly, the right head was trying to take revenge on the left head for not sharing the red fruit with it earlier.

Finally, the pink fruit was eaten by the right head, and in a few minutes, the strange bird with the two heads dropped down dead!

Moral: A quarrel by the individuals in a family will affect the whole family badly.

The Fox and the Grapes

One afternoon, a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," said the fox.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again, the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them, but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, "They're probably sour anyway." Then he walked away.

MORAL: IT'S EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT HAVE.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

One summer’s day, in a field, a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great effort an ear of corn he was taking to his nest.

"Why don’t you come and chat with me," asked the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling your life away?"

"I am helping to store up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and I recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper. "We have got plenty of food at present."

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

When winter came, the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in summer.

Then the Grasshopper knew...

MORAL: WORK TODAY AND YOU CAN REAP THE BENEFITS TOMORROW!

THE SECRET OF HAPPINES

Once upon a time, there were three brothers named Samuel, Timothy and Xander, who lived in a cottage by the woods. They were honest and hardworking. Every day, they would venture into the forest to fell wood. Later, they would sell it in the market where it would fetch a decent price. Thus, their life continued in this manner. 

However, the brothers were always sad and morose. Even though they lived a good life, they were unhappy. Each one hankered for something or the other and would pine for it. 

One day, while Samuel, Timothy and Xander were returning home from the woods carrying their bundle of logs, they saw an old haggard woman bent low with a sack on her back. As they were kind and compassionate, the brothers immediately approached the poor woman and offered to carry the sack all the way to her home. She smiled and expressed her gratefulness, while replying that the sack actually contained apples that she had collected in the forest. Samuel, Timothy and Xander took turns in carrying the sack, and at last, when they reached the woman’s home, they were very tired indeed. 

Now, this old woman was no ordinary person and had magical powers. Pleased with the brothers’ kind and selfless nature, she asked them whether there was anything she could help them with, as a reward. 

“We are not happy, and that has become our greatest cause of concern,” replied Samuel. The woman asked what would make them happy. Each brother spoke of a different thing that would please him.

“A splendid mansion with plenty of servants would make me happy. There is nothing more that I would want,” said Samuel. 

“A big farm with lots of harvest would make me happy. Then I could be rich without having to worry,” said Timothy.

“A beautiful wife would make me happy. Every day, after returning home, her sweet little face would light me up and make me forget my sorrows,” said Xander. 

“That is fine,” said the old woman, “If these things will give you happiness, you deserve them in every respect for helping a poor helpless person like me. Go home, and each of you shall find exactly what you have wished for.”

This took the brothers by surprise as they did not know about the woman’s powers. Nevertheless, they took leave and returned home. But lo behold, beside their cottage, there was a huge mansion with a doorman and other servants waiting outside! They greeted Samuel and ushered him in. At some distance, a yellow farmland showed itself. A ploughman came and announced that it belonged to Timothy. Timothy gasped. Just at that moment, a beautiful maiden approached Xander and coyly said that she was his wife. The brothers were beside themselves with joy at this new turn of events. They thanked their lucky stars and adapted to their new lifestyles. 

The days passed and soon a year was over. The situation was however, now different for Samuel, Timothy and Xander. Samuel had grown tired of owning the mansion. He became lazy and did not supervise his servants into taking proper care of the mansion. Timothy, who had built a decent house next to his farmland, found it burdensome to plough the fields and sow seeds from time to time. Xander too, grew used to his beautiful wife and no longer found any joy in keeping her company. In short, all of them were unhappy again. 

One day, the three of them met up and decided to visit the old woman at her home. “That woman has magical powers which turned our dreams into reality. However, since we are no longer happy, we must go and seek her help now. It is she who will be able to tell us the secret to attaining happiness,” said Samuel. 

When they came to the old woman, she was cooking stew in a pot. Greeting her, each of the brothers recounted how he had turned unhappy again. “Please tell us how we can once more be happy,” said Timothy. 

“Well,” replied the old woman. “It is all in your own hands. See, when each of you made his wish and it was granted, you were happy. However, happiness never lasts without a very important thing – content. Earlier, since you were happy but never really content or satisfied, boredom and misery overcame you and you became sad again. Only if you learn to be content, can you truly enjoy the bliss of happiness.”

Samuel, Timothy and Xander realized their mistake and went back home. They saw how lucky they were to have the gifts for which they had once craved. Samuel felt grateful for being the owner of a mansion and began taking good care of it. Timothy began to plough his land diligently so as to have a good harvest in time. Xander too learnt to appreciate his pretty wife’s chores in the house and her devotion towards him. Remembering that happiness and content went side by side, never again did the brothers take their blessings for granted. And thus, they lived happily ever after.

- Ananya Sarkar

THE FOOLISH MONKEYS

Before several centuries, there was a very large, dense and dark forest. A group of monkeys arrived at the forest. It was winter season, and the monkeys struggled hard to survive the freezing cold nights. They were hunting for fire to get warm.  

One night, they saw a firefly and considered it a dab of fire. All the monkeys in the group shouted ‘Fire, Fire, Fire, Yeah we got fire!’  

A couple of monkeys tried to catch the firefly and it escaped. They were sad as they could not catch the fire. They were talking to themselves that they couldn’t live in the cold if they didn’t get the fire.  

The next night, again they saw many fireflies. After several attempts, the monkeys caught a few fireflies. They put the fireflies in a hole dug in the land and tried to blow the flies.  

They blew the flies very hard without knowing the fact that they were flies!  

An owl was watching the activities of the monkeys. The owl reached the monkeys and told them, ‘Hey those are not fire! They are flies. You won’t be able to make fire from it!’

The monkeys laughed at the owl. One monkey replied the owl, ‘Hey old owl you don’t know anything about how to make fire. Don’t disturb us!’

The Owl warned the monkeys again and asked them to stop their foolish act. ‘Monkeys, you cannot make fire from the flies! Please hear my words.’

The monkeys tried to make fire from the flies. 

The Owl told them again to stop their foolish act. ‘You are struggling so much, go take your shelter in a nearby cave. You can save yourself from the freezing cold! You won’t get fire!’  

One monkey shouted at the owl and the owl left the place.  

The monkeys were simply doing the foolish activity for several hours and it was almost midnight. They were very tired and realized that the words of the owl were correct and they were trying to blow a fly.  

They sheltered themselves at the cave and escaped from the cold.  

We may go wrong many times and should seek and accept the advice / suggestions provided by others.

REAL SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

A group of employees was working in a software company. It was a team of 30 employees. This was a young, energetic and dynamic team with keen enthusiasm and desire to learn and grow. The management decided to teach the employees about finding real solution to the problems.  

The team was called to play a game in a banquet hall. The group was quite surprised as they were called for playing game. All reached the venue holding various thoughts. As they entered the hall, they found the hall decorated beautifully with colourful decorative papers and balloons all over the place. It was more like a kid’s play area, than a corporate meeting hall.  

Everyone was surprised and gazed at each other. Also, there was a huge box of balloons placed at the centre of the hall.  

The team leader asked everyone to pick a balloon from the box and asked them to blow it. Every one happily picked a balloon and blew it.  

Then the team leader asked them to write their names on their balloon, carefully so that the balloons didn’t blow up. All tried to write their names on the balloons, but not everyone was successful. A few balloons blew up due to pressure and they were given another chance to use another balloon.  

Those who failed to mark their names even after the second chance were ruled out of the game. After the second chance, 25 employees were qualified for the next level. All the balloons were collected and then put into a room.  

The team leader announced the employees to go to the room and pick the same balloon that had his name on it. Also, he told them that no balloon should blow up and warned them to be very careful!

All 25 employees reached the room, where the balloons carrying their names were thrown here and there. They were searching for the respective balloons carrying their names. While they were in a rush to find the respective balloons, they tried not to burst the balloons. It was almost 15 minutes and no one was able to find the balloon carrying his own name. 

The team was told that the second level of the game was over.

Now it is the third and final level. They asked the employees to pick any balloon in the room and give it to the person named on the balloon. Within a couple of minutes all balloons reached the hands of the respective employee and everyone reached the hall.  

The team leader announced; this is called real solutions to the problems. Everyone is frantically hunting for solutions to the problems without understanding the ideal ways. Many times, sharing and helping others give you real solutions to all problems. 

Help out each other to ease things.

THINK BEFORE YOUR SPEAK

It was a sunny day, but the climate was enjoyable. Everyone in the railway station was waiting for the train to arrive. Among the crowd, there was a group of friends, youngsters who were on board for vacation.

It was a busy station with juice shop, mobile restaurants, coffee and tea stalls, newspaper shop, restaurants, etc. The announcement regarding the arrival of the train was made and everyone prepared to get into the train to their appropriate places.

The group of friends made loud noise to welcome the train as it entered the station. They ran to get their reserved seats before anyone could get into the train.

The empty seats were filled and the train whistled to move. An old man with a young boy aged around 15 years came running to catch the train. They entered the train and the train started to move. They had their seats just adjacent to the friends’ group.

The young boy was so surprised to see everything.

He acclaimed at his father, ‘Dad, the train is moving and the things are moving backwards.’

His father smiled and nodded his head.

As the train started moving fast, the young boy again screamed, ‘Dad the trees are green in colour and run backward very fast.’ His father said, ‘Yes dear’ and smiled.

Just like a kid, he was watching everything with great enthusiasm and happiness loaded with tons of surprises.

A fruit seller passed selling apples and oranges. The young boy asked his dad, ‘I want to eat apples.’ His father bought him apples. He said, ‘Oh apple looks so sweet than it tastes’ I love this colour.

The group was watching all the activities of this boy and asked the boy’s father ‘Is your son having any problem? Why is he behaving very differently?

A friend from the group made fun of him and shouted, ‘His son is mad I think.

The father of the young boy, with patience, replied to the friend-group.

‘My son was born blind. Only a few days before he was operated and got the vision. He is seeing various things in his life for the first time.

The young friends became very quiet and apologized to his father and son.

MONEY VERSUS FAMILY

Rama’s family is very big. Rama is a hard worker and he is the sole bread winner of the family. He has three kids, two sons and a daughter. He lives along with father and mother. Rama used to work too hard to feed his family.

He works for more than 16 hours a day. The kids cannot see him as he will leave home early in the morning before they wake-up and reach home around midnight when kids would sleep every day. The entire family eagerly wait to spend quality time with him and the kids miss him so much.  

The children were too curious about Sundays as his father would spend the entire day with them. Unfortunately, to meet the increasing household expenses and educational expenses, Rama took a weekend job to work even on Sundays. The kids were very shattered and even Rama’s wife and parents too!  

The typical routine continued for several weeks and year passed. All the hard work of Rama earned a lot of benefits and he was offered promotion with attractive increment.

The family moved to a new house, got better clothes and ate healthy foods. However, as usual, Rama continues to earn more and more money. One day his wife asked him ‘why are you running for money? We can be happy with what we have now.’

Rama replied, ‘I want to give the best available in the world to all of you and want you to stay happy always.’  

Two years passed and Rama hardly spent time with his family. The children yearned to have their father at home. Meanwhile, the sincere efforts of Rama reaped him a fortune. He was offered partnership and share in profits. He continued to earn more and more wealth.  

Now, Rama’s family is one of the richest families in the city. They have all the facilities and luxuries. Still, Rama’s children strove to meet their father as he was hardly seen at home.  

His children turned teens and they are no more kids. Now, Rama earned enough wealth to provide a luxurious life to his next five generations.  

Rama’s family went to their beach house to spend their vacation. His daughter asked, ‘Dad will you please spend one day at home and stay with us here?’

Rama replied, ‘Yes darling, tomorrow for sure, I will join you for the lunch and be with you all for next few days. I’m tired of work and need refreshment!’

The entire family became very happy.  

Unfortunately, the next day, none in Rama’s family were alive as they were washed out in Tsunami!  

Rama was too busy even to hear the news about Tsunami. When he tried to reach his beach house, he saw sea and water everywhere and screamed for his family, He could not even find the dead bodies of his family.  

He can never have them again, cannot even see them and even by paying millions he cannot get them back to life!  

He remembered his wife’s words, ‘Why are you running for money? We can be happy with what we have now.’

Money can’t buy everything!

Change Yourself and not The World

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy as they led a very prosperous life with an abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.

Once, the king decided to go visiting places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people. People of distant places were very happy to have a conversation with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart.

After several weeks of travel, the king returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he had visited many pilgrim centres and witnessed his people leading a prosperous life. However, he had one regret.

He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot covering a long distance. He complained to his ministers that the roads weren’t comfortable and that they were very stony. He could not tolerate the pain. He said that he was very much worried about the people who had to walk along those roads as it would be painful for them too!

Considering all this, he ordered his servants to cover the roads in the whole country with leather so that the people of his kingdom can walk comfortably.

The king’s ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would mean that thousands of cows would have to be slaughtered in order to get sufficient quantity of leather. And it would cost a huge amount of money also.

Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea. The king asked what the alternative was. The minister said, “Instead of covering the roads with leather, why don’t you just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?”

The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the wisdom of the minister. He ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.

Moral: Instead of trying to change the world, we should try to change ourselves.

The wooden doll had no peace.

“My dears, if ever you are a doll, hope to be a rag doll, or a wax doll, or a doll full of sawdust apt to ooze out, or a China doll easy to break,” so went its thoughts. “Anything in the world rather than a good strong wooden doll with a painted head and movable joints, for that is indeed a sad thing to be.”

Many a time the poor wooden doll wished it were a tin train, or a box of soldiers, or a woolly lamb, or anything on earth rather than what it was. It never had any peace: It was taken up and put down in all manners and at odd moments, made to go to bed when the children went to bed, to get up when they got up, be bathed when they were bathed, dressed when they were dressed, taken out in all weathers, stuffed into their satchels when they went to school, left about in corners, dropped on stairs, forgotten, neglected, bumped, banged, broken, and glued together.

Anything and everything it suffered, until many a time it said sadly enough to its poor little self, "I might as well be a human being at once and be done with it!"

And then it fell to thinking about human beings: what strange creatures they were, always going about, though none carried them save when they were very little; always sleeping and waking, eating and drinking, laughing and crying, talking and walking, and doing this and that, never resting for long, or seeming as if they could not be still for even a single day.

"They are always making noise," thought the wooden doll. "They are always talking and walking about, always moving things and doing things, building up and pulling down, making and unmaking forever and forever, and never quiet. It is lucky that we are not all human beings, or the world would be worn out in no time, and there would not be a corner left in which to rest a poor doll's head."

In the comfort provided by such a thought, the wooden doll was at peace with itself, and lay down for a well-earned rest.