Indian+Ethos Stories

8/3/2019 Indian+Ethos Stories

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STORIES OF INDIAN ETHOS

STORIES OF ETHOS

PAGE NO.

1 KANSA AND KRISHNA

-Swapneel Tank (1940) 3

2 THE 4 WIVES

-Dhruv Jani (1924) 5

3 INDIAN ETHOS PRESENTED IN

INCIDENT 7

-Shalini Jaiswal (1923)


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4 THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

-Kapil (1911) 8

5 THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A SNAKE

Vikas Agarwal (1902) 10

6 COMBINED CONCLUSION 13


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STORY:1

STORY OF KANSA AND KRISHNA :

SWAPNEEL TANK (1940)

When Vasudeva and Devaki were returning after their marriage, there was

aakashwani that eighth son of Devaki will kill Kansa. Kansa was listening to this

as he was there as saarathi of Vasudeva and Devaki. Kansa was so happy as there

was a marriage of his loving sister.

As we know that Kansa killed all the children of Vasudeva and Devaki.

Now just think of the other options Kansa could have taken to prevent his death.After listening to many options in the class we focused our attention to one option

and it goes like this: Keep Vasudeva and Devaki in separate jails. So there would

be no necessity of killing all the children!!!

Why Kansa didnt go with that option?

After discussion in the class we concluded that Kansa had high extent of

belongingness with Devaki. Kansa had seen Devaki doing fasts for husband. Kansa

would have thought that he had no right making Devakis life miserable. At theend we know that Kansa was killed by Shri Krishna the eighth son of Devaki.

LESSON FROM THE STORY:

In our Indian ethos we have maatru devo bhava and pitru devo bhava. So the

emphasize has been given to the family. That is what Kansa followed.

In the organization if we find any trouble at that time we should first look at theemployees and workers of the company without being selfish.

At the end Kansa was killed because he was confused with the role he was playing.

On one side he was playing a demon and on the other side he supported the family.

So lesson from this can be taken that ifyou are playing demon than play fully


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that role otherwise you will be gone like Kansa. But the better option is that

do not play the role of demon at all.


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STORY:2

THE 4 WIVES

DHRUV JANI

Once upon a time, there lived a rich merchant who had 4 wives.

He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated

her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very proud of her and always

wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant was always in great

fear that she might run away with some other men.

He loved his 2nd wife too. She was a very considerate person, always patient

and in fact was merchant's confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some

problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and

tide him through difficult times.

Now, the merchant's 1st wife was a very loyal partner and has made great

contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the

household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she

loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die

soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I have 4 wives with

me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll be!"

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with the finest

clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me

and keep me company?" "No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked awaywithout another word.

The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad

merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much for all my life. Now

that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No!" replied the 3rd

wife. "Life is so good over here! I'm going to remarry when you die!" The

merchant's heart sank and turned cold.


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He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and you've

always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me

and keep me company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd

wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave." The answer came like

a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated.

Then a voice called out: "I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter where

you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny,

almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I

should have taken much better care of you while I could have!"

Who are these 4 wives?

a. The 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in

making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.

b. Our 3rd wife? Our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they all go to

others.

c. The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there

for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

d. The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of material, wealthand sensual pleasure.

So what does the moral in this story tells us??

The soul actually is the only thing that follows us wherever we go. The sages in

our ancient times very well understood this truth. That was the reason may be

they performed meditation and penance. May be in a business world of today

such a thing of holistic or moral management may not be possible but there is a

requirement of a balance between the two. Perhaps it's a good idea to cultivate

and strengthen it now rather than to wait until we're on our deathbed to lament.


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STORY: 3

INDIAN ETHOS PRESENTED IN INCIDENT

SHALINI JAISWAL

An incident-even being at higher position, what issues a person has to face if he is

from a lower caste?

Rajan Priyadarshi is a 1980 batch IPS officer and a Dalit, rose to the rank of

Inspector General. All his colleagues and those who seek his support and help,

stand before him with folded hands. But when he went to his native village in

Gujarat, he couldnt buy a house in upper caste area of the village. He continues to

have a house in Dalitwada.

Another dalit IAS officer, who retired as Commissioner of Fisheries, organized a

social gathering in his native village in the same Gujarat state. The person to whom

he gave the cooking contract refused to wash the vessels.

The point is even senior bureaucrats face ostracisation in their native villages. Is

this also part of cultural nationalism? Secularists violate such issues and indulge in

wholesale condemnation of whatever stands for Hinduness. Admittedly, this is anugly side of Hinduness. It is not that such aberration is not in existence in other

civilizations and culture. Thus in this case, it is our culture roots that overtook our

other sentiments-personal political or social. But do we accept this as a part of

national culture and thus give a big handle to condemn the whole concept of Indian

ethos and nationalism as communication and obscurantism?


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STORY:4

THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.

KAPIL

Once upon a time there was an argument between the hare and the tortoise about

who is faster. They decided to settle the argument by taking up a race. They started

the race and the Hare started faster and after reaching at a point he found that he

was far ahead of the tortoise. So he thought he should take rest for a while and then

proceed further. In few minutes he fell asleep and by that time the tortoise overtook

him and reached the finishing line.

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

This is the story with which we have grew up with.

Let us take this story one step further....

The Hare lost the race and so he did some thinking. He did some soul searching.

He found that he lost the race just because he was over confident, lax and careless.

So he decided that this time he will take the race seriously and would run

consistently to the finishing line. So he challenged the Tortoise to take up another

race. Tortoise agreed and they started the race. Hare as usual ran fast but this time

at a consistent speed till he reached the finishing line and won the race.

Moral: If you have two employees in the organization, one which is slow and

reliable and another which is fast and consistent, but still reliable, the fast

chap will climb the organizational ladder faster than the slower chap. Thus, it

is necessary to have consistency in your work or else you will fall off the

ladder as fast as you have climbed it.

The story is still not complete

This time Tortoise lost the race and he did some soul searching. He found that the

way the race was designed, he will never win the race as he cannot run as fast as

the Hare. So he decided to challenge the Hare to have a race on a slightly different

track. On this new track the finishing line was kept on the other side of the river.


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The Hare agreed and they started a race. Hare, as usual started fast and ran

consistently until he reached the river. He sat there and wondered what to do as he

did not know how to swim. While he was thinking, tortoise reached there and he

swam across the river and reached the finishing line and won the race.

Moral: What did tortoise do? He found his core competencies and then he

selected his playing field. One should identify his core competencies first and

then he should select his playing field. This would give them more

opportunities for growth and the development.

Now, again there was a conflict between the Hare and the Tortoise. Hare claimed

that he was fast on the first track because he won the race, on the other hand,

tortoise claimed that he was faster as he won the second track. The argument

reached the point from where it has started. So they decided to take the case to theLion the king of the jungle. Lion, after listening to their case, immediately

identified that both of them had their own strength and weaknesses. So he assigned

them a task of passing the message to his Lioness, who was on the other side of the

river. He also put a condition that they should deliver the message before the

sunset or else they will be killed. Now they were in the trouble. There was no way

Hare can reach on the other side of the river as he did not know how to swim. Also

there was no way for tortoise also to reach there before sunset. So they

compromised and decided to work as a team. Hare carried tortoise to the river, thentortoise carried the hare and swam across the river and then again the hare carried

the tortoise to the lioness. In this way they both were able to complete the task in

the given time.

Moral: It is better to work with your own core competencies, but unless you

are not able to work in team and harness others competencies, you will not be

successful as there will be times when working alone you will not perform at

par.

In India, there was a time when people were not ready to work in teams in the

organizations. Various factors like personal ego, conflicts, cultural differences

refrained them from working in teams. But, in todays time, working in team is

highly essential. Globalization and liberalization has made Indians work together

in teams.


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STORY:5

THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A SNAKE

VIKAS AGARWAL

Once upon a time, there lived a Brahmin with his wife in a village. Both of them

were sad, as they had no children. Every day, they prayed to God in the hope, that

one day they would be blessed with a child. Ultimately, the god blessed them with

a child. The Brahmins wife gave birth to a baby, but the child came to be a snake.

Everyone was shocked and advised them to get rid of the snake as soon as

possible.

The Brahmins wife remained firm and refused to listen to any one. She loved the

snake as her son and didnt care that her infant was a snake. She brought up the

snake with love and care. She fed him with the best food she could arrange for. She

made a comfortable bed in a box and made him sleep on it. The snake grew up and

his mother loved him all the more. On one occasion, there was a wedding in the

neighborhood; the Brahmins wife began to think of getting her son married. But

the question aroused, which girl would marry a snake?

Although, she had a belief that she would definitely get a girl for her son. One day,

when the Brahmin returned home, he found his wife in tears. He asked her, What

happened? Why are you crying? She didnt answer and kept on crying. The

Brahmin asked again, Tell me what hurts you so much?" Finally, she said, I

know you dont love my son. You are not taking any interest in our son. He is

grown up. You dont even think to get him a bride. The Brahmin was shocked to

hear such words. He replied, Bride, for our son? Do you think any girl would

marry to a snake?

The Brahmins wife didnt respond, but she kept on crying. On seeing her crying

like that, the Brahmin decided to go out in search of a bride for his son. He traveled

to many places, but found no girl who was ready to marry a snake. At last, he

arrived in a big city where one of his friends lived. As the Brahmin had not met

him for a long time, he decided to meet him.


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Both of the friends were happy to see each other after a long time and spent a good

time altogether. During the conversation, the friend happened to ask the Brahmin

that why he was traveling round the country. The Brahmin said, I am looking for

a bride for my son. The friend told him not to go any further and promised hisdaughters hand in marriage. The Brahmin was shocked and said, I think, it would

be better if you see my son before deciding this.

His friend refused saying that he knew him and his family, so it was not necessary

to see the boy. He sent his daughter with the Brahmin in order to get married with

his son. The Brahmins wife was happy to know this and quickly started making

preparations for the marriage. When the villagers heard about this, they went to the

girl and advised her not to marry the snake. The girl refused to hear to them andinsisted that she had to keep her fathers word.

Accordingly, the marriage between the snake and the girl took place. The girl

started living with her husband, the snake. She was a devoted wife and looked after

the snake like a good wife.

Lessons for Manager

Parents of the snake should have been looking for a snake as bride for their son,

rather than a human being. It is only in the fairy tales that the snakes turn into

princes. Indians have a sense of entitlement because of their birth and their past

history and tend to forget about their own short comings. Good example of this

would be the pride in Indias rich heritage while skimming over the current state of

affairs of the society. Managers should be conscious about changes in

environment and not be stuck in their past.

Brahmins friend had agreed to marriage even before hearing about the boy.

Moreover, the daughter married the snake with her full knowledge just to keep her

fathers words. Indian managers depend to a large extent on family and relations

for business and for managing their business. They also tend to favor take services

from those they know, ignoring the shortcomings of the person or without written


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contract. A formal contract and setting clear expectations can go a long way in

ensuring smooth execution and better relations also. Daughter should have

taken the opportunity to break free of a promise made by her careless father. An

Indian would find it very difficult to speak to a relation who has not kept his end of

the contract or was supplying a sub standard product.


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COMBINED CONCLUSION:

As we know that every person needs help in the organization for

development though he has expertise in the specific field. As Kapils story tells, by

helping each other we can achieve whatever we want. As Shalinis story goes,

there should be no discrimination among people of different cast, creed and nature

in the organization. In this time of fierce competition one should never play a role

of daemon (Kansa) in the organization and if he chooses that role than he should

stick to that till end of his life as the gist of Swapneels story tells. In the journey of

life one should develop an ability to identify the persons whom he can trust. Do not

put your trust on any random persons and never forget to take test of their

reliability. That is what Dhruvs story tells.

At last we put an open conclusion to these stories telling In the life what to

do and what not to do will be decided by the person so what to take and what

not to take from these stories should also be decided by the person only.

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