Inspiring anecdotes

Thoughts are pivotal
If there was one resolution Rehana (name changed) would give her life for, it was that her son, Guddu would not tread the muddied realm of nautch girls. Some years ago, I had interviewed Rehana, once a nautch girl of Chaturbhuj Sthan, a red light area in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Rehana’s past was a blur. The foggy memories she had about a certain aunt in Benaras were just that — foggy. Memory served her right from Chaturbhuj Sthan where she grew up in a milieu of shame, hatred, abuse, contempt and connivance — all that coalesced to make her a much-in-demand nartaki (dancer) in the 1980s.

When Guddu was born, the only thing that dominated her thoughts was how to get him out of the morass. She would see how children born to her ilk grew up to be abusive vagabonds, often becoming pimps of their own mothers and sisters. Nothing of the sort for Guddu, Rehana resolved. She had told me something I would never forget, “Lohe ko marora jaa sakta hai, par lohe ko sirf apna jung mar sakta hai. Aadmi ko koi aur nahin, apna khayal marta hai” (You can bend iron, but only its own rust can destroy it.

Only one’s thoughts can make or mar a person.) The noble thought propelled action and she sent Guddu away to a boarding school, imploring one of her benevolent “clients” to act as his guardian. She did not want her identity to make her son an object of ridicule. Twenty years trapezed past. Guddu, an engineering graduate, now works in a premier petroleum company. Rehana, in her sixties, stays with him.

As it precedes action, thought has great creative power which can be used for good or ill. Rehana illustrates that irrespective of place or pelf, all that you accomplish or fail to accomplish with your life is the direct result of your thoughts. Life is too precious to dawdle away. As British writer, James Allen said, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”

(Courtsey :Management Funda N.Raghuraman)

Like and dislike

A teacher asked the students of his class to write the names of all the students,whom the disliked.All the students made lists of quite a few names.One student gave a blank sheet,he said that there was no student whom he disliked.

Can you believe it,no student had listed the name of this student among those whom they disliked!

Gender discrimination

Ramprasad was holding a letter from his daughter Radha in his hands,in which she had written”I am going to buy a house,we are falling short of Rs one lakh ,please send.I will return as soon as possible.”Ramprasad pondered,if I give money to my daughter  it will not be good to take it back.He replied to Radha expressing his inability to send the amount.

Next week he got a letter from his son asking for help to buy a house. Ramprasad discussed with his wife,and immediately went to the bank ,withdrew the money and happily sent a bank draft to his son.

After some days Ramprasad fell ill seriously.he sent telegrams to his son and daughter.There was no response from the son,but his daughter arrived the third day and insisted that he should go with her ,so that she could take care of him.

Ramprasad held his daughter’s hand in his own,and started sobbing.He was feeling guilty why he refused to give money to his daughter?

Lateral Thinking 

 Many years ago in a small Indian village,A farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The Moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer’s beautiful Daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer’s debt if he could marry his Daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the Proposal.

So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black Pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven.

2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven.

3) But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into Jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer’s field. As They talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he Picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two Black pebbles and put them into the bag.

He then asked the girl to pick A pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have Done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you Have told her?

Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag And expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order To save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with The hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral And logical thinking.

The girl’s dilemma cannot be solved with Traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses The above logical answers.

What would you recommend to the Girl to do?

Try to answer before scrolling down.

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Well, here is what she did ….

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without Looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path Where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

“Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the Bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I Picked.”

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had Picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his Dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into An extremely advantageous one.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don’t attempt to think.