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Other Side Of Hare And Tortoise Story

Discussion in 'Stories (Fiction)' started by Janakinarne, Apr 19, 2021.

  1. Janakinarne

    Janakinarne Gold IL'ite

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    Actually, everyone throughout the world has kept giving the example of Tortoise.... saying that slow and steady wins the race and emphasising the value of persistence and dedication...

    Well ! No one has ever bothered to ask the Hare his side of the story, so let me tell you the story from a different point of view…

    I met the Hare and sat down with him for a heart to heart talk.

    This is what he had to say after we spent the better part of a balmy summer afternoon getting to know one other.

    It was a wonderful experience, believe me..

    “Yes, I am the hare who lost.

    No, I did not get lazy or complacent.

    Let me explain.

    I was hopping over the meadows near the hills and looked back to realize that the tortoise was nowhere to be seen.

    Assured of my healthy lead, I decided to take a short nap under the large banyan tree near the pond.

    The anticipation of the race had kept me up all night.

    For days, that old silly tortoise had boasted about his ability to plod for hundreds of miles without stopping.

    Life is a marathon, he said, not a sprint.I wanted to show him that I could run both far and fast.

    The shade of the tree was like an umbrella.

    I found an almost oval rock, covered it with grass, and turned it into a makeshift pillow.

    I could hear the leaves rustling and the bees buzzing – it felt they were collaborating and even conspiring to put me to sleep.

    And it didn’t take them long to succeed.

    I saw myself drifting on a log in a beautiful stream of water.

    As I came near the shore, I found an old man, with a flowing beard, sitting on a rock in a meditative pose. He opened his eyes, gave me an all-knowing smile, and asked:

    “Who are you?”

    “I am a hare. I am running a race.”

    “Why?”

    “To prove to all the creatures in the jungle that I am the fastest.”

    “Why do you want to prove that you are the fastest?”

    “So that I get a medal which will give me status which will give me money which will get me food…”

    “There is already so much food around.” He pointed to the forest in the distance. “Look at all those trees laden with fruits and nuts, all those leafy branches”

    “I also want respect. I want to be remembered as the fastest hare who ever lived.”

    “Do you know the name of the fastest deer or the largest elephant or the strongest lion who lived a thousand years before you?”

    “No.”

    “Today you have been challenged by a tortoise.

    Tomorrow, it will be a snake.

    Then it will be a zebra.

    Will you keep racing all your life to prove that you are the fastest?”

    “Hmm. I didn’t think about it.

    I don’t want to race all my life.”

    “What do you want to do?”

    “I want to sleep under a banyan tree on a makeshift pillow while the leaves rustle and the bees buzz.

    I want to hop over the meadows near the hills and swim in the pond.”

    “You can do all these things this very moment.

    Forget the race.

    You are here today but you will be gone tomorrow.”

    I woke up from my sleep.

    The ducks in the pond looked happy.

    I jumped into the pond, startling them for a moment.

    They looked at me quizzically.

    “Weren’t you supposed to be racing with the tortoise today?”

    “It’s pointless.

    An exercise in futility.

    All I want is to be here.

    Hopefully, someday, someone will tell the world my story ,

    That I lost the race but got back my life!!
     
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  2. GregoriaBoul

    GregoriaBoul Silver IL'ite

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    This is an interesting read, thank you for sharing.
     
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  3. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    Race is unnecessary in this rat race universe. All are in race to attain something unattainable and for a better future tomorrow every today and every present moment lost.
    But in one corner the same rabbit and tortoise met and they got to cross the river. Tortoise just exhorted is friend rabbit about team spirit and team work. So the rabbit willingly sat over tortouse and proceeded across the pool and reached their goal together. A win win situation.
    Thanks and Regards.
     
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  4. anika987

    anika987 IL Hall of Fame

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    Superb thread..
     
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  5. Hopikrishnan

    Hopikrishnan Platinum IL'ite

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    I know this guy. Runs Ashram in Koimbatore, and l believe he likes motorcycles. He had even raced....
    [​IMG]
     
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  6. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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  7. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Crow vada ,the lion and the dog and many stories have undergone total metamorphosis.






    The world is undergoing lot of changes and many things acquire new dimension in life.
    It was the year 2003.
    My son was doing his Executive MBA in Stanford.A few days after joining I asked him what they teach in Stanford.Pat came the reply'Fox and the Grapes' Story.I was totally astonished.
    It was a long conversation.I reproduce whatever I remember.
    Friends, haven’t we all heard this story before? This story was always told and quoted to convey that the fox was negative minded. We blindly agreed with the negative connotation and laughed derisively at the fox and called him a loser! This is an old attitude.

    Now they have started seeing the fox in a new light.

    If each one of us gave undue importance to our every missed goal or opportunity, then don’t you think our life gets too burdensome and doesn’t it rob us of our enthusiasm to live life to its fullest? And doesn’t it blind us with pessimism? Especially in today’s times, when the competition is stiff everywhere, everyone faces failure and rejection at some point or the other. It is a fact. We have to understand that everything we do teaches us something new irrespective of whether we succeed or fail.This is experience and it is invaluable.To dream, to strive and to struggle is the way of life. Simply accept it and remember the quote, “Failure is the stepping stone to success.”

    So it is time to change our paradigm and admire this fox’s attitude in a new light. What an attitude he has to pacify his disappointed soul! Yes, I think this much-maligned animal is a great attitude Guru for today’s times. He gives us the message not to cry, get disheartened or wallow in self-pity. This guy tells us to change our thinking process, give our best shot and if we are still unsuccessful, shrug off the disappointment, move on and spot the other opportunities!


    'The Great Attitude Guru '

    Don’t you now see this fox as a flexible guy on the move, a guy who doesn’t believe in crying over the spilt milk, a great guy with loads of optimism and a guy who has the courage to face disappointment with a great attitude?

    I think this is the right attitude for the present time. What do you say?
    2.Another argument:-

    Now, had he said to himself something like - well I can't reach THOSE grapes so I will do something constructive and go look for some other grapes or maybe a nice long drink of water from a brook - THAT would be a positive attitude.

    Otherwise its just like the drunk guy in a bar who yells and insults at the girl who just turned down his drunken advances. It's a bad attitude. It may not be his fault that he couldn't reach his goal - but its not the fault of the grapes, either. Insulting them may give the fox some sort of grim, temporary satisfaction, but its not a productive or positive attitude.
    The first argument however lifts the spirit of someone who faces dejection.In Indian context, it reminds me of girl viewing ceremony-boys coming after one another, rejecting her under the pretext of colour,complexion, qualification or mismatch of horoscope.Even in these modern days, such things definitely continue.The girl/the girls' parents are placed in the same situation as that of the fox.
    The girl says, 'He is not that great..Perhaps better groom is in store for me."Whether it is a consolation or compromise, the losing side has nothing else to do.

    Edison with his experiment reported to have failed thousand times before he could successfully get the incandescent bulb burning bright. When asked why he did not feel frustrated after numerous failures, he quickly responded that the last experiment taught him about the 999 mistakes.

    The greatest philosophers say - the greatest glory is not in never falling but in raising every time one falls.

    I think the top most management institutions have their attention shifted to Aesop's tales and panchatantra Stories.
    In MBA terms, the fox meeting with failure dismisses the claim that the grapes were not the ones he wanted and the insignificance gets attached to the non achievable goal.
    The inquisitiveness to earn or attain something important transforms the fellow to be creative and look for other alternatives.On every failure an assumption is created about the NON_UTILITARIAN aspect of the unattainable.


    See,
    the MBA language!The UTILITARIAN VALUE,PREFERENCE CHANGES ,SOCIAL CHOICE etc etc are brought into the simple story of Fox and The Grapes.
    The tenacity of the story bears the moral view that the desires of the people changes with the changes in their whims.
    The story seems to give a platform for analysing ATTITUDE,its role on DECISION MAKING and TRANSFORMATION IN CLASSICAL SITUATIONS .
    The story seems to reveal the practical significance of RATIONALIZATION on the basis of POSSIBILITY.
    I was wondering whether the fox would have dreamt of becoming the centre of discussion in an institution that is in the top list of renouned institutions.
    In grandma's language," whether the fox's hunger was satiated or not,it could raise its collar and say proudly that it has become a subject matter of study in STANFORD.
    Is it not a credit?Every one is after name and fame. Why not the fox?It could even be be awarded MBA degree.

    jayasala42
     
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  8. Janakinarne

    Janakinarne Gold IL'ite

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    I don’t think race is unnecessary there should be a race in our life’s then onl we wake up every day with some hope and sleeps happily that we achieved something or atleast we tried to reach the goal,win or failure is another story ..but we should know the importance of race in life and fir wat we are running,and should satisfy ourselves at some point ..running running running never give any satisfaction and als vice versa
     
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  9. Janakinarne

    Janakinarne Gold IL'ite

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    Ha ha finally we found that old man who is behind these race’s
     
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  10. Janakinarne

    Janakinarne Gold IL'ite

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