The following is a story narrated by the famous Sh G. Narayan, which
serves as a lesson for survival in today's context.
A hare and a tortoise live in Ahmedabad. They are good friends and like
all good friends , sometimes have a dig at each other. One day , in a light
mood the hare ridiculed the tortoise for his slow pace. The tortoise
reacted by challenging the
hare for a race between Paldi to Navarangpura. On the appointed day and
time
the two assemble at the starting line and start the race. The hare dashes
off the start line like a
flash. After crossing the midway mark , he feels that a short nap would do
no
harm. The short nap turned out to be a bit too long. Meanwhile the tortoise
crosses the hare and reaches
the destination. The hare wakes from the slumber, oblivious of the time,
and
dashes off towards the finish.
To his dismay he finds the tortoise having a nap at the finish line.
The moral of the story is "Slow and steady wins the race."
The story does not end here.....
The hare goes home and soon understands that complacency and
overconfidence were the reasons of his defeat. He vows not to repeat the
mistake again. He then invites the tortoise for another race. The tortoise
agrees to his friend's request.
They meet at the appointed day and time at the starting point. The race
starts.
This time the hare dashes off to the finishing line without taking a break
and wins the race comfortably.
The moral of the story is "Fast and steady wins the race".
The story does not end here.....
The tortoise goes home and thinks hard. He was aware that the hare cannot
be defeated in speed. He then ponders over his core competence. At last he
finds a solution and invites
the hare to another race. This time the course is changed. It is from Paldi
to Airport. The hare agrees.
At the appointed day and time the two meet at the start line and the race
begins. The hare dashes off
like a flash. Soon he arrives at the banks of river Sabarmati and is
overwhelmed by a sense of dejection
as he did not know how to swim. The tortoise comes to the bank , looks at
the hare with sympathy and coolly gets into the
water. He swims to the other side goes to the airport and comes back.
The moral of the story is "Core competence wins the race."
But the story does not end here.....
Both the friends decide it was enough of racing against each other. Why
not think hard and find a way by
which they together could travel from Paldi to airport at the minimum
possible time.
At the end of a brain storming session they come out with a solution and
decide to try out the next morning.
At the appointed time they meet at the starting line. The tortoise sits on
the back of the hare. The hare dashes off form
Paldi to the banks of Sabarmati. There the hare gets on the back of the
tortoise and the tortoise swiftly
crosses the river. On reaching the other side the tortoise again sits on
the
back of the hare.
The hare runs as fast as he can to the airport. Thus they both reach
airport in the fastest possible time.
The moral of the story is "Innovation and team work wins the race"
Did you finally get the moral of the story ??? ;-)