The Dog’s curly tail

This is a famous story, an extract from the Complete works of Swami Vivekanada

There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost. He went about searching for a man who would give him a ghost, and at last he found a sage with great powers, and besought his help. The sage asked him what he would do with a ghost. I want a ghost to work for me; teach me how to get hold of one, sir; I desire it very much," replied the man.

But the sage said, "Don't disturb yourself, go home." The next day the man went again to the sage and began to weep and pray, "Give me a ghost; I must have a ghost, sir, to help me."
At last the sage was disgusted, and said, "Take this charm, repeat this magic word, and a ghost will come, and whatever you say to him he will do. But beware; they are terrible beings, and must be kept continually busy. If you fail to give him work, he will take your life."

The man replied, "That is easy; I can give him work for all his life." Then he went to a forest, and after long repetition of the magic word, a huge ghost appeared before him, and said, "I am a ghost. I have been conquered by your magic; but you must keep me constantly employed. The moment you fail to give me work I will kill you."

The man said, "Build me a palace," and the ghost said, "It is done; the palace is built." "Bring me money," said the man. "Here is your money," said the ghost. "Cut this forest down, and build a city in its place." "That is done," said the ghost, "anything more?" Now the man began to be frightened and thought he could give him nothing more to do; he did everything in a trice.

The ghost said, "Give me something to do or I will eat you up." The poor man could find no further occupation for him, and was frightened. So he ran and ran and at last reached the sage, and said, "Oh, sir, protect my life!" The sage asked him what the matter was, and the man replied, "I have nothing to give the ghost to do.

Everything I tell him to do he does in a moment, and he threatens to eat me up if I do not give him work." Just then the ghost arrived, saying, "I'll eat you up," and he would have swallowed the man.
The man began to shake, and begged the sage to save his life. The sage said, "I will find you a way out. Look at that dog with a curly tail. Draw your sword quickly and cut the tail off and give it to the ghost to straighten out." The man cut off the dog's tail and gave it to the ghost, saying, "Straighten that out for me." The ghost took it and slowly and carefully straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it instantly curled up again.

Once more he laboriously straightened it out, only to find it again curled up as soon as he attempted to let go of it. Again he patiently straightened it out, but as soon as he let it go, it curled up again.

So he went on for days and days, until he was exhausted and said, "I was never in such trouble before in my life. I am an old veteran ghost, but never before was I in such trouble." "I will make a compromise with you ;" he said to the man, "you let me off and I will let you keep all I have given you and will promise not to harm you." The man was much pleased, and accepted the offer gladly.
This world is like a dog's curly tail, and people have been striving to straighten it out for hundreds of years; but when they let it go, it has curled up again. How could it be otherwise?

WE HELP OURSELVES, NOT THE WORLD

The Trench digger

Read this story recently, thought would share it.

An elderly couple retired to the countryside - to a small isolated cottage overlooking some rugged and rocky heathland.

One early morning the woman saw from her window a young man dressed in working clothes walking on the heath, about a hundred yards away. He was carrying a spade and a small case, and he disappeared from view behind a copse of trees.

The woman thought no more about it but around the same time the next day she saw the man again, carrying his spade and a small case, and again he disappeared behind the copse.
The woman mentioned this to her husband, who said he was probably a farmer or gamekeeper setting traps, or performing some other country practice that would be perfectly normal, and so not to worry.

However after several more sightings of the young man with the spade over the next two weeks the woman persuaded her husband to take a stroll - early, before the man tended to arrive - to the copse of trees to investigate what he was doing.

There they found a surprisingly long and deep trench, rough and uneven at one end, becoming much neater and tidier towards the other end.

"How strange," the old lady said, "Why dig a trench here - and in such difficult rocky ground?" and her husband agreed.

Just then the young man appeared - earlier than his usual time.

"You're early," said the old woman, making light of their obvious curiosity, "We wondered what you were doing - and we also wondered what was in the case."

"I'm digging a trench," said the man, who continued, realising a bigger explanation was appropriate, "I'm actually learning how to dig a good trench, because the job I'm being interviewed for later today says that experience is essential - so I'm getting the experience. And the case - it's got my lunch in it."

He got the job.

Why we disagree

I would like to share the extracts from Swami Vivekananda's inspiring speech on "Why we disagree" at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago. It goes as follows :

I will tell you a little story. You have heard the eloquent speaker who has just finished say, "Let us cease from abusing each other", and he was very sorry that there should be always so much variance.

But I think I should tell you a story which would illustrate the cause of this variance.

A frog lived in a well. It had lived there for a long time. It was born there and brought up there, and yet was a little, small frog. Of course the evolutionists were not there then to tell us whether the frog lost its eyes or not, but, for our story's sake, we must take it for granted that it had its eyes, and that it every day cleansed the water of all the worms and bacilli that lived in it eith an energy that would do credit to our modern bacteriologists.

In this way it went on and became a little sleek and fat. Well, one day another frog that lived in the sea came and fell into the well. "Where are you from?" "I am from the sea." "The sea! How big is that? Is it as big as my well?" and he took a leap from one side of the well to the other. "My friend", said the frog of the sea, "how do you compare the sea with your little well?" Then the frog took another leap and asked, "Is your sea so big?" "What nonsense you speak, to compare the sea with your well" "Well, then," said the frog of the well, "nothing can be bigger than my well; there can be nothing bigger than this; this fellow is a liar, so turn him out."

That has been the difficulty all the while.

A few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, sources in different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

To read the entire speech click here.

Delegating work... 5 must-avoids ...

I would like to share an article I read long back in rediff.



Distributing work is never easy. Taking on a new job generally finds few takers, especially if the task is demanding and the time available is short.

Not surprisingly, we often run into problems while allocating work. Ranging from a simple goof-up by a colleague to ultimately having to do things yourself in order to get it done correctly and on time, we have all experienced the perils of delegation.

However, delegation need not always be such a thankless task. In principle, delegation actually makes great sense. Working in a team where you can delegate clearly and people understand their roles well can help any task get done efficiently and effectively.

Though people do try to delegate smartly, it often becomes difficult to do so. As usual, this can be analysed down to a simple list of easily avoidable mistakes. These include:


1. Not defining a clear 'follow-up and finish' schedule:


Delegating a task is only the beginning; you need to keep track of it until it is executed.
"To do this well, we need to ask ourselves three simple questions," says Pune-based corporate trainer Asha Chander, who conducts regular sessions on time management.
When and how frequently should I do a status check?What is the end date for the task?What are the parameters against which I will assess the work to see if it has been satisfactorily done?

2. Dictating, not delegating:

Those used to running the show by themselves often end up micromanaging when they delegate to others. The best way to assess the degree of handholding required is by matching the person with the task. As a general rule the lesser the experience, the more explicit the delegation. It also makes sense to monitor things closely if the situation is changing rapidly.

3. Delegating to the wrong person:

More importance is given to who the task is being delegated too rather than what is being delegated.
"That means if you follow the wrong path, your tasks might become low priority, even though they may have a high business impact. Conversely, if you go through the right people, or have the right person forwarding your request, things get done in a jiffy," says Sankule.

"You also need to be careful to delegate to someone who is your equal or junior to you in the hierarchy. If you send it to someone higher, even unknowingly, chances are they will consider it an affront. "

4. Delegating what you can eliminate:

As a thumb rule, you should follow the 'eliminate, automate, delegate sequence' for routine tasks.
Even if the task is mundane and boring, it's good to give credit to your team members and encourage them for even small improvements.

5. Playing passing the parcel (sub-delegating and cross-delegating unnecessarily)

The party game Passing The Parcel gives an interesting insight into the practice of delegation.Sometimes, a hot issue in a company is treated in a similar manner. It just gets passed around, until the senior management steps in. In the meanwhile, the matter is needlessly degated from A to B and onwards because nobody wants to be holding this particular 'parcel' when the 'music stops'.

Honestly, in some situations, such a situation is unavoidable. But if you really care about adding value, it helps to stop the unnecessary rounds. Speaking up will result temporary unpopularity but, in the long run, if you are at the right place, it will be much appreciated.

As you move higher and the scope of work you handle grows, delegating will become even more importance. Understanding these don'ts will go a long way in helping you master this skill.

Summing up, Mascerenhas adds, "The corporate hierarchy is like a game of Snakes And Ladders. Except here, instead of rolling the dice, it's the phone number that you dial (to delegate) that makes the difference and decides how you will grow."

To read the article click here

Tale about Buddha

This short story illustrates that every one of us has the choice whether or not to take personal offence from another person's behaviour.

It is said that on an occasion when the Buddha was teaching a group of people, he found himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of abuse from a bystander, who was for some reason very angry.

The Buddha listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage, and then the Buddha said to the group and to the stranger, "If someone gives a gift to another person, who then chooses to decline it, tell me, who would then own the gift? The giver or the person who refuses to accept the gift?"

"The giver," said the group after a little thought. "Any fool can see that," added the angry stranger.

"Then it follows, does it not," said the Buddha, "Whenever a person tries to abuse us, or to unload their anger on us, we can each choose to decline or to accept the abuse; whether to make it ours or not.

By our personal response, we can choose who owns and keeps the bad feelings."