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 -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)

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6 COMBINED CONCLUSION
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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 the end 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 the employees 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 if you 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 away without 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, wealth and 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 an ugly 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 the Lion 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, then tortoise 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 his daughters 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 and insisted 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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