SHORT STORY: SWAN AND THE CROW: FALSE PRIDE

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Once upon a time a rich merchant lived in a city located near the sea coast. He had two sons who had domesticated a crow. They regularly used to feed the crow with the leftovers in their own plates. The crow had thus partied now for sometime on the tasty and nourishing food that he got from his masters, and with that he had grown fat. And, because of the royal treatment that he got from his masters he had also become arrogant and had started considering himself class above the other superior birds in the ilk and often used to insult them.

    One day near the sea coast some swans landed, perhaps they were coming from a long distance and wanted to rest. The sons of the merchant, who happened to be there, couldn’t help but praise those beautiful swans; but, the crow could not bear this. And in anger he went up to the swans and to the one who appeared to be their head and said—‘I want to have a flying competition with you.’

    The swans tried explaining—‘brother! We are long distance fliers. Our home is in Mansarovar and it is quite far off. By competing with us what will you achieve? And can you fly with swans?’

        The crow with an arrogant gesture said—‘I know many ways of flying and I can fly at various speeds and each speed I can maintain for hundred yojans (miles)—so tell me if you have  the guts to take me on? And at what speed you want to fly—dear Swan?’

    The head swan politely said—‘Dear crow! I must say you are very talented. But I know of only one speed—that is my speed and I’ll fly in that speed only.’

    Upon hearing the meek answer of the Swan the arrogance in crow increased manifold. He said—‘Fine, you fly the way you can.’

    By then some birds had also arrived there to witness the competition. Soon both swan and the crow flew towards the sea. The arrogant crow just to show off started performing acrobatics above the sea and with full strength he flew ahead of the swan. But the swan was cruising at his optimum speed. Seeing the swan trailing the crows that had gathered there appeared happy.

    But after a little while the crow started tiring. He started looking here and there for islands with trees and shrubs where he could rest. But he was unable to see anything else than the deep sea. In the meanwhile the swan surged ahead of the crow. By now the speed of the crow had dropped. He was extremely tired and was about to fall into the deep sea that had various types of mammals and fishes that were waiting to swallow him up.

    When the swan realized the crow was left behind he turned around, and decided to return. He came up to the crow and asked—‘brother your beak and wings are touching the waves of the sea as if in a rhythm. So which is this speed of yours?'

    Upon hearing the sarcasm, the crow in a humble tone said—‘Dear Swan! We crows only know to caw-caw, and not how to fly long distances. I have paid the penalty for my stupidity. Kindly, therefore, save my life.’

    The Swam took pity in the half-dead, semi-conscious and drenched crow and decided to help him. He lifted the crow by his legs and loaded him on his back and flew over the sea and dropped him at the same spot from where they had started flying.

    The story conveys the downside of being arrogant and one should not overstate his talent to acquire false pride as it will only land him in trouble.

*****

        

SHORT STORY: LESSON FROM A CRANE

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    A pair of crane used to live in a farmer’s field near a village along with their newly hatched babies. But even before the babies could grow up to fly, the field of the farmer was ready for harvest. This got the cranes worried fearing their nests would now get destroyed.  And, before the farmer cuts the crop they should leave the place and move to a safer place, but unfortunately the babies were unable to fly. The crane told the babies—‘in our absence if any one comes to the field, learn to remember what all he says.’

    One day, when the crane returned home with food for the babies in the evening, they said—‘today the farmer had come. He inspected the fields by walking around it. At one or two places he also halted and kept staring at the field. He was saying to himself that the crop is now fit for harvest. Today I’ll request the villagers to cut my crop.’

    The Crane said—‘you all don’t worry. The crop will not be cut soon. It will be long before it is harvested.’

    After sometime one day when the crane returned in the evening he found the babies nervous. They started saying—‘we should now leave this field immediately. Today the farmer had come again. He was murmuring to himself that the villagers are very selfish. They are not making any arrangements for harvesting my crop. Tomorrow I’ll send my brothers and have the crop harvested.

    The crane, not worried and unconcerned told his babies—‘the crop will not be harvested soon. In a couple of days you will start flying in a proper manner. So there is no reason for any panic.

    Many days had passed. By now the babies of the crane had started flying and were fearless. One day in the evening they started saying—‘this farmer is only scaring us. He had come even today when he started saying, my brothers don’t listen to me and all of them only make excuses. The grains of my crop are drying up and have started falling. Tomorrow morning I will come myself to cut the crop.’

     The crane upon hearing this panicked and said—‘come on! Hurry up! It hasn’t got dark. Let’s fly off to another place that is safer. Tomorrow the crop will definitely be cut.’

    The kids said—‘why will the crop be cut this time. What makes you say that?’

    The crane said—‘till the farmer was depending on villagers and his brothers the hope of crop being cut was not there. People, who leave their tasks for someone else to perform; their tasks never get done. But those who get ready to do it themselves, their jobs, no one can stop from getting it done. If the farmer has decided to cut his crop tomorrow, sure enough he will do it.’

    The crane along with his kids left for another place forthwith.

*****

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHRAVAN

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

REMEMBRANCE

Dear Shravan

This is how we remember you on your 23^rd birthday

Always alive, as if you never went,

On the roll as if never spent,

Days have passed and years have gone by,

But to me it appears,

As if those bygone moments have just commenced.

*

And there from the heaven,

So much to watch,

But nothing to repent,

For soul is intact what if body is spent.

*

But in this game of body and soul,

For me there is so much to repent,

Having lost you to heaven,

And no one knows the extent.

*

There is indeed a difference,

Between the whiz of your soul and the touch of the body,

The touch is no more,

But the whiz is still felt.

*

My days still commence, with your pleasant memories,

That takes me beyond body and soul,

And thanks for your ‘whiz’ that comes each day, my son,

For that keeps me alive; rest I live.

Bless you Shravan.

*****

Article: A PEEP INTO 'UNAFFILIATED RELIGION

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

   

Time has come for epiphany of ‘unaffiliated religion.’ A sizable population of the world today lives without aligning with any religion as you will read in this narration. The question is how? And how do they manage in this simmering world of religious intolerance. We all know religion is good for the essence of life but what about religious intolerance and where does unaffiliated religion fit in. Well no one has ready answers to these question but one can definitely see the changing paradigms.

    Today, radicalism in every religion has increased manifold. There are fringe groups that have formed in almost every religion that shows intolerance towards other religions. But within all of this there are still some spunky people who believe in the charisma of ‘unaffiliated religion.’ The population of ‘unaffiliated religion’ is around 16 % of the world population. The religiously unaffiliated number is 1.1 billion, accounting for about one-in-six (16%) people worldwide. It includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold some religious or spiritual beliefs.

    Apart from unaffiliated religion there is also Irreligion which is the absence of religion, indifference towards religion, rejection of religion or even hostility towards religion. When termed as the rejection of religious belief, it engulfs explicit atheism, religious dissidence and secular humanism. And when characterised as hostility towards religion it includes anticlericalism, anti-religion and antitheism.

   

    According to Pew Research Center’s 2012 global study of 230 countries, 16% of the world’s population is not affiliated with any religion, while 84% are affiliated. The interesting fact finding in Pew Research Center’s 2012 global study is: out of the global non-religious population, 76% reside in Asia and the Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (12%), North America (5%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), Sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (less than 1%).

    According to Pew Research Center projections, the population of the non-religious, though temporarily increasing, will ultimately decline significantly by 2050, because of lower reproductive rates and ageing.

    Being non-religious, is not necessarily equivalent to being an atheist or agnostic. Pew Research Center's global study from 2012 noted that many of the non-religious actually have some religious beliefs. For example, they observed that "belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults."

    If we were to analyse it country and zone wise the statistics (pertaining to unaffiliated religion) are even more interesting:

-         Out of a total unaffiliated religious population of around 1.1 billion the ten most populous countries in respective order of population are China 700 million (52% of population), Japan 70 million (57%), USA 50 million (16%), Vietnam 26 million (30%), South Korea 22 million (46%), Germany 20 million (25%), France 18 million (28%), North Korea 17 million (71.3%), Brazil 15 million (7.9%), & U.K. 13 million (21%). This population totals up to 955 million which is 85% of the total population of unaffiliated religion.

-         If we were to take the first ten countries highest by respective order of percentage share of (Unaffiliated religion) population they would be: Czech Republic 8 million (76%), North Korea 17 million (71%), Estonia (Baltic state) 0.8 million (60%), Japan 70 million (57%), Hongkong 0.4 million (56%), China 700 million (52%), South Korea 22 million (46%), Latvia (Baltic states) 1 million (44%), Netherlands 7 million (42%), Uruguay 1.4 million (41%). They comprise of 834 million which is 74% of their population.

-             There are six countries where the religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of their population: the Czech Republic (76%), North Korea (71%), Estonia (60%), Japan (57%), Hong Kong (56%) and China (52%).

-             The religiously unaffiliated are heavily concentrated in Asia and the Pacific, where more than three-quarters (76%) of the world’s unaffiliated population resides. The remainder is in Europe (12%), North America (5%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (less than 1%).

-             Although a majority of the religiously unaffiliated live in Asia and the Pacific, only about one-in-five people (21%) in that region are unaffiliated. More than one-in-six people in Europe (18%) and North America (17%) are religiously unaffiliated. The unaffiliated make up smaller shares in the remaining regions. For instance, less than 1% of those who live in the Middle East-North Africa region are unaffiliated.

-             More than six-in-ten (62%) of all religiously unaffiliated people live in one country, China.¹¹ The largest populations of the religiously unaffiliated outside China are in Japan (6% of all unaffiliated), the United States (5%), Vietnam (2%) and Russia (2%).

-         The population of unaffiliated religion in India is only 0.87 million which is 0.07% of the entire population of the country.

-         But there is a definite co-relation between the system of governance, ethos of live and religious fundamentalism and unaffiliated religion. For example take communist countries like China & North Korea where you will find the population of this community to be around 717 million which is about 64% of the entire population of unaffiliated religion. This is because of the regimentation of mindset that has forced people to stay non-aligned. If you take Islamic states, you will find the percentage of unaffiliated religion to be low because of religious fundamentalism.

    Median Age

    Globally, the religiously unaffiliated are older (median age of 34) than the overall global population (median age of 28). Among the five regions for which data are available, sub- Saharan Africa has the youngest population of religiously unaffiliated people (median age of 20), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (26), North America (31) and Asia and the Pacific (35). Europe has the oldest unaffiliated population, with a median age of 37.

*****

  

       

   

   

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Short story: The king and the gardener

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Nausherwan the king of Faras was famous for his judicial acumen. He was a big philanthropist too. One day he set out with his ministers to go around the city to ascertain what all was happening. While going around he saw an old gardener in an orchard busy planting walnut saplings. The king entered the orchard and went up to him. He asked—‘are you a servant here or this is your own orchard?’

    The gardener replied—‘My Lord I don’t serve anymore. This orchard was planted by my forefathers, so it belongs to me.’

    The king said—‘you are planting these walnut saplings. But do you even know it takes twenty years for it to flower and bear fruits. Do you think you’ll live for twenty years to eat the fruits?’

    The gardener heard the king dutifully and then politely said--‘My Lord, till now I had so many fruits from trees planted by others. Now it is my duty to plant trees for others. It will be extremely selfish on my part if I plant trees that only bear fruits for me.’

    The king was extremely happy with the reply the old gardener had given and as a reward he gave him two asharfees (gold coins).

    Moral of the story: One must continuously think of others as others have thought about us.

*****

      

           

    

Short story: RESULT OF KINDNESS

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Subuktigin was a poor man before he became a king. An ordinary soldier he was. One day he took his gun and sat on his horse and went for a shikar (hunt) in the jungle. That day he was quite unlucky, he travelled a long distance for the shikar but as ill luck would have it he did not come across any animal. After travelling a long distance he spotted a deer with her small baby. Subuktigin started following the two.

    Scared, the deer ran and hid herself behind the bushes; but her baby was left behind. Subuktigin caught hold of the baby and after tying its legs he loaded it on to his horse. And when after an intensive search he could not find the deer he returned with the baby.

        When the deer saw her baby being taken away by the cruel shikari, she couldn’t resist and came out of the bushes and started following Subuktigin. After travelling a distance when Subuktigin turned around he was surprised to see the deer following him. He was shocked at the sight and felt merciful towards the deer. He decided to untie the legs of the baby and let it go. Mother deer was extremely happy to meet her baby once again and in a flash of a moment she disappeared with her baby.

    That day after returning home when Subuktigin slept he got a dream. Where, one angel was telling him—‘Subuktigin! The way you showed mercy on the poor deer was amazing. This has made God happy and therefore he has included your name in the list of would be kings. One day you will surely be a king.’

    Subuktigin’s dream came true. He later in life became a king. Showing mercy on a deer earned him this reward. People who show mercy on animals are appreciated by God.

***

            

short story: MONGOOSE AND THE LADY

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    A farmer had a mongoose as a pet in his house. The mongoose was very clever and loyal to his master. One day the farmer had gone out on business. And his wife after feeding the baby and putting him off to sleep left for the nearby well to fill water in her pitcher. She was relaxed as the mongoose was to there to guard the baby.

    After she left for the well a black snake came out from the nearby hole, close to where the baby was sleeping on the floor. The snake started inching towards the infant. On seeing this, the mongoose pounced on the snake to attack him. In the fight that ensued, the mongoose tore the snake into pieces and killed it. He then went to the main door of the house and started waiting for the farmer’s wife.

    The farmer’s wife soon returned after filling her pitcher when she saw the mongoose lying near the doorstep. But on seeing blood in his mouth she thought he had bitten her baby. She felt saddened and angry for a moment. And then in a fit of rage she through the heavy pitcher full of water on the mongoose. Poor mongoose could not withstand the impact of the loaded pitcher and died on the spot.

    Farmer’s wife ran inside in panic but only to find that her baby was peacefully sleeping, but close by, a dead snake was lying that was killed by the mongoose. The lady realised her mistake. She ran towards the dead mongoose and held it in her arms and started weeping. But by then it was too late. And that is why it is said:

    One should not act without ascertaining facts, and if you do so you’ll only mess up things and be laughed at by the world.

***

Only a skilled nation can create national wealth

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

50% of the world’s wealth remains with 4-5 countries

    “National wealth” refers to the total value of wealth possessed by the citizens of a nation at a set point in time. That is, the total value of wealth and goods generated by all economic activity in a particular nation.

    It is also referred as the national (net) wealth, or the national net worth, or even the gross national wealth (GNW); summing up to the total national wealth and is the total sum value of wealth possessed by the citizens of a nation at a set point of time.

    This figure of national wealth is an important indicator of a nation’s ability to take on debt and sustain spending and is influenced by not only real estate prices, but also by the stock market, human resources, technological advancements which may create new assets or render other worthless, and it also steered by the national infrastructure and exchange rates. For value creation optimum skill levels are a must for any nation and therefore skill building is an important ingredient required to augment national wealth.

    The most significant component by far among most developed nations is commonly reported as household net wealth or worth, and also reflects infrastructure investment. National wealth can fluctuate, as evidenced in the US data (to follow) following the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent recovery.

    There are 196 countries in the world today. If we compare the national wealth figures of the first 30 major countries we will come across an interesting paradigm as below:

    ANALYSIS

-               The world’s wealth has grown from 117,225 billion USD in 2000 to 171,577 in 2005, up to 216,374 in 2010 and to 250,145 in 2015. This is a cumulative growth of 113% over the last 15 years and an average annual growth rate of 7.5%.

-               USA remains the richest in terms of national wealth and also a consistent performer since 2000 to 2015. In 2000 it had a national wealth of 42,941 billion USD which has grown to 85,901 billion USD in 2015. This is a cumulative growth of 100% over 15 years and an average annual growth rate of 6.67%.

-           The national wealth of the US in 2000 was 42,941 billion USD, a little more than the national wealth of Japan, UK, Germany, Italy and China, put together.

-           The national wealth of the US in 2005 was 59,664 billion USD, a little more than the national wealth of Japan, UK, France, Italy and Germany, put together.

-           The national wealth of the US in 2010 declined from 59,664 billion USD by 4.27% to 57114 on account of the economic crisis, but it still remained more than the combined national wealth of countries such as Japan, China and France, put together. China by 2010 had become a major skill development country and thereby started generating wealth. It would not be wrong to say that 50% of the wealth of the world is controlled by only four or five countries.

-           By 2015 the national wealth of the US had increased to 85,901 billion USD, a little more than the combined wealth of four economic super powers such as China, Japan, UK, France and Germany.

-           China’s policy of underscoring on skill development under the banner of human resources gave encouraging results when its national wealth from 4664 billion USD in 2000 went up to 8674 in 2005 and to 17505 in 2010 and finally to 22817 in 2015. And from 6^th position in 2000 it has jumped to 2^nd position in 2015 in terms of national wealth.

-           India on the contrary from 14^th position out of 196 countries in 2000 jumped marginally to 12^th position in 2005 and to 11^th position in 2010, but slumped back to 14^th position in 2015. Its national wealth was 1163 billion USD in 2000, 2142 billion USD in 2005, 3788 billion USD in 2010, and 3447 billion USD in 2015. It has cumulatively grown by 196% with an average growth rate of 13%. But it is not enough when we compare it with world standards and our political establishment needs to understand this. India requires wide spread skill development if it wants to grow its national wealth. A lesson we need to learn from China where there is no opposition when it comes to policies affecting national wealth.

-           50% of the world’s wealth in the year 2000 was with super economic powers such as the USA, Japan and the UK. This changed somewhat in 2010 where 50% of the world’s wealth was held by the USA, Japan, UK and France, and this further changed in 2010 when 50% of the wealth of the world was held by USA, Japan, China (China replaced UK) and France. In 2015 the scenario further changed when China jumped to the second position next to the US leaving behind Japan to a close third.

-           Canada with 35 only million people has maintained a steady 8^th position in the world. In 2000 it had a national wealth of 2,469 billion USD. This rose to 4277 in 2005, to 6212 in 2010 and finally to 6872 in 2015. Its cumulative growth in 15 years has been 178% with an average growth rate of 11.88%. But it has failed to take a quantum leap because it doesn’t have great reserve of skill bank which it is largely importing from other countries now. It also has a huge geographical territory and it remains to be seen how in times to come it will manage its assets with such a meagre population.

-           South Korea has turned into another industrial giant by lifting its skill levels. It rose from the 16^th position where it had a national wealth of 1089 billion USD in 2000, to 2149 billion USD in 2005 at 11^th position. But it slumped back to 14^th position in 2010 even when it increased its national wealth to 2791 billion USD. But in 2015 it jumped to 12^th spot with a national wealth of 3545 billion USD.

-           Greece a typical example with its economic crisis has crashed to the 30^th spot in 2015 with 743 billion USD from the 23^rd spot in 2000 with a national wealth of 493 billion USD.

-           Russia with the roots of once a super power has stagnated from 315 in 2000 to 1284  USD billion in 2015 but has gone up notches from 30^th to 23^rd position.

    The point to essence—mere size of population doesn’t increase national wealth. One has to individually create it for the nation. And you can create, only if you have the skill. The US remains the leader in this field with a population of 310 million people which is less than one third of the population of India. Even Canada with only 35 million people generates more revenue than India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is by far on track by underscoring on skill development in India.

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Short story: TWO PONIES

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

   Once upon a time there was a trader who had two ponies. He often used to load his ponies with grocery, to sell them in the nearby villages located in the hills. Once, it so happened, that one of his pony fell sick, but the trader did not come to know of it. He wanted to carry salt, jaggery, pulses and rice to the nearby villages to sell. So, he loaded both the ponies equally and started off in his mission.

    But while negotiating the uneven hilly terrain the sick pony was having problems. They halted for a breather is when he said to his fellow pony—‘today I’m not feeling well. I’ll drop one of the bags loaded on me, so you keep standing here. When our owner notices that he might load it on you. But if you move ahead the owner will load it back on me. In this manner my load will get reduced and I will be able to come along with you.’

    But the other pony said—‘why should I take your load? As if I have lesser load on my back. Sorry, I’ll only carry my share of load.’

    The sick pony kept quiet. But he was feeling extremely sick. And while moving on the hilly track he inadvertently stumbled into a bolder lying on the road and went off the hill and rolled down and finally succumbed to his injuries.

    The trader was shocked at the sudden death of his pony. He stood there for a while not knowing what to do. Then he lifted the bags from the dead pony and loaded them on to the other pony. Now that pony started repenting and thinking—‘had I listened to my fellow pony and taken some extra load he wouldn’t have come across the fatal accident and in turn I wouldn’t have had to carry the entire load on my back.

    Moral of the story: A person who doesn’t help his colleague in danger has to repent.

***

Short story: The farmer and the crane

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

THE FARMER AND THE CRANE

    Once, a diligent farmer was harassed by birds when they started attacking his fields. His fields were located close to the nearby forests that happened to be the habitat of many such varieties of birds. The moment the farmer used to sow the seeds and cover it with sand, these pack of birds used to land on the fields and consume the seeds from under the sand. And the farmer had gone tired trying to keep the birds at bay and was having a harrowing time. A lot of the seeds were eaten away by these birds and that was making his farming uneconomical. At last he had no alternative but to cultivate his land all over again and sow fresh seeds.  

 

    But this time anticipating the same nuisance, he brought along with him a big net and laid the trap of the net over the entire field. Many birds as before came to pick the seeds but got trapped in the net this time. And along with the birds one crane also got stuck in the net.

    When the farmer started catching the birds in the net the crane implored—‘please have mercy on me. I have not put you to any loss nor have I eaten your seeds. I’m neither a hen, nor a sparrow nor any other seed consuming bird. I’m a crane. I only eat insects that are harmful for crops. Therefore please leave me.’   

    Farmer was angry and in his anger he blurted—‘what you say is correct, but today you have been caught along with these birds that have eaten all my seeds. So you are also their friend. And, since you have come with them you also need to face the punishment with them.’

     The moral of the story is: a person is known by the company he keeps. People who are good but stay with bad people are subjected to punishment and disgrace. By accompanying miscreant birds even dutiful crane got trapped and had to pay the price.  

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