Last Monday was the International Women's Day. Times of India quizzed successful women of stories that inspired them. While most wrote trite stuff, there were two stories I liked enough to share with the IIIT brethren.
Solomon king of Jewish kingdom in Jeruselum wanted to play a cruel joke on his minister. He asked him to find a ring which will give happiness to a sad person and sorrow to a happy person. The king knew there is no such ring. He gave the minister 6 months to find or face grave consequences. The minister tried a lot in vain. As the deadline approached, he was getting worried. When he was roaming in the Jeruselum Bazaar, he came across a merchant selling rings. He asked if the merchant had a ring the king was asking for. The merchant thought for a moment and then picked up a ring and engraved some thing on that. He said read the engraving and then wear the ring. It will help you to get the desired effect. The minister read the engraving and wore the ring. The frown vanished from his face and a smile appeared. He knew the that the ring is doing the trick. The bought the ring and presented it to the King. The King laughed and warned the minister not to play any tricks. The minister told him to read the engraving and then wear the ring. The king did that and the smile vanished and a frown appeared on his face. The engraving read This Too Shall Pass.
This was story which inspired Rajashree Birla, Scion to Aditya Birla. In most difficult moments of her life, the story had give her inspiration to overcome those moments
One more story:
A lot of animals has fallen into a dry well in a jungle. They tried climbing the wall of the well to getout without much success. One frog fell into the well. The frog tried to get out by climbing the wall. The other animal kept telling the frog about the futility of his action. The frog kept of climbing. The animal kept shouting at the frog to stop trying. The frog kept trying. To the amazement of the animals, the frog scaled the wall of the well. The animal asked the frog how he managed this impossible task. The frog did not answer. The animals kept asking but the frog did not answer. Then, the animals realized that the frog was Deaf.
This story was told by Vidya Balan.
Even though I am personally against any form of reservation, I was happy to see that the women's reservation was passed by the Rajya Sabha abeit not without some Drama.
