Life is going to be tougher, prepare for it.

An Old Story

An old story but worth repeating ----------------

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen

on the quality of their fish and asked

how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that

their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,

and take siestas with our wives.

In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar,

and sing a few songs.

We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted,

"I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!

You should start by fishing longer every day.

You can then sell the extra fish you catch.

With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring,

you can buy a second one and a third one

and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.

Instead of selling your fish to a middle man,

you can then negotiate

directly with the processing plants

and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to   Mexico City , LosAngeles ,

or even   New York City !

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

 "Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years."

replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards ? Well my friend,

that's when it gets really interesting, "

answered the tourist, laughing.

"When your business gets really big,

you can start buying and selling stocks

and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?"

asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire,

live in a tiny village near the coast,

sleep late, play with your children,

catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife

and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is:

....... Know where you're going in life....

you may already be there!!

Life is short, So live to the fullest.

Mail from Papa

Don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

"Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die. .......

One thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? .......

It's ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed devices........."

"Don't be serious, be sincere."

CHEERS