The Hare and the Tortoise

If you're wondering, I'm going to tell Aesop's fable in this blog, you're not wrong. Today I retell the same story with a few twists. Here's the spoiler...nobody loses in this version.

Once upon a time, there lived a hare. Hare was very proud of his running skills. He would like to race with someone from time to time. And every time, it was him who would win. Once, he asked the tortoise to a race. A tortoise was the slowest in the town and the hare was very sure of his victory. The tortoise agreed. The route was chosen. Mountaintop. Race started.

In what was expected, the hare dashed and the tortoise dragged his feet. After almost crossing half the distance, the hare noticed that the tortoise was far behind and that he would need a miracle in order to catch up. Hare was tired, he thought he could rest for a while. A short nap wouldn't harm him. And he went into a deep sleep. The tortoise was moving...slowly but steadily. He reached near hare and saw him sleeping. The pompous hare was not moving. The tortoise kept going. As the day faded into evening, the hare awoke. He was shocked to see the tortoise so close to the finish line, so he immediately started running. It was too late; the tortoise won. The tortoise was very happy and the hare was very shocked. This was the first time he lost.

So "slow and steady win the race" ...wait a minute. Our story does not end here.

Hare was not a quitter. When hare thought about what went wrong, it didn't take long to realize that it was that unnecessary nap that kept the hare behind. It was underestimating the opponent that caused him to think that nap wouldn't hurt. It was the overconfidence that made hare underestimate the tortoise. Hare started working on his shortcomings. From now on, he wouldn't take a nap while racing. With every race, he kept up the spirit of sportsmanship and respected his opponents.

He challenged the tortoise again. It was a different hare this time. He was respectful and not arrogant towards the tortoise. They raced along the same route, and this time the hare won.

So "do not quit" is the mantra ...wait a minute. Our story does not end here.

The tortoise was not a quitter either. He started reflecting. Tortoise accepted it

could never run faster than the hare, which means like this he could never win a race with the hare. Changing strategies is the only way to win for the tortoise. So tortoise made a plan.

This time, the tortoise challenged the hare to a race under the condition that the tortoise chooses the route. Hare agreed. As a result, a temple across the river was chosen as the finish line. Hare showed great spirit and started the race. As expected hare started sprinting and as usual, the tortoise started following him. For some time hare was running and running and running. But all of a sudden he stopped with his eyes wide open. There was a river in front of him. Hare can not swim, now what? Hare started thinking. Quitting is not an option. In fact, the only option Hare had was to take a longer way that would wind the mountain and then reach the temple. So he began immediately without waiting.

Meanwhile, the tortoise reached the river, jumped into it, and began swimming. In the same way that the hare was good at running, the tortoise was good at swimming. The race was now between equals. The tortoise crossed the river and the hare crossed the mountain. Tortoise and hare both were on the way to the temple. At the same time as the tortoise was nearing the temple, the hare appeared and they both reached the finish line at the same time. It was a true victory for both.

After this race, the hare and tortoise became best friends and instead of challenging one another, they started working together.

So what is the moral of this new story? Failure is part of life. Everyone will encounter failure at some point in their lives. Instead of taking them personally, try to learn from failures. The first step to overcoming failure is to admit it and accept it. And then either like the hare, we should try to change our bad habits or change the strategies as the tortoise did.

Remember - Zindagi ki yehi reet hai, har ke baad hi jeet hai!

That means - this is the way of life, you can see victory only after you see defeat.