Soft Skills

One fine morning when I was busy with my studies my father came from gym and relaxed himself. After sometime he asked me about something. I was writing my notes and listened to him and replied by looking at my notes.

Subsequently he asked me, “Did you understand to what I said?” I couldn’t express it at all. He told me, “This is not the way to respond when your father was asking you about something.”

My father observed my body language and said that I had to improve my listening skills and advised me to adhere as follows when someone communicates.

• Whenever speaker says something the listener has to maintain eye contact and demonstrate willingness to listen as it encourages the speaker to communicate.
• The listener has to open his mind without any pre-conceived notions. There must be occasional nodding of head when the speaker speaks. As per the content and situation the listener must maintain smile and warmth to appreciate the speaker.
• Not paying attention to the speaker tantamount to disrespect to the speaker.

Finally my father said, “This is nothing but soft skills.” I thanked my father for enlightening me about soft skills.

Choose Your Destiny – Short Story

Once upon a time there were plenty of animals in a desert. The temperatures in the desert shot up alarmingly due to climatically changes. Most of the animals were at the verge of extinction. One of the animals, leopard came up with an idea of shifting to safer place for survival.

Leopard led from front with lot of struggles and carried the rest of the animals. On their way they faced several challenges and they found cactus plants on the way as hurdles. They cleared the cactus plants and moved forward. During the journey the animals were getting restless and tired. Having observed this, the leopard motivated by raising their confidence levels. Finally, they found a suitable place where they found water with wet land. And they settled happily.

The moral of this story is that we face several challenges in our life. We must find suitable solutions to overcome them. The leopard led from front like a real leader and set right direction to others thus ensuring the survival of all animals.

Short Story- Unlock Your Hidden Potential

Once upon a time in a city there was a boy by name Mark. He was a straight forward person. He was studying in graduation. Mark was an average student. He decided to demonstrate his hidden potential when entered into the final year of graduation.

Mark approached his faculties and expressed his desire to participate in debate competition. One of the faculties told Mark, “From the starting of your academic year you have not participated in any debates and events. Now you need a lot of practice and it is very difficult for you to participate.” Mark replied to faculty, “Give me an opportunity. I’ll prove myself” The faculty refused his request.

Mark returned class and thought for a while at his desk. Mark’s classmates laughed at him over his intention to participate in debate competition. Mark ignored them. Mark approached senior faculty member Jack and expressed his desire to participate in debate competition. Jack initially refused. However, Jack was impressed with Mark’s initiative and interest and finally allowed him to participate in the competition.

Mark participated in competition and won second price. Students were surprised with Mark’s amazing performance. Jack was overwhelmed. Students enquired Jack, “Sir, what happened when Mark came to your office?” Jack replied, “Mark expressed his interest to participate in competition and I believed his potential and gave an opportunity. He also added that, “You need to take risk and trust and encourage others in life. That is what I did and finally Mark proved himself by winning with second position.”

The moral of this story is that everyone has hidden potential. We need to believe, risk, spot, and encourage others so as to make them realize their potential.

Short Story-Gardening

Once upon a time in a thick forest, there lived a person by name Martin. He was a kindhearted person with cool temperament. He was interested in spending most of his time in gardening since his teenage. Once Martin’s friends came to see his house. They were excited by looking at his home. It was amazing with beautiful garden with variety of flowers.

Martin was a very close friend for Jack. He too didn’t know the reason for Martin’s temperament and introversion. Jack ad Martin started conversation.

Jack: Martin! why are you interested in gardening?
Martin: Jack! This is my mother’s garden. When I keep this garden neat and clean my mother would be happy.
Jack: Ok..! Where is your mother?
Martin: Smiled and replied in heaven.
Jack: I am sorry.
Martin: It is okay.
Jack: What is the connection between gardening and your mother’s happiness then?
Martin: When I was a child my mother was interested in garden and gardening. She was interested in flowers
Jack: Then what had happened.
Martin: At that time if I plucked a flower and my mother scolded me. I used to get anger for no reason. Once I got angry and burnt the garden. I was trapped in the fire and my mother lost her life by saving me.
Jack: I am very sorry for reminding your unpleasant past.
Martin: I regretted a lot. My mother’s last wish was that “This was your dad’s favorite flower. And whenever I grow that I would recollect him. I want that you should also develop the habit of gardening”
Jack: “Can I’ve a look at that flower?”
Martin: Come this way..,
(After sometime……..)

Jack was astonished by looking at the flower. It was different and beautiful. Martin then responded to Jack that “The smell and beauty of it makes even an irritated person into a cool person” By then, Jack was convinced with the cool and introvert behavior of Martin.

From this story we must learn to respect the sentiments of parents and cultivate the habit of gardening.

Short Story – Spot Your Talents

Once upon a time in a city lived a person by the name Jim. He was an ordinary man with slow grasping power. Everyone in his class used to mock at him. However, Jim did not care them. Jim’s parents were worried about his future.

Jim was not interested in academics but he was a good swimmer. He had a friend by name Leon. Leon told Jim that everybody was weak and strong in some areas. Leon enquired Jim “In which areas you are strong?” Jim responded to Leon, “I am not good at academics. But I have passion for swimming.”

On the next day, Leon informed to friends to hide near the pond and asked them that he would act drowning in the water when Jim comes. Leon observed Jim passing through that pond. Leon jumped into the pond and started crying for help. Jim looked at the pond and found that Leon was crying for help. Immediately he got into the pond and pulled Leon to safety.

Jim stared at Leon and asked “You know how to swim. Why were you struggling and crying for help from pond?” Leon replied to Jim “To unearth your talent in swimming to the world”. Leon called friends who were hiding away from the pond. They felt excited the way Jim rescued Leon and regretted for mocking at him.

Jim practiced swimming regularly and excelled as a good swimmer and learnt various styles of swimming such as free style, breast stroke, butterfly and back stroke. Jim participated in the swimming competition and bagged the first prize. He thanked Leon for spotting his talent in swimming and continued the practice and excelled as a great swimmer.

The moral of the story is that we all have talents. We need to spot our talents and develop for achieving success in life.

Short Story – Spuds and Spades

Once there was a planet in which two kinds of people used to live such as spuds and spades. One half of the planet was ruled by spades, they were known for their strength and fighting spirit. The other portion of the planet was occupied by spuds and they were famous for their tactical ability. Initially they were living together in harmony.

One day people of another planet called Nadis came to the planet of spuds and spades. Nadis came from the planet which was filled with destruction and disasters. Spuds and spades also welcomed them warmly. Nadis were experimenting the planet so that they could live there. Finally they found that there was huge mountain which was the source of the planet. They also found that if they could even get one fourth of the mountain they could save their planet from disaster. But they could not even make a scratch of the mountain. Later Nadis found that mountain was so strong because of unity of Spuds and Spades. They wanted to create conflicts between them so that they could also create a huge spaceship for carrying some part of mountain.

Nadis created conflict among them by highlighting their differences. Since then the planet was split into two parts. Every day there was battle and many people died. Nadis were also happy so that they could complete their work. This continued for 30 years. Only 20 years was left for the completion of their work and the end of the planet of spud and spade. At that time a child was born by name Spuspa. His parents were both spud and spade. The parents taught Spuspa not to treat spuds and spade differently. Spuspa decided to unite both communities when he grew.

Nadis required a year for completion of the work. Spuspa finally grew into a person; he had the appearance of spade and intelligence of spud. At that time the planet was looking like a graveyard because of infighting. Spuspa came to know the evil intentions of Nadis. He wanted to unite Spuds and Spades so that the mountain will become strong and withstand the drilling. Spuspa wanted to stop the menace and entered spade valley easily as he had the appearance of Spade. Prince of Spade always wanted to stop war as he could not tolerate the death of people but his father never agreed. Spuspa met the prince of spade and said that Nadis were drilling the sacred mountain which was the source of the planet. The prince asked the solution to solve the problem once for all. Spuspa asked the prince to marry the princess of Spud. The king agreed but puzzled whether the spuds would agree. The person said that spuds were good hearted they will agree definitely. The prince approached the spuds alone and requested for the marriage of princess so that they could live in peace and harmony again. The spuds agreed as they had very few soldiers and the battle would stop.

When the king of spades came to know this, he immediately took all of his soldiers to attack Spuds. Spuspa stopped them and took them to the place where Nadis were working. When Spades saw what Nadis were doing they killed all of them mercilessly. The king of spade agreed for the marriage of prince of Spade with princess of spud. After some years the mountain recovered its wound as Spuds and Spades united. Therefore, always look at the similarities, but not differences.

Short Story – The Dream World

Ronnie lived in a hamlet where few people lived. He had a dream to become a story writer. We wrote several stories for magazines since childhood. Initially he started writing for improving his writing skills. Subsequently he had an idea to author a book. He wrote a book titled The Achiever but it failed to reach the audience.

Ronnie had a friend, Mike who was a researcher. Ronnie approached Mike for suggestions to author the book. Mike advised Ronnie to observe the things, learn from teachers and friends, and gather from internet as it helps in developing an excellent book.

After listening from Mike, Ronnie gathered information from various sources. By observing various things, discussing with friends, consulting teachers and researching he started writing a book with a good story. When he completed half of his book he decided to conclude the story with many twists and turns. Ultimately Ronnie was successful in authoring a story book titled The Dream World. The story book was a runaway hit with accolades. Ronnie met Mike and thanked him for his valuable suggestions.

It transpires from the above story that it is always desirable to seek suggestions from experts and friends for achieving success.

Short Story – Listen to Your Friends

Once upon a time there were three friends in a forest. They were lion, fox and elephant. They were in danger as the forest was on fire. The lion regretted for not listening to the advice of his friend, elephant who had warned about this situation. Fox prayed to the rain God for help. The rain God appeared and asked the fox to explain about the root of the problem for forest fire. Fox explained in this way.

One day elephant went for watching the surroundings of the forest. Then, elephant saw a bunch of people cutting the trees. The people thought that animals might not need too much coverage of trees at the outskirts of the forest for their survival. Therefore, they began cutting the trees. Having seen this elephant got annoyed and attacked them. Subsequently, elephant narrated the same to fox and lion.

Lion went to the spot and confirmed the information. Lion came to know that one person was killed in the attack. Lion told elephant that human beings chopped trees at the outskirts and that would not affect the forest as they also needed some wood for their survival. However, elephant felt that one day entire forest would be at stake.

Gradually human beings began destroying the forest. Added to the woes, a landlord by name Jim bought land near the forest and ordered gutting the forest on fire. The forest was on fire and the animals were running everywhere for safety.

After listening to the flashback by fox, rain God helped them by putting out the fire by rain. Rain God advised both fox and lion not to ignore the warning from a good friend like elephant. Therefore, always listen to your friends who care about you.

Short Story – Snake and the Child

Once upon a time, there were various kinds of animals lived in the forest. In that forest, snakes also lived. One day the forest had begun burning. Most of the animals couldn’t escape from that place. At the end a snake and few others survived. That snake got angry towards humans for gutting the forest on fire. In addition, it heard stories about humans in childhood. The snake thought that humans had burnt the forest and decided to take revenge on them.

On the next day it went to a near by village and found few humans taking bath in the pond. It approached them and killed every one. The snake went to other villages and killed several humans. After few weeks it came back to the place it lived. It found that a boy was sitting and weeping. The snake was near the bushes and it was attempting to bite the boy. The boy’s friend told him not to cry. That boy said to his friend “My father tried to stop the fire on that day to save animals of the forest. On that day father saved few animals like deer, Black Panther and an unconscious snake. In that place he got injured because of that snake”

The boy’s friend told to him that “So what you are going to do?” The boy replied “I’m going to kill the snake” The friend responded immediately “If you get anger towards that snake then you are wrong. We should not think ill of others” The boy realized and decided not to harm the snake. The snake which was hiding in the bushes regretted for killing the people of near by villages.

The moral of this story is that you should never go by childhood stories and hearsay. We can’t undo our mistakes in life. Therefore, always think and act.

Lazy Lion – Short Story

Once in a village there was a farm. In that place there were plenty of cows. The cows were healthy. There was an old lion that was lazy and hungry. It got an idea to eat the cows. One day lion went to the cows and said that their landlord would send them to slaughter house. Initially the cows did not believe the lion and asked, “How can we trust you?” The lion said that it had become old and before dying it wanted to do good for the cows. The cows believed as the lion had become old and do no harm for them.

The leader requested the lion to save them. The lion told to the leader, “I’ll take one by one by so that your landlord will not get doubt” The leader agreed for that and everyday one cow went with lion. After reaching certain distance it used to kill and eat the cow.

The leader of the cows was worried about the flock. The nearby vulture asked the cow, “Why are you worried?” The cow narrated everything which was said by lion. The vulture flew and saw that the bones of the killed cows. The vulture returned and informed the same to the leader of the cows. After listening to those words the leader of the cow sought help from vulture.

The very next day the group of vultures attacked the lion and killed it. Finally the rest of the cows were saved from lazy lion. The moral of the story is that you cannot fool others all the time.