Tag: motivational stories

Kids Stories · Motivational · Mythological · Short Stories · Stories

Chetak, the Blue horse

Madhumita ChakrabortyLeave a comment

By Kritadhi Chakraborty

“Ho! Rider of the blue horse!” a familiar voice made Maharana Pratap look back. He could see only one horseman amidst the yellow dust… his brother Shakti Singh. But the sound of hoofs against the flinty rocks superseded his emotions as his savior today, none other than his beloved stallion Chetak, blazed through the mountains of Haldighati. Chetak, like his master Rana, was heavily wounded. “Hey Devi Ma!” uttered Maharana when for a few seconds (as though) time came to a standstill… Chetak was about to take a breathtaking leap over a mountain stream. As if the strength of a 100 horses has been bestowed upon him. Nobility unimaginable, will power to rescue his master whom he had borne through the day. Chetak fell along with Rana. Within a few moments Rana was back on his feet to fight back – but was relieved to find that none of his pursuers dared cross the stream.

Pratap rushed to Chetak… quickly unbuckled the harness. “Chetak! Chetak!” Rana’s voice choked in admiration of his valiant stallion as he realized that it was time to part with his guardian angel. Chetak’s expressive eyes, despite the blood dripping over it, was beaming with success and joy.

Rana took Chetak’s long face on his lap and cuddled the peacock shaped neck… far from Rakt Talai (the battlefield), Rana could only hear the breeze over his shoulders… as he recollected the happenings of the day.

The Mughal Sultan Jalal Uddin Muhammad Akbar was on his way to take Udaipur, located at the heart of Mewar. The Mewari army consisting of 20,000 soldiers were up against 80,000 Mughal troops. Maharana Pratap was holding the flower (flag) of Mewar. The Mewari army fought gallantly beside their prince who led the banner into the hottest part of the field. Rana had disguised Chetak as an elephant by putting an armor in the shape of an elephant’s trunk. Chetak charged an elephant by raising one leg upon the elephant’s trunk, giving a chance to Pratap to throw his lance at the enemy. The mahout got killed instead. In the process, the elephant’s tusk tore through Chetak’s leg and crippled him. Rana was wounded too. The battle was slowing turning into the favor of the Mughals as they rallied near Rakt Talai. The Mewari forces, that were left, had to make a tactical fall back. A camouflage had to be created to give Maharana Pratap enough time retreat.

It is said that Chetak, with a mind of his own, only submitted to the Maharana; and that he was the one to choose the king, not the other way around. Critically injured Chetak refused to succumb to the pain and only on three legs helped his master flee from the battlefield, to live to fight back again.

Chetak passed away in the arms of his master Maharana Pratap.

We don’t know how much of this is real. History does not name the horse ridden by Maharana Pratap at the Battle of Haldighati on 18th June 1576, nor do they attribute any unusual feat or achievement to it. The story is recounted in court poems of Mewar from 17th century onwards. Whatever the reality may be, what is important here is that the story inspires millions of Indians over hundreds of years. This story about the nobility and valiance of an animal inspires me.

Kids Stories · Motivational · Short Stories · Stories

Reward

Madhumita ChakrabortyLeave a comment

By Kritadhi Chakraborty

When Tisha’s dad came back home after his post dinner walk, he was a bit unusual that day.

He sat on the sofa with his eyes clothes and head resting on the cushion.

Tisha, an eight-year-old, lived with her parents on the fourteenth floor of a luxury apartment.

Every night, since they had shifted about a year ago, Tisha’s mom packs rice, curry and some extras from the day for the stray dogs.

In their society, stray dogs are not allowed to enter. Feeding stray dogs anywhere near the main gate is a big “No!” from the association as that seem to cause a lot of trouble to the residents.

Tisha’s dad carries the package to a nearby low lit street. There are at least some three to four regulars for the nightly meal.

“Today I was attacked by two bike-men you know?”. Tisha’s dad started saying after having two glasses of water. Tisha’s mom was shocked, “What?? Are you okay?”

“Yes! You won’t believe how I got saved today! I reached for my wallet and was about to give all the money I had to those men. All of a sudden those dogs started barking at the bike-men and many more dogs joined in no time. Couple of them climbed on the bike. Probably thinking that they may get into trouble due to the noise made by the dogs, the bike-men fled” Tisha’s dad took a pause.

“I can’t thank God enough for sending His messengers today to save me”. Tisha could see gratefulness and joy of being rewarded in the eyes of her dad that day.

She felt for the first time what they meant by saying, “Showing kindness to animals is an act of service to God”.

Motivational · Short Stories · Stories

Don’t ask why, deal with it

Madhumita ChakrabortyLeave a comment

Yet another announcement. Now for the 3rd position. Amy looked up with hope. Awful, this time again the 10-year-old, had to clap for one more fellow competitor. Her face went pale. Her mother looked at her, gently touched her head. The 4th position was announced for a girl of some other school. Amy looked down once again. A soft voice stirred her up. “Clap Amy”. It was her father smiling at her. Amy clapped with disappointed at heart.

“The award for the 5th position goes to Amy.”

Amy’s parents were overjoyed at the announcement. A faint smile on Amy’s face.

The family returned home. It was late evening, they were tired.

Amy could not speak at dinner table. “What happened Amy?”

Gush of warm tears rolled down her cheeks. She could not reply to her mother, wept bitterly.

Her parents were silent, they could probably understand.

Amy spoke almost after 30 minutes.

“I will never participate in any competition again. I worked hard, prepared well, and delivered my best but I stood fifth. You both were wrong. I don’t think hard work is the pillar of success.” Amy burst out in tears and cried out loud in despair.

Absolute silence in the room for almost 5 minutes.

Her father, Rohan, an engineer by profession broke the silence. “Amy my dear, your performance was excellent today. You stood fifth among 200 interschool participants in the story telling competition. You are one of the top 5 participants. We are proud of you. Your hard work and perseverance were rewarded.”

Amy looked at her father, her face looked eager to hear more.

Rohan, continued, “Have you not seen your mother and me working till late hours? You need not top a competition to prove your efforts. Even after hours of hard work, all your efforts might turn futile. We must work hard to give our best to stay in the race.”

Amy’s mother, Sree was listening silently. She has seen uncertainties in her career despite all the hard work and diligence she has put through. Sree has always been strong to handle her emotions and learn through her experiences.

Sree was trying to join the dots.

“Amy dear”, Sree spoke tenderly. “Don’t be upset. There are situations in our life which are beyond our control. The kids who ranked the top four might or might not have done as much as hard work you did. Even the ones who were among the bottom few ranks might have tried harder than you did and might be more capable than the toppers. There are multiple factors that determine success.”

Amy looked at her mother with curiosity.

“Amy, provided you did not work so hard, you would not have presented so well. Even the position you secured would have been far from reach. The performance of other competitors, the experience and understanding of the judges, your delivery on the moment, your content and many more such aspects play deterministic role in a competition. You have successfully performed well.”

Sree paused for a while and looked at her daughter’ glowing face.

“Success is not determined by a rank or by immediate gains. You have successfully gained experiences and have learnt several new concepts. Hard work makes you active at mind and helps you learn better. You must look forward and prepare for upcoming challenges. Life is full of twists and turns, and you must gracefully adapt to every situation in life.”

Sree smiled.

“You should know how to tackle each moment life unfolds to you. Remember Amy don’t just ask why but try to deal with every situation.”

Amy smiled. She was listening carefully until this time. That day indeed changed her life.

Amy is now in her late thirties and works for an MNC. Life has shown her how to stay confident and how to accept the uncertain turns.

Today, when Amy received her promotion letter on email, she was overjoyed. I could see her eyes glittered. She is my roommate; you may also call her my soulmate.

I found her speaking to her parents on a phone call.

In the afternoon we were sitting in the balcony of our hostel room. When I congratulated her, Amy narrated the story of the 10-year-old Amy. She smiled and said, “I have faced wins and failures in multiple competitions, have experienced multiple instabilities in my education and profession, have confronted moments of separations, but have always tried not to just ask why, not to just give up, but deal with the unfavourable situations and to embrace the favourable ones.”

I was thrilled. “Your promotion is just one more experience and life wants you to deal with it.” Amy smiled.