The tale of the three fish

You might have heard this story from the Panchatantra (Translates to “Five Principles”. It is a very insightful ancient Indian collection of inter-related animal fables) in one some form or the other. If you haven’t, here it is:

Three fish lived in a pond. Their names were Anagatavidhata (which in Sanskrit translates to “future maker”), Pratyutpannamati (translates to “ready minded”) and Yadbhavishya (translates to “whatever happens”). We ll call them Future , Ready and Whatever for simplicity and humour. ;) Anyway, back at the pond, some fishermen were passing by and wondered aloud, “Hey, we have never seen this pond. It seems to be full of fish. It is now evening. Let us come at dawn tomorrow and bag as many fish as we can.”

Hearing the fisherman, Future called a meeting of all the fish and told them, “Haven’t you heard what the fishermen were saying? We must move out of this pond tonight itself. As the wise men have said weak men should flee when a strong man invades or seek refuge in a fort. There is no alternative.”

“While that is true, you are worrying yourself too much. When they come, I will figure something out” said Ready. 

Loudly laughing, Whatever said, “I am too busy, I will worry about it later.”

So, Future left. The fishermen came. And Ready and Whatever got caught. 

Ready had a plan though, and pretended to be dead, and luckily, the fisherman noticed and threw him away quickly. Whatever however, was not ready and died in the net.

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My dad often used to call me Yadbhavishya to make fun when I was young in an effort to convince me to plan in advance.. so it was one of those stores I will never forget. So, when I was at home, it popped into mind. The lesson contained is undoubtedly a wise one, and we would have heard / realized it at some point..  

But only this time did a different angle to this struck me that I felt was worth sharing. 

Future could also be called “Plan for the worst”

Ready could also be called “Plan for the average case”

And Whatever could also be called “Plan for the best case”

All three types of people can succeed, but only those who plan for the worst can succeed consistently, and these are the great achievers we remember through time.