The Book of Life

political setbacks. Japan shifted its focus from warfare to the pursuit of knowledge. In the third chapter of the book, the author highlights a single key factor behind Japan’s current achievements: the continuous passion for learning shared across the Japanese nation. The author writes: When a foreigner visits Japan, Japanese people often instinctively think, “What can I learn from this person?” Similarly, the three million Japanese who travel abroad each year aim to find new ideas and concepts to bring back and use in their own country. A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR A historical incident published in The Times of India Supplement, The Neighbourhood Star (March 1824, 1989) has a lesson for us all. It seems that when the first batch of Parsis from Iran landed on the west coast of Gujrat, their community leader–their peshwa–went straight to the ruling monarch, Yadav Rana and requested him to allow the Parsis to stay in his state. The Raja uttered not a word in reply, but simply handed the Peshwa a glass full to the brim with milk. This was meant to show him that his state already had its full measure of population and that there was no room for any more people. The Peshwa did not answer in words either. His response was simply to add a spoonful of sugar to the milk and to return