The Secret of Success

In life, there are some tasks that a person can perform in a short while, on his own. But there are other tasks that cannot be performed by one person alone. The only way to perform these tasks is by adopting the method of the bees—that of combined effort. This, however, can come about only through the self-sacrifice of individuals. People have to be patient with one another, putting others’ needs before their own, thinking of the good of others rather than what they themselves desire. It is through the sacrifice of individuals that there can be such a thing as concerted effort. Prior Knowledge Aids Comprehension Matches and lighters have only recently come into vogue in rural India. Just fifty years ago people used to light their own stoves with embers left over from the stoves of others. On one occasion a woman went to her neighbours and asked if they had any fire. “On the mantel piece,” her neighbour replied. The woman’s neighbour was getting on in years and had become hard of hearing, so she could be excused for replying to a question that had not been put to her. Yet there are many whose faculties are in perfect order who do much the same thing. Back in 1971 General J.N. Chawdhury of the Indian Army delivered a lecture on national security. Stressing the importance of the role intelligence had to play; he said that in wartime it was essential to know what the enemy were going to do before they actually did it. Military commanders should be able to base their decisions on a sound knowledge of enemy strategy. To illustrate this, he referred to an incident which occurred during the Indian annexation of Goa in 1961. When Indian Southern Command was asked on