Many Westerners Succeed by Visualizing Success. What about Most Indians?
The Panchatantra story of a milk maid breaking a pot, because she day dreams, needs to be updated says Ignatius Chithelen
April 26, 2025
By Ignatius Chithelen*
I am a bad golfer. As part of my day dreams of improving my golf scores, I watch TV broadcasts of golf tournaments, especially the majors. I also watch if Sahith Theegala or Akshay Bhatia, the Indians on the U.S. Professional Golf Association (PGA) tour, are among the leaders heading into the final fourth round of a tournament.
Earlier this month, I watched Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, nearly lose the Masters Tournament in Augusta, United States, during Sunday’s fourth and final round. On the 13th hole, a ball he hit rolled back into a stream and he lost his three stroke lead.
After the final 18th hole, McIlroy and Justin Rose of England were tied at minus 11. Then, in the first playoff hole, McIlroy beat Rose. With the Masters win, McIlroy became one of only six golfers to win all four major tournaments – the others being the British Open, the U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship.
McIlroy, 35-years-old, won his last major tournament eleven years ago. He has been competing in the Masters tournament since the age of eighteen.
A week before this year’s tournament at Augusta, McIlroy had lunch with Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer who won 18 major titles, including six Masters. “I said Rory, I know you prepared for Augusta; tell me how you're going to play the golf course,” Nicklaus recalled at a press conference at the Masters, CBS Sports reported.
“We went through it shot for shot. And he got done with the round…And I said…That's exactly the way I would try to play the golf course. The discipline to do that…is what Rory has lacked…He's got all the shots…He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game.”
Nicklaus offers the best advice on preparation and on “strategy and how to play the golf course,” McIlroy said at a press conference five years ago, Golfweek reported. Nicklaus “was a master at playing the game.”
Similar to McIlroy’s pre-game strategizing on how to play and win the Masters, the visualization of a path to success is a common practice among successful sports figures and athletes around the world. It is also common practice for many of those who are successful in a wide range of fields, from entrepreneurs and Wall Street traders to doctors, authors and artists, especially in the United States.
In fact, planning and training for success is a popular topic, covered by hundreds of books and videos. Among the earliest, and the most popular of the books, is Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, (1936) which has sold more than 30 million copies.
Not surprisingly, there are now thousands of American career coaches and psychologists – many of questionable value – earning a living by offering advice to everyone from kindergarten students to retired professionals, on how to mentally prepare to succeed.
In sharp contrast, most children in India grow up with a fear of visualizing a path to success. Often, I still vividly recall a story about a milk maid, in a Hindi language textbook, while I was in middle school in suburban Mumbai, in the mid-1960s.
Here is my recollection of the story:
Early one morning, a farmer’s wife milks their goat. Then, balancing a clay pot of milk on her head, she sets out to sell the milk to a store in the village.
On her way, the milk maid starts day dreaming: “I will save the money I get for the milk. In a few weeks, I will have enough money to buy another goat. Then a third goat. Soon I will save enough to buy a cow. Then I will buy more cows. And a large farm. I will buy gold necklaces and bangles for both my daughters.”
Engrossed in her day-dream, the milk maid does not see a stone in her path. She stumbles, the pot falls and breaks, spilling the milk on the ground. Moral of the story: those who dream about future success risk losing the income they can currently earn.
The story is from the Panchatantra, a collection of ancient Sanskrit fables, each with a unique moral message. The fables are widely circulated in India, having been translated into most of the Indian languages, and, yes, included in school textbooks.
There are numerous versions of the milk maid story, including one of a Brahman day dreaming about the riches he will earn, starting with a pot of rice. Modern versions also include video cartoons. All the versions have a similar moral message: do not day dream. Focus on not breaking the pot so you can sell the milk.
Indeed, this is a valid message even in modern India, since nearly two hundred million are unemployed and several hundred million face poverty. For many Indians, losing income means no food for the family.
Yet, the ending and moral of the Panchatantra milk maid tale needs to be updated. Its OK to break pots, as Rory McIlroy’s success shows. In a post-game interview, after winning the Masters, McIlroy said that he had no appetite that morning and he was very nervous. He stayed positive after losing the lead on the 13th hole: “my battle was with myself…and (I) rode my luck.”
Since 2014, when he last won a major championship, Rory McIlroy must have visualized how he would play a golf course and win, every time he competed in a major. Yet, even with his pre-game strategizing and exceptional talent, he finished second in majors four times; Jack Nicklaus 19 times. So, McIlroy had to manage his frustration and persevere: for eleven years before he won his fifth major trophy, and, for seventeen years before he won his first Masters.
So here is the update to the milk maid fable: after the pot breaks, the milk maid returns to her hut. Though upset at what happened, she hugs her children and feeds the goat. The next morning, she wakes up, milks the goat, and sells the milk. She does this for several weeks, saving enough money to buy a second goat. A few weeks later she breaks another pot. She perseveres and months later buys a cow.
Like most Indians, as well as others, I have broken, and continue to break, several pots on and off golf courses. Inspired by McIlroy’s example, I have visualized every shot in my next round at a municipal golf course in Westchester, New York. I day dream I will score below 100.
*IGNATIUS CHITHELEN IS AUTHOR OF PASSAGE FROM INDIA TO AMERICA AND SIX DEGREES OF EDUCATION.
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