From the Panchatantra comes a story about procrastination in deciding what should be done and what should not be done. In a pond that wasn’t very deep, there were three shakula fishes who were friends. Their names were Anagatavidhata, meaning far-sighted; Pratyutpannamati, meaning quick-witted; and Yadbhavishya, meaning resigned-to-fate. One day, some fishermen came to the pond.

By digging some channels, they started to drain water out of the pond. On realising that the water level was reducing, Anagatavidhata quickly went to his two friends.

He said, “There is a disaster for all of us who live in this pond. Let us quickly go somewhere else, through these channels, before the path is closed. Those who follow good policy counter a danger before it has arrived. We should decide to go quickly.”

Yadbhavishya said, “In my view, there is no need for us to hurry. If one is fated to die, one can die even if one goes to another lake.” Pratyutpannamati said, “I don’t want to do anything now. When it is the right time, I will do whatever needs to be done to save myself.” Seeing that his two friends were not ready to leave the pond, Yadbhavishya swam through the channel and went into a deeper body of water.

The next day, the fishermen came back to the pond. They saw that most water had been drained out from the pond, and very little remained. The fishes were thrashing around in the pond, and the fishermen started to capture them easily.

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