Divided We Lose

There is common saying ‘divide and rule’. Our rulers, politicians make best use of this policy. The disease is also found in many other groups, in offices and even in joint families. There is also a well known fact ‘unity is strength’. Various unions who fight their cases jointly are examples of it. Even the politicians take care of them. So it is evident that united we gain, but divided we lose. Often when we are divided or say there are differences between the two, the third party takes maximum advantage of it and both the divided ones get exploited easily. For instance, we may recall the story of cats and the monkey, which we often narrate to our children to make them understand the above stated facts.

Once two cats were roaming together and in their search here and there, they found a piece of chapatti. The cats are quarrelsome by nature. They started fighting with each other. One said, the chapatti is mine, I’ll eat it. The other insisted, no, it is mine, I’ll eat it. While they were quarreling like this, a monkey happened to come there. He noticed them quarreling over the Chapati. Immediately he suggested, there is no need to quarrel like this. You can very well divide the Chapati into two. Then at once thinking of some mischief, he suggested, don’t worry I’ll divide for you. The cats agreed.

The monkey tore the chapatti into two. But intentionally he did not tear it evenly. One piece was small and the other slightly bigger. To do full justice to both of them, he said I will cut the extra piece and make both the pieces equal for you. So he tried to cut the extra piece from the large one, but here again he intentionally cut it slightly more than required and ate it. But again the other piece looked slightly larger. He again assured the cats, don’t worry I’ll make them equal. He again cut the larger piece a little more than required and ate it. The pieces were still not even. He repeated the act in the case of the larger one. But again the pieces as before, were not even. Gradually by trying to equal the pieces, he ate away the entire chapatti.

When nothing was left, the cats looked blankly at the face of the monkey. The monkey very politely said, Dear aunts, now there is nothing to quarrel, you may go.