Hate

This is a story I found very recently in a Tinkle. I loved it so much that I thought I'd share it with all of you. It was supposedly written by some German author. So, I don't deserve any originality credits for this. ;).

Neighbours
Georgv and Uhrlich were two boys from two very rich and powerful families in Germany. Their properties were next to each other separated by a patch of forest. Due to the fight for the ownership of this patch of forest, there was severe enmity between the two families, and it showed itself in Georgv and Uhrlich too.
They grew up hating each other and when they inherited their respective properties, their hatred only intensified. If anyone related to the other family was found, they were imprisoned without water or food until proper ransom was paid.
One night, Georgv was having his supper with his wife. A storm was building up. Suddenly, a sound which sounded like a gunshot pierced the silence of the night.
Georgv sprung up from his chair. "Looks like Uhrlich's men are hunting in the forest".
His wife protested the disturbance to the supper. "Let them be !"
"Its high time I show them who the real owner is"
"Listen to the wind outside ! Its suicide to go into the forest on a night like this !"
Nothing could Georgv at that moment. He grabbed his rifle and put on a big coat. All the hate right from his childhood was coming out now. Even the nature was angry. Its growled, it rumbled, the wind was cruel...
"You!"
It was Uhrlich. He too was holding his rifle.
There was a loud roar of thunder.
" Your luck has run out Uhrlich!", Georgv growled, "The law says I can shoot poachers. This time you won't leave the forest alive !"
"You think so?"
Georgv shot. It whistled by Uhrlich's ears.
It was Uhrlich's turn. He took aim.
CRASH !
A heavy tree fell on the two men trapping them beneath its massive branches. The two foes lay there inches away from each other, each silently enduring the pain of broken bones. Despite their plight, their hatred remained alive.
"My men will be here soon", Uhrlich moaned, " And when they do, things look black for you dear neighbour!"
"My men won't be gentle with you if they get here first either"
But even after an hour there was no sign of rescue party from either side. The night became bitterly cold. Both men were chilled to the bone. Slowing, painfully Uhrlich reached into his coat pocket and found a small flask containing soup. He took a big satisfying gulp of it. He felt a little warmer. He looked at Georgv. Georgv looked frozen and very much in pain. Uhrlich felt a tinge of pity for him.
"Listen, I have some soup", Uhrlich said. "Can you move your hand to take it?"
Georgv didn't reply. The wind was howling. He spoke after a long silence.
"Perhaps I misjudged you", Georgv said, pain evident from his voice. "I feel too nauseous to drink, but I appreciate your kindness. Neither of of our families have showed any neighbourly concern for centuries"
"That is true Georgv. Let us end our enmity. Let bygones be bygones."
"I feel that way too. Let us bury our past", said Georgv. "When my men come, I will tell them to attend to you first. That will show everyone a beginning of a new friendship".
"If my men come earlier", said Uhrlich. "I will do the same. I will insist they take you out before me"
There were distant footsteps footsteps heard.
"They're coming!", cried Georgv."They must be your men as they are coming from your direction"
"I cannot rise my head to look. How many?"
"I cannot see properly in the darkness. But I can make out six or seven shapes outlined against the horizon.
Slowly time passed.
"They're coming closer...", said Georgv,"Uhrlich ! they're not.... "
"Not my men?", said Uhrlich, "Your's then?"
" No, Uhrlich, They are not men at all"
"Not men ! You have lost your senses"
"No, neighbour. I have not lost my senses. I can see them clearly now. They're.. they're.. ", screamed Georgv, fear etched in every word he spoke.
"WOLVES !"

"We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them" ~Charles Caleb Colton

Life is too short. There is no time for hate here.

In Murphy, I trust.

Statement of Murphy's law : If something can go wrong, it will.

Some of my favourite corollaries :
- Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
- If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
- When a body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.
- Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value.
- All the good ones will be taken.
- To err is human, but it feels divine.

Its actually quite scary that everything in nature follows this law, when you least expect (and want) it to. I laugh to myself daily while picking up my fathers cell, which rings, without fail, whenever his goes to the bathroom. You see that whenever you have a high influx of buses in the bus stop, auto-rickshaws will be going extra-slow near the bus stops trying to tempt the people to their cozy, empty autos. Whenever the buses are hard to come by, or worse, its raining and you don't have an umbrella, you will see that the autos are full, or they won't come where you want, or worse, charge double or triple the meter price and leave you in a dilemma.
Our BMTC buses could easily become the brand ambassadors of Murphyism.
Everyday morning, me, Chetan and many other friends wait for our buses to college or at least, to Vijaynagar (i.e., 401s, 236). The most common sight in the 1st block bus stand : 80s series. There are at least four 80 series buses a minute, and how we wish desperately that all the 80s to be magically converted to 236s. After [0, 30] minutes of anxious waiting, we get a bus.
One fine day, we want to goto Navrang to Vinay's house. Though we could have easily walked to Navrang in 20 minutes, we decided to goto 1st block and then catch and 80. That would take us only 17 minutes and we could wring out more use from our bus pass. And as you would have expected the climax, the infinite fountain of 80s had dried up. A bus which we could get every 20 seconds in the morning, we got it after 20 minutes. But the irony of it all is, we saw 5 empty 401s go past us in that twenty minutes! you may not appreciate it, but its a special type of 'hotte-uri' reserved for regular commuters.
One more instance :
I internal test in college. Physics and Basic Mech. Engg. on the same day. Deadly combo with lots of theory to mug (esp. me who hadn't studied a rat's tail before tests started). After physics exam we started studying BME. I saw that I had missed the diagram for GeoThermal energy source in my notes. I asked
Me : "Hey, someone give me diag for geothermal"
"Wait da. I'll give you after I finished. but I don't think it'll be given, compared to others, its a joke !"
Me : "OK. Chuck it." And I didn't study it.
Very, predictably, 1st question in the paper : Explain GeoThermal energy and give its advanteages and disadvantages. Shit.
But fortunately, we had choices and the rest of the exam went well. So, all is well that ends well.

To, have the best chances to minimize the effect of Murphy's laws I heard this advice somewhere :
" Hope for the best and prepare for the worst "

Murphy may strike anytime ;).




Murphyism for our DebSoc guys : Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference.