Wednesday, June 25, 2008

ANTS AND GRASSHOPERS

OLD VERSION...
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks
the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the
ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he
dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building
his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks
the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the
shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know
why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and
starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering
grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table
filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be
that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that
grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Amnesty
International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not

upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper. The Internet is
flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper
(many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath
of God for non-compliance) . Opposition MP's stage a walkout.Left
parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial
Enquiry.CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from
working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty
among ants and
grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian
Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism
Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of
the winter.

Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational

Insititutions & in Govt Services.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having
nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the
Government
and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it
'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of
the downtrodden'

Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General
Assembly.

Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a
multi billion dollar company in silicon valley.100s of grasshoppers
still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ...

As a result loosing lot of hard working ants and feeding the
grasshoppers India is still a developing country..... .

1 comment:

Solai Chidambaram said...

Wonderful.Nice imagination.Enjoyed your writing.Keep up your wonderful work.Keep going dear