Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Ant and the Grasshopper

OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer, 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 shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.


NEW VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer, 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 shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter and 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 laden 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.

MedhaPatkar 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).

Barkha Dutt hosts a talk-show spread over two weeks on the disparity.

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 the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

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

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA. He has nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, so his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, Aaj Tak & Star News.

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.


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Many years later...The ant, who has long since migrated to the USA, sets up a multi-billion dollar company in the Silicon Valley.
1000s of grasshoppers die of starvation somewhere in India ...

- Source Unknown.

2 comments:

sonal said...

hi Raghu...i hv finally put up my trek pics on my blog...do chck it out...

sonal said...

n yes...the ant story's a true story....such people r ruining our nation...