Thursday 30 August 2007

Story of an Ant & a Grasshopper..

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is 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.

We all are aware of this old Story and the moral of "Think in advance and plan your life"

Now goes the modern version....

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its 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, Star News, Aajtak, Tej, Headlines, 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 criticizes 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).

Indian Television channels conduct SMS survey on who is right and Ant wins with huge margin.

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for Bharat Bandh in West Bengal wuth 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.

Laloo 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' or POTAGA, with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh sets up Special Reservation for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, has his home confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by TV News Channels and the media.

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 multibillion dollar company in Silicon Valley .

Hundreds of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ..

As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!

This is not a story just to read and laugh. Please ponder over this. We all are, one of the reasons for this status to be present here. We simply read, laugh or comment and simply do not bother about this. We have a tool with us but we are not ready to use. We are not ready to spend even a single day in protest of what we feel is not right. Then, how can we change this? Please think about it !!!!

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