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General

Ant and the Grasshopper

Rasika Gokhale Athawale
May 2010

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.

Indian 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.

Indian News Channels, 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. Newspapers run editorials and special reports expressing a soft corner for Grasshoppers.

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 Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Mayawati states this as 'injustice' done on Minorities.

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 MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. Eventually a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is formed.

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.

The Railway Ministry hurriedly allocates a free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the JPC drafts and passes the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Kapil Sibal announces 'Special Schemes for Grasshoppers' wherein every Grasshopper is entitled to promotions to the next class without any examinations in Educational Institutions. Government is compelled to pass Reservation Bill for the Grasshoppers. The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by the TV channels. Ants are called upon to tender public apology or face imprisonment.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Mulayam Singh calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'.

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General

Many years later....

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,

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

(Courtesy: Om Shanti)

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