Your call...
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Subject: An Old & New Story ...
An Old Story:
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.
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 .
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.
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 .
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.
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 Grasshoppers in Educational
Institutions & in Government Services.
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 NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.
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,
.
..AND
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the
grasshoppers,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
India is still a developing country…!!!
Posts
3 comments:
O hyper sensitive one, no need for despair. Gabru naka dude....
Reasons?
A) Some parts are no longer 'developing'; they are already developed. Like parts of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc
B) Sizeable portions of the young are now less rooted in the past, be it caste, religion etc. They are interested in economic upliftment. And the paths that take them there.
C) Folks don't take things lying down. The really serious stuff i.e. The cases of folks setting the system right by using Right to Information act is on the up.
D) There is a desire to make things more efficient at the govt authority level. The process is reasonably fast & has started to impact even my life. eg. the BMC runs SAP & getting a birth certificate took all of 1 visit of 20 mins. You can apply for a passport on-line & you get one in a month (to come down to 15 days post a TCS project).
E) Connectivity is changing lifestyles & people.
I could go on...will write more details on my blog!
cheers
Dear Narayan - that's great to hear! I guess one doesn't get to interact with teh parts that work as much from a distance - and most of the time those aspects don't make the headlines! Keep that blog (do send a link) running! And meanwhile I will ponder the NRI syndrome of despair at a distance - the larger the distance...the higher the despair!
yes, it is a rubbish analogy:
The basic premise of the ant/grasshopper story is that they were both on equal ground to start with, but while the ant worked hard, the grashopper wasted his time, hence did not have enough food for winter, etc. etc.
i.e. starving v/s surviving was within the grasshoppers control. This is not the case for many poor Indian people
PS - yes, I do occasionally read this :) Kindly return the favor and post comments etc.
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