MARK BRADSHAW forwards a forward that is self-explanatory:
**
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 is a fool and laughs and dances and 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 and dances and 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 Kofi 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). Opposition MPs 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’ Kofi 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. Hudnreds of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India.
Not Funny at all..but a piece of…
LikeLike
Very witty and sadly, true.
I would modify the last sentence to read as, “Hundreds of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation ‘everywhere in India.”
LikeLike
Surely the ant lobby is behind this write up! But it’s hard to say Indian Grass hoppers dance in the summer!
LikeLike
This is sadly true in majority of grasshoppers because nobody told the grasshopper the impending truth that it would die of starvation – so the govt should build exclusive schools to teach these grasshoppers and follow the ant.
Cut to real world, its a sad but true story of the mera barath mahan!
LikeLike
It should read ‘…Arundathi Roy makes an appearance at one of the demonstrations…’ where she would raise 10 questions as how the ant alone could amass so much food.
LikeLike
As N.S says its “sadly true”…
LikeLike
Pingback: The U.S.A needs reservations in India « Bangalore Blues
Point to be noted: Its the ant who enacted social laws to prevent grasshopper from building house & gathering supplies (read forbid education) !!
This article is written to satisfy the ego of the ant and doesn’t serve any purpose. Just think: can a grasshopper imagine to migrate to US? Where is the money/assets? Its with ant.
LikeLike
The system/govt. reservation policy is an evidence of its admission that it has failed to provide basic education to the deprived lot. So it is reseving as a form of compensation for this unhappy lot, result being the gap created in the society and the personal loss to the unreserved catagory along with the national loss and SHAME!
The govt. should give free food, free quality education, and all the facility to aid the development of the knowledge instead of just trying to place the unqualified lot in the qualified place. Let the govt. adopt the economically backward people totally, unconnected to religion.
Can’t we do away with the ‘caste colounm’ in all official and other records and applications?
Religion is a personal funda. Why should it be made public? We have seen more harm than utility with all this policies.
AND FOR SURE CORRUPTION IS THE OUTCOME OF THIS RESERVATION POLICY
It is like the unreserved category being blamed and beaten for the impotence of the lawmakers.
LikeLike
Mohan
No one need to tell the Grosshopper (us) the impending truth but for the Grosshopper! Its high time the Grosshopper(us) kick its crutches and and become confident and independent. Govt wud never build exclusive schools since if they do it, grosshopper will becomes knowledeble and in lie with ant…in which case there will be no room for dirty politics.
(When was) Mera bharath Mahan!
:-(
LikeLike
A correction…..
grosshopper will becomes knowledgeable and in line with ant
LikeLike
Arjun Singh will demand quota for grass hoppers in H1B visas
LikeLike
humorous and yet true. sad to note this point though!
LikeLike
Is this some kind of sick joke by a higher caste (so called) guy from India who had to leave the country because “he could not stand a man and face the competition” while the weak got a bit of support from the government?
LikeLike
“Sadly True.” Sums it up well.
I agree word to word with vna. And all the reservation supporters here, Get a Life. You people are sinking this country of ours in leadership of that $#@$@$!$! Arjun Singh.
Why can’t you people see the petty politics being played.
LikeLike
The True Nature of Ants.
Ants aren’t singular creatures. They live in colonies by the thousands, even millions at times. If the grasshopper cares to mock them they kill the grasshopper, cut apart his body, and drag it back to the colony. The same is true of the spiders. They work and work and work all summer to collect food for the coming of winter while most other insects frolic, play, and do as they will with little regard for the coming winter. Here’s where the story goes completely askew, the ants die. The ants that worked so hard all summer just died. Scratch that not all of them died. However none of them will see the spring. Why did they work so hard then? They exist for the queen not for themselves all of that food they collected was to keep the queen and enough ants to tend to the queen alive. Even if the ants survive the frost the workers and warriors have very short life span. Why is this? As soon as the food can’t be collected, and the colony doesn’t need to be defended these lower ants are a liability, mouths to feed, nothing else. All of there hard work won’t buy them their own lives. All that matters for the species is that the queen lives on. It’s much easier to make new workers and warriors in the spring than it is to maintain them all winter. The truth is all the spiders, all the grasshoppers, all the politicians, all of the pitiful six O’clock news reports about how the grasshoppers are dieing right here in our own country couldn’t stop the ants from doing what they do.
LikeLike
claps to the creative genius behind the story to begin with!!!!
i believe a social equality is never possible without intellectual equality…reservations which Gandhiji proposed only for the first 2 five year plans should be taken off ,,,,what the so called weak sector need is just equal oppurtunies of basic human rights…only through facing competition and not through reservations(it just hinders our nations growth) will they achieve equality!
we should note that USA overcame an even worse crisis with no reservations( blacks were given just equal rights with whites) and a black man has made it to the ‘white house”…
LikeLike
@ Second Last Comment from “me”:
But you see, ants finally took care of themselves. They ended up being happy. If everyone had such a skill to take care of oneself, country would be far far ahead. The only reason that’s not true, is because some people aren’t able to survive. And although it’s not the case that there’s nothing we can do, there’s no reason one should do anything. If those people don’t contribute anything to the society, the society doesn’t pay back. That’s how societies and economic markets work.
LikeLike