Despite of being the largest democracy in the world, we are far behind in nearly every
respect from the rest of the world. It is a thing to ponder that who is
responsible for this state of affairs even after 67 years of Independence.
You all might have heard
of the original Ant and Grasshopper story . Well I am here with a new latest
version of the story according to present state of affairs of India. It is a
kind of parody or the corrupted version of the original story. Although the parody was not written by me but
I have suitably abridged and modified it according to the need while trying to
retain the central theme as much as possible. So here we go :
THE ANT AND GRASSHOPPER STORY- ORIGINAL VERSION
The Ant Works hard in
the withering heat all summer building its house and laying supplies for the
winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs, dances and plays
all the summer. With the onset of winter the Ant's hard work pays off and it
and its family are warm and well fed. While the Grasshopper has no food or
shelter so it dies in the cold.
THE ANT AND GRASSHOPPER STORY- 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 is a fool and laughs, dances and plays
all the summer. When the winter comes the Ant and its family are well fed and
are warm.
The Grasshopper as usual
has no food or shelter. But here the shivering Grasshopper calls for a PRESS
CONFERENCE and demands to know, “why the Ant be allowed to be warm and warm and
well fed while others are cold and starving?".
NDTV, BBC, CNN, ABPnews,
AAJTAK 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 whole world is
stunned by the sharp contrast. Everybody wonders, " How can the poor Grasshopper be allowed to
suffer so?".
Soon numerous online
petitions are launched seeking justice for the Grasshopper. Many of them even promised
heaven or ever-lasting peace for prompt support as against the wrath of god for
non-compliance.( Can you Believe it?)
A Booker prize novelist
turned self proclaimed activist ( She has been supportive of cause of many secessionist organisations working against the
country in the past ) called Mrs. RA stages a demonstration in front of the
Ant's house.
Another well known lady
activist ( She has a habit of going to fast whenever a developmental project is
carried out in the country so as to protect the environment.) called Mrs. M goes on to fast ( as expected! )
demanding that
Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Another leader ( she is
also a woman, yo! GIRL POWER! and the so-called camaraderie of backward
communities) states the situation as ' injustice ' on depressed community of
Grasshopper.
Opposition members of
parliament stage a walk out. so-called Socialist parties' leaders call for bandh in the states where they have strong foothold.
The government of a
southern state passes a law to ban the Ants from working hard in the heat so as
to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
The bollywood organizes
a grand charity function to show solidarity with the Grasshopper. The king of
the bollywood hosts the show which is held in Venetian Macau and is aired all
over the world. The star attraction of the show is not the Grasshopper but the
glam-dolls of the bollywood ( Who don't know anything apart from belly-dancing,
not even acting). From this show the whole world realizes the real pain and
suffering of the Grasshopper. ( you can guess better! ).
Amnesty international
decides to intervene in to the contentious issue and the UN criticizes the
Indian Government for not upholding the rights of Grasshopper.
Meanwhile the Indian
Space Research Organisation places a satellite in to the orbit to ensure
24-hour high speed broadband access to the people. But it is severely
criticized by a new wave of self critics in numerous TV interviews calling the
mission a wastage of money which could have been better spent on Grasshoppers.
The railway minister (
he has a dubious distinction of siphoning of cattle fodder for his personal use, I still wonder what kind of personal use he means?) allocates a free coach to Grasshopper
on all Indian trains.
Finally the judicial
committee drafts the ' Prevention of Discrimination against the Grasshoppers
act ' [PODAGA] effective immediately with the onset of winter.
The government raises
the tax bracket of the Ants.
The Ant is fined heavily
failing to comply with PODAGA. Having nothing left to pay its retroactive
taxes, the Ant's property is confiscated by Government and is handed over
to Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, AAJTAK, CNN, ZEE news, ABP news.
Mrs. RA calls it ' A TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE '.
The railway minister
calls it ' Socialist Justice '.
The leaders of socialist
parties term it as the ' Revolutionary Upsurge of
the Downtrodden Grasshoppers ' .
The head of the
organisation which plans the developmental activities for the entire nation (
The person thinks that Rs.32/- a day is enough to make a poor man’s living
worthwhile ) calls it a ‘ Equitable
Redistribution of National Wealth ’.
The Grasshopper gets a
UN invitation to address the UN general assembly.
Meanwhile having nothing
left the Ant immigrates to the USA.
Many Years Later:
The Ant has migrated to
US and setup a multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 company in Silicon Valley. In
spite of the preferential treatment being given by the government to the
Grasshopper it dies due to cold and starvation (The reader knows why? ). The
system senses a conspiracy and the investigation is handed over to the elite CBI.
CBI uses its innovative investigative methodology ( You know how they do it! ) and finds the involvement of Ants. Soon the
Ant is implicated in the case. After dragging the case for more than 10 years
the Ant is extradited from the US and put to jail in India.
Meanwhile the original
home of Ant which was handed over to the Grasshoppers few years back is
illegally taken over by the spiders that now terrorize the once peaceful neighbourhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY
As the story unfolds the normal Indian public becomes more and
more confused. The country loses its hard-working Ants apart from misguided
innocent Grasshoppers who could have proven to be docile workforce while
benefiting the anti-social Spiders. The whole world watches us carefully and
laughs at us and we still remain a developing country.
No comments:
Post a Comment