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A Class Analogy: Ant And Grasshopper

Posted by Rahul Desai on Thu, Jun 12, 2008
 

 

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.Ant and Grasshopper
  • Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

 

The Indian Reality:

  • 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.
  • 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 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'. 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 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...!!! :-(

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COMMENTS

All your embedded videos are no longer available. This makes for a very unpleasant website viewing experience. Just thought you should know.

posted @ Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:37 PM by Jam Meister


it's just amazing. i wonder how i missed reading this article. it's the bitter truth. i guess its slowly slowly changing.

posted @ Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:22 AM by Suhas Trivedi


Hiii 
 
I happen to come across your site.. this particular post was very gud... well done.. 
 
Swathi

posted @ Tuesday, January 13, 2009 8:23 AM by Swathi


I read this Joke earlier (someone sent me through email) and I laughed so much and the sad part is, it depicts the reality.

posted @ Thursday, May 07, 2009 8:02 PM by Brijesh Raut


@Jam: I agree it can be really disappointing to land at a 'Video' page and find very few actual videos available.  
 
I was aware of this issue, but it always makes more (and prominent) sense when you receive an input in the form an honest feedback. I was facing some 'privacy' challenges, for which I had to disable the videos all of a sudden.  
 
However, things are sorted now and off late I've added a few more. I hope it would be a better experience the next time you browse through this website pages.

posted @ Monday, August 08, 2011 4:11 AM by Rahul Desai


Suhas, Birju:  
 
Thanks for stopping by. Just as you mentioned, while it's funny (and hilarious) it's much more unfortuante for us - Indians (in India or even outside).  
 
The latest 'wind' of 'Lokpal/Lpkayukta' and Resp Anna Hazare's movement have raised hopes - let's just hope, pray and work for a better tomorrow!

posted @ Monday, August 08, 2011 7:31 AM by Rahul Desai


@Swathi: Thanks for your appreciation - I look forward to your visits and comments to other articles too.

posted @ Monday, August 08, 2011 7:33 AM by Rahul Desai


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