Ant & Grasshopper
Someone sent me this story:
Ant & Grasshopper
U.S. 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 & 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.
Amnesty International and Koffi 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.
BJP wants Sonia Gandhi's apology.
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 ...
As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!!
Cheers to India
Now the question is is this a correct approach to have? I am an Indian studying in the US. I got a good education while I was in India, and after that I was able to get into a good US college.
Most of the other people of my immediate family - cousins etc. who have also been able to obtain an US education were able to do so primarily because their parents were rich. I can trace back affluence in our family as far back as my grandfather, who I believe was the first one to become relatively well off after India's independence. He was able to do so because he had some education. My maternal grandfather was highly educated (a doctor) and his son, my maternal uncle, went to a good college and immigrated to the United States in the 60's (I think).
What I am trying to say is that unlike this version of the story where it is liberals against the conservatives, the above version denounces the entire Indian political system. I am sure that the political system is broken in India, but I do not think that all the masses that are really suffering because of their incompetence or laziness. I donot think that the huge masses who live in poverty, in want are doing so because of their laziness as the story seems to be trying to point out. Its true that they are being exploited by the system and that its the politicians who are to blame, but the grasshopper in India is working hard. Harder than any grasshopper in the US does anyway.
These so called hundreds of masses that are "still dying of starvation" are being forced to do so not because they were frolicking all summer, but because a summer's worth of hard sweat cannot buy you enough for winter if you are a lowly grasshopper.
Ant & Grasshopper
U.S. 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 & 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.
Amnesty International and Koffi 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.
BJP wants Sonia Gandhi's apology.
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 ...
As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!!
Cheers to India
Now the question is is this a correct approach to have? I am an Indian studying in the US. I got a good education while I was in India, and after that I was able to get into a good US college.
Most of the other people of my immediate family - cousins etc. who have also been able to obtain an US education were able to do so primarily because their parents were rich. I can trace back affluence in our family as far back as my grandfather, who I believe was the first one to become relatively well off after India's independence. He was able to do so because he had some education. My maternal grandfather was highly educated (a doctor) and his son, my maternal uncle, went to a good college and immigrated to the United States in the 60's (I think).
What I am trying to say is that unlike this version of the story where it is liberals against the conservatives, the above version denounces the entire Indian political system. I am sure that the political system is broken in India, but I do not think that all the masses that are really suffering because of their incompetence or laziness. I donot think that the huge masses who live in poverty, in want are doing so because of their laziness as the story seems to be trying to point out. Its true that they are being exploited by the system and that its the politicians who are to blame, but the grasshopper in India is working hard. Harder than any grasshopper in the US does anyway.
These so called hundreds of masses that are "still dying of starvation" are being forced to do so not because they were frolicking all summer, but because a summer's worth of hard sweat cannot buy you enough for winter if you are a lowly grasshopper.
posted by Arya Chatterjee at
7:35 AM
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