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indian politics....
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juice
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
59
Posts :
2081
Posted : Mar 26, 2007 11:24
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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's 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.
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 & 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 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 MP's 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' 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 loosing lot of hard working ants and
feeding the grasshoppers India is still a developing
country....
  Studies indicate that listening to music is good for digestion. |
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phazed
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
26
Posts :
1642
Posted : Mar 30, 2007 10:09
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v.v2
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
83
Posted : Apr 1, 2007 18:08
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i recieved this forward a few weeks ago and was moved enough to reply to it...here is what i wrote, cut'n'paste -
While funny, I find this anecdote insinuates that the poor of this country are not hardworking, while the rich are*. It also suggests that opportunities are equally available to everyone. Both statements are false.
Further, it subliminally demeans socialism and communist ideology, giving a thumbs up to capitalism in the process. Let us be reminded here that were it not for the socialist fabric of our counrty, things would not have been the same as they are today, and I am talking about emergence of this country as an economic power. Everyone harps about what opening-up of the economy has done for us since '91, but very few realise that it was possible only because we were able to take everyone together until then. You can't run before you can walk.
Now let me add a twist to the story.
Ant came from a brahmin background while the grasshopper was a dalit. Ant went to the best school in the city, while the grasshopper's parents couldn't afford any. Ant could thus find a job which paid well, but the grasshoper had no other option but to work as a construction labourer. The heavy physical work meant that every evening his body would ache so much that he drank cheap country liquor to numb it. This led him to become a chronic alcoholic, while the Ant got a promotion which meant that he now sat in a plush a/c office in the center of town. Things were still fine, as they were, but one day the government decided that it was no use protecting the grasshopper and decided to take away his land to build a dam so that more ants could prosper. The ant, still not satisfied, wrote this anecdote, circulated it on the web, and migrated to US anyway. The country was thus left with only uneducated chronic alcoholics.
The lesson:
1. Arundhati Roy and Medha Patkar are right in their efforts to protect the grasshoppers
2. Amnesty International and Kofi Annan have done more good than all the ants put together
3. Left parties are not necessarily anti-progress
4. Lalu Prasad, obnoxious as he may be, is actually a good railway minister
5. Arjun Singh is doing the good thing
6. We need to provide a cushion to the poor (more than half this country still earns less than 2 US a day) since the rich can fend for themselves anyway
* NDTV, BBC, CNN, Amnesty, UN, Arundhati, Medha, etc. are not pro-laziness but speak for emancipation of the poor. Hence, though not explicit, laziness = poor is nevertheless the implied sense.
cheers, and sorry for the diatribe...
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