The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The original traditional story with the traditional Moral:

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs, & dances & plays the summer away.

The Ant V/s The 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 Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The ' INDIAN ' version of the Story in a present scenario:

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper sees that the Ant is warm and well fed in its house.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

He calls a press conference and demands to know why Ants should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN, Z-News all show up to provide vivid and shocking pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The world is stunned by the sharp contrast. How is it fair that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticise the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising everlasting peace and true love and salary raises for prompt support, as against terribly bad luck for non-compliance ). Chain Mails abound in support of the Grasshopper.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Opposition MPs stage a walkout in the Parliament of India in protest.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Left parties call for 'Bharat Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a judicial enquiry in the matter.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

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.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Lalu Prasad allocates one free rail coach to Grasshoppers on a new train - aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the 'Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]', with effect from the beginning of the winter.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Arjun Singh makes 'special reservation' for Grasshoppers in all educational institutions and Government services.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

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, Z-TV etc

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Arundhati Roy calls it 'a triumph of justice'.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Lalu calls it a victory of 'socialistic justice'.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Indians read about all these happenings in their daily newspapers and telecasts without emotion or reaction, and Life goes on as usual in India ...

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Many years later

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley. With a comfortable 12 bedroom house with a carpool and private airstrip, it has no intentions of returning to India..

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

Hundreds of Grasshoppers still die of starvation in India despite 'reservations' and despite all kinds of perks and privileges supposedly doled out by the Govt.

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

As a result of losing most of our hardworking Ants to Europe, USA and Middle East, and due to our continuous feeding and supporting such useless Leeches & Grasshoppers ...

The Ant V/s The Grasshopper

India still remains a Developing Country