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TWO stories with different versions
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.
The 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, Aaj tak, 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 Institutions 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 had 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, India continues to lose lots of 'simple but hard working ants'while constantly feeding the ever growing colonies of "smart but lazy grasshoppers".
It is no surprise, therefore, that India still remains in the list of developing countries even after nearly 50 billion man-years of Independence .
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