Fable time again......

My initial foray in to writing in Kannada. I must say this has created quite a bit of flutter in Kannada literary circles. The Kannada sahithya academy has sat up and tooknotice of the new emerging talent. Moreover prominent writers of the language have heartily welcomed my entry and many of them have expressed that with writers like me attempting to dish out mind numbing rubbish will make the patrons of Kannada literature to realise that there are so many better works in Kannada when compared to my writings. They hope that this will actually boost the sales of their works. All I have to say is that I am privileged to have made some contribution to the literature and humbly accept the accolades.

Now I am back with my latest in lingua franca. Though its not an original of mine (do I hear sighs of relief out there ?), I feel that its very funny take on the current state of affairs. And as all good satires must do, it raises some very relevant questions.

Apologies if you have already read this as a forwarded mail, cause I too got this from a mail.

Ant & the Grasshopper... This is a fable which most of us know.

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.

Now here's the politically correct and sensational 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 stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper allowed suffering 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 Kofi 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.

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, fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes; its 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 '

Kofi 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 because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!!