Ant & Grasshopper Indian Version

[kseeker]

Original Story:


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 , Asianet 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 .

Mayawati states this as 'injustice' done on Minorities.

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 & Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal 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.

Railway minister 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..

Education minister 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, BBC, CNN.

Arundhati Roy calls it 'A Triumph of Justice'.

Railway minister 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 ,

....AND

As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers, India is still a developing country...!!

N.B.: I have no idea whose creative mind this has come out from, but this piece is awesome..

Source: Whatsapp

I had read this story earlier, perhaps in 2012 or 2013, it appeared again on Whatsapp, thought of posting

 

[tarunraju]

The flaw in that story is lies in what the ant and the grasshopper are capable of.

• Did the grasshopper have the skill to work as well as the ant?
• Did the grasshopper get quality education because his parents were ants, and could pool up enough money for good education?
• Did the grasshopper come from a community which has for several generations moved up from low-paying occupations (such as agriculture, blue-collar jobs), to knowledge-based occupations (in other words, did the grasshopper's family teach him the value of education / skill-development and the need to constantly improve the quality of life)?

The story assumes that both the ant and the grasshopper were sitting on a level playing field, the ant worked his ass out, and the grasshopper was a lazy bum. While the reality is that India's "grasshoppers" likely don't meet the above conditions, because:

• Those grasshoppers were victims of segregation by the caste system, which chose your occupation and role in the society even before you were born
• Over generations of maintaining that archaic segregation, grasshoppers never really learned the value of seeking higher paying occupations by upgrading their skills/knowledge.
• They never saw anything beyond agriculture, sanitation, or whatever menial job society set out for them, until it was suddenly broken to them in 1947, that they're free to be whatever the fvck they want.
• The political class successfully converted what was meant to be temporary side-wheels (reservations), into a permanent birth-right (appeasement politics), thereby disincentivizing both the ant and the grasshopper.

The original "Ant and Grasshopper" fable dates back to pre-industrial revolution Europe, in which barring the royalty, income gaps were rather narrow, and people of the various trades maintained a uniform standard of life. So they lived on a level playing field of the truest sense, and therefore laziness was the only explanation for poverty.

 

[Voldemort]

You missed: Arvind Kejriwal sat on a dharna 2 days before Republic Day and threatened to disrupt it unless Grasshoppers were relocated to warmer climates during winter.

 

[Dovah]

Mehnat karne se kya faida (I watched the translated version as a child)

 

[aerokan]

The flaw in that story is lies in what the ant and the grasshopper are capable of.

• Did the grasshopper have the skill to work as well as the ant?
• Did the grasshopper get quality education because his parents were ants, and could pool up enough money for good education?
• Did the grasshopper come from a community which has for several generations moved up from low-paying occupations (such as agriculture, blue-collar jobs), to knowledge-based occupations (in other words, did the grasshopper's family teach him the value of education / skill-development and the need to constantly improve the quality of life)?

The story assumes that both the ant and the grasshopper were sitting on a level playing field, the ant worked his ass out, and the grasshopper was a lazy bum. While the reality is that India's "grasshoppers" likely don't meet the above conditions, because:

• Those grasshoppers were victims of segregation by the caste system, which chose your occupation and role in the society even before you were born
• Over generations of maintaining that archaic segregation, grasshoppers never really learned the value of seeking higher paying occupations by upgrading their skills/knowledge.
• They never saw anything beyond agriculture, sanitation, or whatever menial job society set out for them, until it was suddenly broken to them in 1947, that they're free to be whatever the fvck they want.
• The political class successfully converted what was meant to be temporary side-wheels (reservations), into a permanent birth-right (appeasement politics), thereby disincentivizing both the ant and the grasshopper.

The original "Ant and Grasshopper" fable dates back to pre-industrial revolution Europe, in which barring the royalty, income gaps were rather narrow, and people of the various trades maintained a uniform standard of life. So they lived on a level playing field of the truest sense, and therefore laziness was the only explanation for poverty.

Ironically, we just saw the modern Indianized version of the Ant and Grasshopper story in the Telugu speaking states today.

When seemandhra people worked to develop the capital of telugu speaking state, Telangana people started making excuses and living off on pitty excuses. When the capital Hyderabad is properly developed, telangana people called for a press conference (let's say Telangana agitation) and wrested the capital from us. Congress divided the state using wretched means and TG people called it justice delivered. There is a reason why there is "Quit Hyderabad" movement initiated by the Seemandhra people today. Despite Seemandhra having no capital, having no money in the treasury left to pay salaries, having only debt which was used to develop Hyderabad (not being shared properly by TG state, true to the nature), we still are confident that we will make a comeback better than before, unlike you who is looking for more excuses why the grasshopper will have troubles compared to the ants, true to Telangana logic. Until you change your attitude, you will remain like grasshoppers despite the sudden surplus budget you garnered from others hardwork.

Generations of our people worked hard to be here, despite our conditions. Don't disrespect our parents and their parents hardwork because yours didn't. As some wise man once said, "Everybody congratulates you when you are pregnant, but nobody talks about how much you got fcuked to get there"

 

[pkroyal]

Fables are for kids ( Ant & the Grasshopper)

For the big boys, practice this !!

It is not hard work alone that gets you a warm bed & food on the table.

A" khacchar" (mule) any day works harder than a derby horse, what does the mule get ( not even a chance to stud)

Stone breakers or " dehadi" labourers work physically much harder than their counterparts sitting in cozy AC cabins.

What gets you the big bucks is :-

Application of Intelligence
Efficiency ( not mindless hard work)
Loads of Energy ( you can only operate/use what you have, so generate more)
Being at the right place at the right time under the right boss ( mentor? + Luck ?)
Positive attitude ( never a "NO")
Character ( self developed / uniqueness as an individual)
Integrity ( reputation of not being a " chor" )
People Skills ( Patience, No back biting, Empathy, Courtesy & good manners)
A sense of humour always helps.

It takes a lot to master these skills / virtues
Are you up to it ?

I speak from a bit of experience, a bit of observation , a bit of research & being VP of a Maruti Suzuki dealership ( biggest in Rajasthan & 14th out of 1200 in India)

 

[pmaitra]

Original Story:


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.

Excellent. Completely agree with the moral of the story.

We should always focus on hard work, and not greed. Reminds me of this picture.

Thanks for sharing.