The Ant and the Grasshopper.

Almost all of us have read this story in our schools, but most of us don’t follow it.

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 is a fool and laughs and dances and 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.

New 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 is a fool and laughs and dances and 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 and 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 it be that the 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 Kofi 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.
Opposition MPs disrupt the Parliament work and stage a walkout. Left
parties call for a “Bharat Bandh” in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a
judicial enquiry. The 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 the grasshoppers on all Indian Railway trains, aptly named 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 and in government services.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, has 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 the NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it a “triumph of 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 migrated to the USA and being diligent and sincere, set up a
multi-billion dollar company in the Silicon Valley. Hundreds of
grasshoppers still die of starvation in India despite reservation. As a
result of losing a lot of hard-working ants and feeding the lazy
grasshoppers, India is still a developing country.