Editorial»
Cake eating game
JAN 20 - There live a small number of people in a dark corner of the world. They are not like Lilliputians nor are they like Brobdingnagians. Their history is great, their ancestors brave, so brave that even the people living in the bright corners of the globe know and appreciate them. We have glorious history, we lived autonomously and we have never let foreigners’ rule upon us, they proudly say. It is another thing that sometimes they don’t fall short of blaming their ancestors for their sufferings. What the ills are, everybody seems to know, yet no one really sees them for those ills are their own, generated by them and created by them.
Not very long ago, it happened that these people brought a change in the system of government and were proud about it. Heretofore, they said, one spoke and others listened, but henceforth, all would speak and all would listen. The change allowed everyone to speak. However, all began to speak at once and incessantly. From a handful of those clever speakers, it was decided that some would have the privilege to rule while all others would have to become the ruled. The rulers were rulers, yet they claimed they were not. They were always ready with “ifs and buts” when it came to giving explanations regarding their deeds. The rest, ostensibly happy now, believed what their rulers said.
The rulers, however, treated the land they ruled as a “national cake”. Then, they tasted and consumed as much as possible from the cake. These cake eaters were so much absorbed in eating that they wanted the cake never to finish, they wanted all the cake for themselves. Those out of that cake eating game supposed that what the cake eaters said were true and acted accordingly. But, they were wrong. Soon, the situation worsened. Cake eaters forgot who they were and where they hailed from. Only a handful of people benefited. Only those close to them got to do what they wanted and deserved. At this point, however, there emerged better people. They were intellectuals and virtuous souls but they, too, had to be considered fit by the cake eaters before they could do anything good. What mattered was who you knew and not what you knew.
Now, the cake eaters started to exceed the limits. They laughed and made merry when others were crying. They belched yummy victuals when others were starving; they erected skyscrapers when millions of others were living in huts - the roofs of which leaked in the rain. Some mustered up courage to oppose these cake eaters. Their campaign went unnoticed in the beginning. However, gradually the campaigners established themselves as a force to reckon with.
The campaign was led by a man, whom some considered the representative of peace, order and justice. Others questioned that edict and still do. The man said the cake eaters should not be allowed to continue lest they ate up the whole cake. Now, all those cake eaters and their followers cry because they have lost the sweet cake they once consumed and relished. And, they are not alone. Alas! Now, in that land, every body cries.Posted on: 2004-01-21 03:56
Headlines
Advertisements
