The ant and the elephant..

Sreehari. | Movies | September 28, 2007 at 1:28 am

So what relevance does this insignificant insipid post of sorts hold in a site that is supposed to promote cinema? Nothing absolutely… But its a fable. Part of a heritage we all grew up listening to… A fable told exactly the way it should be……

Long before it was theorized that the universe actually consisted of layers of amorphous solids floating endlessly, much before it was discovered that an atom could actually be disintegrated into smaller sub-atomic particles, much much before it came to the notice of a certain Samaritan that an apple falling freely from an apple-tree wasn’t a mere occurrence but it had its base in a scientific fact, ‘they’ have been existing; Co-existing in harmony. Yes, the ants and the elephants despite their cultural differences, linguistic variations and divergent outlooks had always found solace in each other’s company. This is the story of one such ant and one such elephant.

As warring school kids growing up,the window seat adjacent to the driver was always a contentious issue. The elephant almost always tripped over and overran the ant en route to occupying the coveted position. The ant complained that the elephant was merely relying on his masculinity to achieve what he wanted to achieve. The elephant argued that it wasn’t a case of masculinity but “stronger muscle power”.

The ant was a student of computer science who after completing her course got into ‘quality assurance and patenting’ out of self-interest. The elephant on the other hand was coaxed into taking up ‘political science’ by his father, but dropped out of it in the second year to opt for software development.

The ant and the elephant would often pass by a pale-looking beggar on the ‘Peddar Street’. The ant would stop, exclaim dejectedly, “Ahh those monsters who in pursuit of monetary happiness and lucrative gains have turned a blind eye to those deprived of basic, minimal human needs”, look sympathetically at the beggar and walk away.
The elephant would drop a penny into the beggar’s begging bowl, click a snap of the beggar and say to himself,” I am going to make some hard cash out of selling this picture to some sadistic westerner as a portrait of THE POOR INDIA”.

The ant and the elephant dated for a brief period. Their breakup was finalized over a meal at a restaurant. The ant thought that the elephant’s policy of tipping way too high was a display of utter snobbishness. The elephant tried explaining that the tip was more of an investment, a way of ensuring better service for their next meal. The ant snapped back,” There is no question of better service, because there wont be another meal”.

The ant plunged money into public sector undertakings, made meager profit margins but never ventured outside her trusted investment-socket. The elephant started out with equity, moved onto real estate then onto mid-caps and finally made his foray into the large-cap section.

The ant’s favorite movie was the “The Motorcycle Diaries” while that of the elephant was “The Sweet smell of success”. The ant loved going on getaway vacations. Her preferred holiday destinations were Cuba, Russia and Kerala while that of the elephant was always New York.

The ant and the elephant were both voracious readers. However, while the ant believed that the essence of any good book lay in its story, the elephant believed that the story was just incidental to the narrative format and style of presentation.

Even after they broke-up, the ant and the elephant remain close confidants. The elephant during one of their many juvenile conversations, once questioned the ant’s atheistic leanings to which the ant replied, “God is a minor entity when compared to what I believe in”..
The elephant thought that it required “Balls” to say such a thing. The ant shot back,” But you have the muscles..dont you?”

Physical encumbrances got in the way of both the ant and the elephant towards the later part of their lives. The ant was diagnosed with having diabetes. It upset her because she thought, diabetes was essentially a “ Rich Man’s disease”. The elephant had contracted chronic pneumonia and was upset because the disease was taking up too much of his time.

The ant’s epitaph read, “Thou shall not come here and cry over my tombstone, cos at the end of the day, I was just one of you”.
The elephant’s epitaph read, “ I wish I had more time. Being alive would have been so much better”.

So, what did you infer about the ant and the elephant?

Answer: That the ant was a socialist while the elephant was a capitalist.

(PS: If you thought the ending was a bit too oversimplified…… remember….. so are the endings of most ant-elephant stories…)
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