Lizards For Lunch!

By Manuwant Choudhary

The other day I was driving to get urgently to the Patna airport when I came across a roadblock. In Bihar roadblocks are common but the reasons could vary..from accidents to settling private family disputes...everything can be achieved by blocking the road...and sometimes for people in remote areas its the only way to get governments attention.

But this day as my car slowed down a man said, "Sirr...pooora paanh ghanta lagega...(sir you will have to sit here for a full 5 hours..)

But by then I'd miss my flight I explained to the man.

So I asked him whats the matter and he replied, "Sirrr, girgit mar gaya!" (A Lizard has died)

I could not understand why villagers would block a road for the death of a simple lizard. Surely a lizard is not Laloo Prasad Yadav!

So I asked again, "Girgit marne se kahin road jaam hua hai...Where in the world have you seen a road blockade for the death of a lizard?"

The villager then replies, "Sirrr, khane mein girgit mar gaya hai..." (sir, the lizard died in the food).

Aah I said, even then I took my chance I crawled to the point of the blockade taking my chance. Surely, they wont throw stones
for something like this...I found women, children and stainless steel cooking utensils sitting on the road, found a gap..and sped away.

Not realising what the fuss was all about....but the other day another piece of news caught my attention where 150 children were in a Sasaram hospital because they consumed food containing a dead lizard. Poison.

But surely, parents how can they serve lizards to their own children - their life and blood.

You guessed wrong. Its not parents who feed India's children but the `Mai-baap-sarkaar' (Mother-father-government.)

And they do this not with a view of providing clean food and water to the poor but only to give them something so that they in turn vote the Congress Party back to power.

I searched the net for Lizards for Lunch and I found such stories across India - from Kanpur to Kerala - children being served Lizards for Lunch!

But our Supreme Court thinks its only an `academic issue'.

Food from our public distribution system rots under the open sky because there are not enough godowns..while India's poor go hungry. But for the Supreme Court its an academic issue.

Prices soar and all that our MPs can do is bring a `sthagan' prastaav...`adjournment motion'...but they cannot arrest the rising prices. But this too is an `academic issue' for our courts.

And today The Times of India has a story on how the CBI has found that three High Court judges spent the Employees Provident Fund on paying grocery bills to buying furntiture..to renovating their own sons homes. This too will be only of `academic interest' to our courts.

The reason I oppose socialism tooth and nail is because it destroys my country everyday.

Socialism destroys the ability of Indians to cherish hard work.

I oppose socialism because socialism breeds corruption...a system favouring the goons and the powerful..and discouraging honesty.

My father used to say there are only two castes in India - the first caste is the politician and the second caste is the people.

I oppose socialism because it prevents India from finding its rightful place under the sun.

Socialism is poisonous.