Feature

Of ants and men

Tawsif Saleheen

(The following article is a work of fiction, and carries no resemblance whatsoever to any particular person or people, especially politicians.)

Sokhina and Waleda were two stupid brats who loved to play in this wee little garden right next to their neighborhood. However, the two of them were not exactly what one would call buddies. Sokhina and Waleda hated each other like archenemies. They even had different groups of friends, and there was this pesky precognition that Waleda owned the garden during the morning, whereas Sokhina owned the garden during the afternoons. Hence, every morning Waleda would stomp around the garden uprooting any bright, little flower that managed to bloom and killing any cute, little butterfly that managed to flutter. She'd only be replaced by Sokhina in the afternoon, who in turn would carry on similar flower-uprooting and butterfly-bashing activities. The next morning Waleda would take over, and the sinister cycle would go on. Apparently, they called it democracy.

However, one shiny day Waleda and her friends decided to stomp around the garden in the afternoon as well. Sokhina went haywire, and after a major skirmish it was decided that an election would be held to decide who got to mess-up the garden that particular afternoon. The election procedure was very scientific: Sokhina and Waleda would stand a couple of yards apart and a handful of ants would be placed equidistant from them. If the ants ran towards Waleda she'd win, and if they ran the other way around Sokhina would win the election.

The ants, by the way, were the original inhabitants of the garden. They were a peaceful bunch that worked day and night, collecting bits and scraps of food from all over the garden. The poor little ants were always overworked, barely managing to survive amidst all the mess created by both Sokhina and Waleda. They hated both, and didn't care who won the election as long as they stopped stomping around.

To make matters worse, just an hour before the election Sokhina declared that the election shouldn't be held in the first place because Waleda apparently had cloned two hundred extra ants and genetically mutated them to run towards her side once the election started. Waleda denied, while hiding a jar of ants behind her back. One thing led to another and before anyone knew a brutal battle broke out between Sokhina and Waleda.

For hours and hours Sokhina and Waleda chased each other around the garden. Their friends threw stones at each other, and although they themselves went unharmed the garden was literally torn apart. Plants were stomped, trees ended up with broken branches, and all the ants cowered under flimsy colonies trembling with fear. At one point they ran out of food and began to starve with their children. Finally a bunch of brave ants volunteered to go out in this mayhem in search for food. They knew they might never return, but they couldn't keep the entire colony starving. They set forth. The other ants waited and hoped for their safe return.

By evening, the once beautiful garden had turned into a reincarnation of hell. All the trees were set on fire, and as the twigs and the branches burnt with a morbid murmur, Sokhina and Waleda chased each other around with diabolic glee.

It was only when the garden was almost entirely burnt that the elders of the neighborhood seemed to see the mayhem. The U.N. (United Neighbors) decided that the garden should have a new caretaker. The caretaker was selected, and being a man of action he set forth to fix the garden right away. He caught both Sokhina and Waleda and dragged them out of the garden. A couple of Waleda's friends were apprehended for pocketing tin cans which were initially designed for planting seeds. Sokhina and Waleda were both grounded.

It was a happy ending. Well, almost.

Somewhere in the corner of the garden, in a forlorn colony, a bunch of ants still trembled with fear and sheer hunger, hoping against all odds that their friends who had set forth to bring food were still alive. A little distance away from the colony, the caretaker cleaned and trimmed the garden hoping to reinstate the beauty it once had. Suddenly, he stopped. There were a handful of ants lying on the ground, dead. Their tiny little bodies were stomped to almost nothingness. Just ants, nothing substantial - the caretaker told himself. He swept the ants to the dustbin. No one cares about ants. Except for fellow ants may be.