Nation and Kids

                                                 Comparing nations with kids

Countries across the world are engaged in a never ending squabble for leadership. Attainment of power, resources, sweet fruits of trade and commerce. The true purpose of this struggle is perhaps unknown, and it might be that there never is any purpose at all, in spite of which the struggles go on.

The complex forces that determine the behaviours of one country towards the other are no different however than those operating between the group of boys that play in a park. If we draw comparisons, then indeed there would indeed be many commonalities that are surprising at first and then on later thought would go on to make more sense.

We might have to figure out who’s who, but once that is done…. It’s all a kids play.

Let’s say that the biggest, baddest bully at any time is the largest country that rules the world at that point of time. The bully also has a couple of friends of the same stature and strength with the help of which he can rule all the others. Some years ago, the world had two of these bullies, Sam and the Bear.

 Sam was a kind of extroverted and a spendthrift. He had golden hair and a perfect smile. Big powerful muscles supported his frame and his experienced friends like Aunt Victoria and Lord Louis, who taught him the ways of the world. He always remained cheerful and had a big farm in his backyard which gave him ample amounts of fruits.  He had a carrot and a stick which he used to make the other kids listen to him.

Those who listened to him got the carrot and a light tap, those who didn’t … well they too got the stick and the carrot but not through the usual route. He and his group of friends would snatch the pocket money of the smaller, poorer kids and then shared the spoils on cigarettes, fuel and bling. Sam and his friends constantly worked on devices with which to kill the Bear, whom they were secretly afraid of, considering the fact that he was after all a big, nasty bear.

The Bear was a quiet, stout fellow. He had a large brood of kids to look after, who had considered him their father. He protected his kids from Sam and his friends, but for that the kids had to work hard for the Bear. The Bear was wary of external influences too and thus prohibited his children from looking at the other kids. So he kept all of his kids indoors and spanked any of them who tried to peek outside. The house was cold and comfortless, but it was practical and slowly most of the kids were becoming stronger than before. Some of them sulked that they were getting less food than the sick ones, but they put up with it for the sake of brotherly love. Inside the house, he treated the kids more or less equally. Secretly however, he kept taking their pocket money for building slingshots to hit Sam and his friends.

Now both Sam and the Bear had obtained a gun. But, since using the gun would result in the park being closed down forever and also and eminent danger to their lives, they only showed it off. Sam had fired two shots at Mr. Nippo and had injured his testicles… both of them. Everyone was so alarmed by the gun that, they would from time to time get bigger guns and show them off, creating tensions and maintaining their fear. No one however would fire them now. Since the guns cost them a lot of their pocket money, Sam and Bear simply snatched the money of the poorer kids.

The poorer kids however were too small to figure out who took away their money. For a long time , they had been kept blindfolded and constantly fought amongst themselves to vent their anger.

Some of them were so weak and emaciated that they had to be fed artificial milk, which in the long term would make them sick… but for the while would allow them to stand up again. Now, whenever one of the smaller kids fell sick, either Sam or the Bear would tend to him. You could go to either one of them, but then the other would get angry and try to get wherever he could.

One day, a lot of the kids who had been blind folded, decided that they no longer wanted to play the unfair game. Sam and his friends never wore the blindfold which they had to wear and also took away their food and clothes. Grudgingly Sam and his friends removed their blindfolds

Amongst them was a girl called Indira. Since she was a shy girl who had been beaten quite badly at home and had trust issues. She decided not to go with either one of them. Some other kids also came along with her and they went and sat in between  the park. A sick kid called Chin-Lee also entered the park and went straight to the Bear for help and support. India had a small brother called Paki who went to Sam as he wanted to beat India with a stick of his own.

Now many kids who had entered the park recently were quite unsure of what to do. The black kids were beaten black and blue by both the Bear and Sam in order to win them over. One day a poor Sheikh’s son found a big box of energy drinks buried under his toilet. Since he was in Sam’s gang, he sold them to Sam for merely his carrots and promised that he would only accept Sam’s carrots as a payment for the energy drinks. Since everyone wanted the tasty, energy drinks, Sam’s carrots became pretty popular and Sam quite wealthy.

Since Sam had a lot of big sticks and brass knuckles,  Sam decided to pick on Viet Phu, a weak kid who sold rice on the pavement. Viet Phu however was not easily subdued. He hid in the small ditches in which Sam couldn’t crawl in and started poking at him with twigs given to him by the bear. Eventually, Sam had to leave red faced.

Sensing a weakness, Sheikh’s son tried to excuse himself out of the tidy arrangement. Sam got very disturbed at this and let out his vicious dog called Dollar against him. The Sheikh’s son was easily subdued and the arrangement continued.

The Bear meanwhile had a hearty laugh about the misadventure that Sam had. He finally ventured out of the house ( after locking it from the outside) and started bullying the Mohammad Afghani, a poor shepherds’ son. Mohammad proved to be a staunch fighter and hid in the bush while the Bear tried to find him out. In the meanwhile Sam stirred the hornets’ nest near the bush, which got the Bear. The Bear had to run back to his hut, red faced….very red faced.

The bear went inside and started weeping. His children were surprised and angry at their father. They had looked outside and seen the other kids play in colourful clothes, while they had to remain inside and wear the same simple set of uniforms. A little girl called Tirana went out of the house to seek better opportunities…all the others followed and even the Bear. They went to the Sam for help.

Sam had now become Uncle Sam. He assured all of the Bear’s clan that they would be taken care of. He gave them toys on loan and started collecting rent immediately. The dreams with which the kids had left the house were shattered. Their warm house was broken and sold piece by piece, while they sat with their plastic toys and cried.

Uncle Sam in the meanwhile had quite a good time. Unopposed in the park now, he started giving the carrots and stick to everyone. He brutally smacked those who didn’t listen or wouldn’t give him their toys.

The only problem was that the hornets were still roaming about in the park and stinging everyone. Uncle Sam’s butts were enflamed by a particularly nasty bite and he couldn’t help crying. He tried to get rid of the hornets by beating Mohammad, but his bush proved to be too dense and prickly.

Meanwhile, Chin-lee being very laborious and disciplined, had worked day and night. Slowly, he started gaining muscle and became powerful. Uncle Sam in the meanwhile had reached middle age and was starting to think of his own future. Increasingly, he was getting scared of Chin-lee who had now earned more money than him.

Aunt Victoria and he began to formulate a plan to give Indira, who had become an engineer through an unregistered, poor college some vocational training. Her job paid very less and her children were many and couldn’t be fed through her paltry job.

The Sheikh’s son had for several years slept on their energy drink store. Recently, a strong jasmine scent strolled through their house and woke them up again. They’re now trying to figure out what they want to do next in order to maintain their status.

The park is again churning. A new boss might emerge anytime and the old ones collapse. There are many promising kids, some of them teenagers now. The older bullies are gradually becoming too old to stay in the fight, but they won’t give up anytime soon.

 Indira shows rays of brilliance sometimes and at others, a sense of betrayed potential. Perhaps she was married off too soon, had too many children too fast…. But she has held her own for the past many, many years. Perhaps, if she takes care of her household well….. she too might become be able to raise a good family.

 But her house too has some problems with her 7 daughters constantly fighting and her gay son Kash trying to elope with Paki. Some of her sons called Mao and Nax even hit her, and are angry at her for ignoring them. But then, she’s trying to make amends, and now with Mr. Nippo, Aunt Victoria, Uncle Sam etc guiding her…. She might just pull off an absolute stunner.

There are only a few really strong kids in the park at a given time. The group of aged white, rich men with their sharp walking sticks are holding out together and are thus powerful together. Their union has been formed after a lot of infighting. But, their current inability to carry on indefinitely with their high maintainance bills on only their pensions is a worrying aspect for them.

Uncle Sam has a big dog to his side and a stick too, which makes him the biggest bully now. But Dollar hasn’t been feeling so well recently and Uncle Sam too is feeling weary and aged. Chin-Lee meanwhile has been working out a lot and has become quite brash recently. He has started learning the ways of the bully and has already made Uncle Sam worried.

Paki had meanwhile gone insane after being beaten by Indira quite a few times. Some latest drugs were helping him some sense of himself. He had taken a fantasy to the Hornets and had kept a part of nest in his own house. Paki had for many years tried to survive off Sams money, but it has become difficult now with the hornets driving him away.

The black kids, or atleast most of them had grown up to be malnutritioned and weak. Some of the stronger ones had been taken ill. Their farms had been taken over by the other kids and they had been given a pittance out of the bountiful production that their farms produced.

Many small kids who play in the shallow ends of the park are scared because the constant running around of the other kids has destroyed the grass and nearly broken the walls of the park. Their end is near a vicious gutter which might break in at any time. Already, the ground is all mushy and watery. They tried to scream and call for everyone’s attention, but no one has the time from their games to seriously consider them.

Most of the kids in the park have realised that Uncle Sam has been too wanton in his lust. His exaggerated pouch is in contrast with some of his nephews that live below him in absolute poverty. They tried to wave a pink flag to grab his attention… but well who listens.

Nowadays, Sam is worried about his own health. His motions aren’t passing well and his wife is clearly getting an upper hand on him. He still is the strongest guy in the park….. but the tide is set to change.

So, largely… a park scene can convey an international story …from cold war to now….can’t it?

LEGENDS

Chin-Lee=china

Indira = india
Paki=Pakistan
Viet Pu= Vietnam
Mr. Nippo= Japan
mohammad afghani = Afghanistan
poor kids = developing countries
Black Kids= African nations
Tirana= Albania.. which broke off from USSR first
hornets = terrorist
sams butt attack= twin tower attack
Sam= USA
Sam’s nephews below= latin america
Bear= erstwhile USSR and Russia today
Aunt Victoria= Britain
Lord Louis= france
black kids = African states
Jasmine scent= Jasmine revolution in arab world
pink flags     = pink revolution of latin America

kash= kashmir

mao= maoists

nax= naxalists

7 sisters= northeast states of india
small kids   = small island countries