The Safari - Part 2

Mama bear and baby bear went on a safari and saw humans. They completed the couch potato safari and the rich safari. As the bus entered the poor safari, they smelled something foul, the smell of rotten food and rotten flesh. There was filth all around. They saw a couple and a boy seated on the bare earth. The father wore tattered black colored trousers and they could see his ribs though the stretchable skin. The baby had matted hair, a bulging stomach and his legs were twisted. The woman was digging the ground with a stick. She wore a green colored saree that barely covered her body. 

Baby bear asked the mama bear, ‘Who are these?’

The mama bear replied, ‘They are the poor’

Baby bear asked, ‘What about the story you wanted to tell me in the poor safari?’

Mama bear replied, ‘Many decades ago, humans ruled the world. As the years passed, they lost their moral values and became greedy and selfish. The gap between the rich and the poor grew wider. The poor got angry that they could not afford the basic necessities like food, clothing and education. They saw the rich splurging on food, clothes and drinks and they grew bitter inside. They attacked the rich. The attacks grew into a war. In the war most of the humans were killed except for a few, whom we see in these enclosures all over the world. The governments are to be blamed for the increasing gap between the rich and poor. There were policies to provide education and food for the poor, and a better lifestyle but the politicians did not let the money go to the poor and pocketed all the money. The politicians supported the war in the initial stages for their selfish motives; little did they know how harmful it was to support the war.’

Baby bear asked, ‘Who are politicians?’

Mama bear replied, ‘We will see them next’.

The bus moved into the politician safari. As soon as they crossed the black colored gate, a portly man in white clothes came and prostrated before the bus and did not let it move.

Baby bear asked the mama bear, ‘What happened?’

Mama bear replied, ‘The politician wants money.’

‘Money?’

‘Yes, unless and until we give him money he will not allow the bus to go farther.’

After a few minutes, a few other humans in white shirts and trousers made a line alongside the bus on either side and shouted, ‘Safari down down’.

 

The animals were amused at this new development. The crane, who was the driver, asked the animals to give the packets of leaves to the politicians. These packets of leaves were given to the animals along with the ticket. The animals did as they were told. The politicians allowed them to move. 

Baby bear looked at the mama bear and said, ‘Why the leaves?’

‘Leaves are money for the politicians. The zoo keepers understood the hoarding...collecting nature of the politicians and they made them believe that leaves are the new currency.’

As the baby bear looked around, he saw white colored shapes sleeping on beds of leaves, greedily looking at the piles of leaves and a few of them were on top of the trees plucking the leaves.

Baby bear thought to himself, ‘Now I understand why the trees in this safari have a lot less leaves than the others’

The safari ended with the tamasha by the politicians.

Mama bear and baby bear went home. As soon as they went home, baby bear turned on the TV and dipped his hands in a bowl filled with honey and licked.

Mama bear scolded the baby bear, ‘Don’t be a couch potato. Turn off the TV and do your homework’

Baby bear reluctantly turned off the TV and walked towards his room.

Image from http://libraryfortheartist.blogspot.in/2012/01/mama-bear-card.html