Seems We Humans Are Living On The ANIMAL FARM!

Read the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell? Animals on Manor Farm can think for themselves and talk. They decide to rebel against the injustice meted out to them by humans. They succeed in taking over the farm and think life will get better. It does, for some time. Enter politics and vested interests. The pig (Snowball) which wants to improve life for animals on the farm is driven away by a tyrant pig (Napoleon). The latter then chastises the former, claiming Snowball was hand – in – glove with the humans. Everything known about Snowball is portrayed as if he was the defector. Napoleon flaunts all the rules laid down by the farm. He makes his own to suit himself, his family and his type (pigs). He exploits animals and cruelly discards them when they’re rendered useless. The world admires the Animal Farm for the way it works, but the animals’ wish for a good life remains a distant dream.

Have we seen instances like in life? George Orwell has magnificently laid out the plot of politics and power struggle in this classic. 2 instances come to my mind. One was in MOTOGP, when Valentino Rossi & Max Biaggi got into a fistfight in the change room. The 2 were reprimanded by DORNA (the governing body of MOTOGP) and requested to stay away from the media. Rossi obeyed, but Biaggi didn’t. He portrayed himself as a victim and Rossi as the problem in front of the media, whilst the scenario was probably vice versa. Biaggi has maintained a bad reputation before and after that incident, which is why most of us give Rossi the benefit of doubt.

While the above example was relatively smaller in magnitude, the next example is much bigger. I’m talking about the strike at Maruti’s Manesar plant, and the events that ensued. Sonu Gujjar and Shiv Kumar were the key drivers in the biggest labour strike at Maruti in 2 decades. The contract workers were being thoroughly exploited. Gujjar & Kumar wanted better and equal working conditions for all and led the strike that caused huge losses to the Maruti coffers. In fact, the strike spread to neighbouring companies and states. Discomfort increased amongst investors and even government intervention failed. Now, the Maruti management claims the 2 union leaders fled after receiving lakhs of rupees from the top leaders. Gujjar and Kumar have been unreachable since and the Maruti management is trying its level best to correct its image amongst the workers. Gujjar and Kumar are accused of being defectors; that they were never concerned about anyone but themselves; that they had been covertly working out deals for themselves with the management. The Maruti plant will go back to functioning the way it did, the world will admire Maruti for its efficiency, and all, it will be claimed, is back to normal. But I have my doubts. There is more than meets the eye here. The management may have given the 2 workers some money, but also threatened them with consequences to their and their families’ lives if they continued to work at Manesar. Consequently, Gujjar & Kumar may have been forced to resign. One never knows what happens behind the curtains. What will follow though, I believe, will be straight from the Animal Farm novel.

Something like this happened to me a couple of days ago. Thankfully I was able to turn the tables on my nemesis due to insider help. However, it goes to show the book is not just a novel. It’s one of the most tried, tested and used theories in politics; not just at country level, but even amongst common men. It’s important we humans stop falling for such traps and become more aware. Never assume something at face value. There is always more to it than one can see and believe. We humans have been gifted with a mind. We must think, ponder, reason and try to find what causes these actions. Invariably, the people we believe are going to mould our minds, and probably shape our lives. It’s imperative we wisely choose whom we must believe and what we will achieve in return. The same thing applied to society will improve the quality of our daily lives. We must make conscious efforts to look at the bigger picture rather than just wanting to carry on with our daily lives. That will improve lives of us, our families, society, the country and the world at large.