Rabbit Rap - A fable for the 21st Century

When you flip through the pages of 'Rabbit Rap' your initial reaction is - Ah, yet another wonderful book for children. It's only when you start reading it you realise that the looks of books too could be deceptive. 'A fable for the 21st Century' is a serious fictional narration which at the outset looks farcical, only to force you think deeply about human ambition in the from of anthropomorphic rabbits. It's a satirical comedy on modern day human existence and tells a story of hobnobbling for territorial control and power over fellow being, in the disguise of animal demeanour.

Satirical comedy is one genre which is gradually diminishing from the contemporary literature. But a riveting narration, an engrossing storyline and well-rounded comical characters can make all the difference, and Rabbit Rap is an example of such a genre well executed. However, what intrigues most is the writer's choice of rabbits, of all the animals, to be the real representative of human motives.

The reason is not far to conjecture. Rabbits are egregious critters who display social hierarchy and politics of dominance which is inherently built in their social behaviour. The other reason is - fables in most tradition have animal characters, behaving much like humans and carry the morale of the story while narrating a tale. To ensure a comical twist to the characters, Farooqis have coined funny nomenclature while delineating their protagonists. Terms like Fat Rabbits Urging Modern Perspectives (FRUMP) and Old Generation Rabbit Elders (OGRE) could find equal parallel in the human society.

The book interestingly exemplify the working of modern-day corporations in the form of freebies given to top executives as a favour and the business networking that takes place among the top honchos. A free Golf Club membership is all that's required for winning a business contract. Corruption is rampant not only among the higher echelon of animal kingdom but also among the lesser species.

The main protagonists of the fable are Rabbit Hab and Gran-Bunny-Ma who fight for greater control over their community. Their fights takes violent twists and turns and they resort to 'everything is fair in love and war' philosophy albeit with no love existing between them. Their fight is also a metaphor of the disagreement between generations who perceive progression differently. While OGRE wants to stick to traditional ways of living, FRUMP wants to move away from it and wants to embrace modernity and inthe process become couch potatoes, in a comic manner. No wonder junk food has done them some good, giving them a voluminous body and an aggressive countenance.

Rabbit Rap instantly reminds one of George Orwell's masterpiece Animal Farm that narrates a tell of revolution plagued by flaws of corruption, intrigues, ignorance and greed whenever tere is a change in the government. While the former reflect a society in a given time and space framework, the latter displays general perspectives of today's power play. The traits displayed by Rabbit Rap protagonists cut across territorial boundaries and proves to find its reflection in all species of animal kingdom. The ambitious young pigs of Animal Farm, Snowball and Napoleon, have an equally able parallel in Rabbit Hab and Gran-Bunny-Ma. The difference between the two, however is in narration and the way language is used to express complex animal behaviour and the appeal of universality.

The macabre role of real estate is so overwhelming that even rabbits are not untouched by its unrealistic evaluation and are eager to move to new, sanitised and artificially created housing societies. While the new generation of rabbits go for New Era Rabbit Den (NERD), the old generation not without reason wants to remain in their safe and comfy warrens which provide them a sense of belonging and living close to nature. But they too begin to introspect when NERD appears in the horizon, many of them get tempted to adopt it as their new home only to give it up under the mighty stewardship of Gran-Bunny-Ma.

Fables are known for their wisdom and Farooqis have employed it amply to deliver their point of view. For example, savour this, "In the fickle, capricious world of the warren, it does not take long for a suspicion raised publicly - and not refuted promptly - to speedily become accepted truth." The fact is brought in acute contrast to propagandist's approach towards warren leadership.

The book is an interesting tale of human need, greed and power-play that takes the shape of animal expression. While it scores high on the parody part, it becomes a laboured attempt when the writers try to enthuse comicality through the characters while it could naturally flow from the narration. Understandably, this genre of such writing is difficult, but Farooqis have delivered an impressive allegory of power-play in modern-day society whose sole ambition is power and dominance.