A NEW ANIMAL FARM
Rabbits replace humans in this parable for modern day power struggles
This illustrated rabbit fable is a new chapter in the lengthy and venerable list of rabbits in English language fiction and film, not to mention the clever rabbits of the Panchatantra. Like the all- time champion trickster, Br’er Rabbit, based on native American legend, the Farooqis’ rabbits are suited and shirted. As in Bugs Bunny, there are scenes of pure slapstick while the chapter headings are a nod to A. A. Milne’s Winnie- the- Pooh. Milne’s Rabbit is thought by his fellow creatures to be clever, although his plans often go awry. And the same can be said of the chief character in this book, Rabbit Hab, farmer and chairman of the Lapin Alliance for Progressive Sowing Endeavours ( LAPSE).
The story revolves around Rabbit Hab and his personal and professional life. His personal life is bound up with the warren in which he lives, which is divided into two factions— the East Wingers and the West Wingers ( no reference to the White House). Here his main opponent is the unlikely figure of Gran- Bunny- Ma— illustrated grasping her walking stick and swathed in a dressing gown but still wearing lipstick and large, fashionable glasses.
In his celebrated novel Watership Down, Richard Adams also created a rabbit world centred around warrens. His rabbits too had human characteristics, and he too critiqued society through them. The three warrens featured in Watership Down are said to represent socialism, totalitarianism and democracy— the last being the most successful. Human beings were very much part of this world, but for the most part were featured for being detrimental to nature and destructive of any other creatures’ needs but their own.
While the Farooqis also have a Chief Rabbit— as in Watership Down— this is a very different world. There are no humans even visible. Rabbits rule it and rabbits destroy it. In short, rabbits stand for humans, as is clear from the first chapter. Real rabbits are herbivores: These ones have fish farms. Humour, and irony are the Farooqis’ weapons, as through the text and the cartoon illustrations we see how a traditional closely knit, though factionalised society breaks down and descends into rampant, unnatural and angry individualism. Warrens are deserted for new housing, the NERD or New Era Rabbit Den and previously trim, healthy rabbits transform into fat, couch potato FRUMPs, or Fat Rabbits Urging Modern Perspectives.
Professionally, the ultimate enemies are implicitly those who hold the real moral high ground— the organic farmers. Rabbit Hab is committed to the other side, the side that is bribed and persuaded by a big agro- tech corporation that creates a pesticide that kills rabbit predators on touch, and a fertiliser that can make every beanstalk as big as the one Jack climbed. But every much- vaunted success proves to have a downside, leading to drastic and environmentally unfriendly ‘ solutions’. Strangely enough, one of the most appealing characters in the books is Rabbit Fud, the front- rabbit for the big corporation, but a rabbit who realises the risks he is running. Unlike Hab, Fud has real foresight, and a firm intention of saving his own skin.
The new generation of rabbits, with their lowslung jeans and bandanas come into conflict with the LAPSE farmers and the agri- tech cartels. The fable becomes complex, takes unpredictable turns, leading to rebellion, battle, and siege. In the Panchatantra fable of the hungry lion, a wise rabbit defeats the big cat, denying him dinner. In this fable for our times, who is the wisest rabbit and who wins in the end? It’s worth reading the book to see.