JUNGLE BOOK-- VANAR RAJ

WITH SINCERE APOLOGIES TO RUDYARD KIPLING.

We pick up the story some years later from where Rudyard Kipling left it. Mowgli had come back to the forest, unable to adjust in the maddening world outside the jungle. At least the 'law of the Jungle' prevailed inside the jungle, while outside, well.....

Since humans had ensured that massive encroachment had been undertaken on forest land leading to deforestation,there were only patches of forest land (vanas) available in the country. After the demise of Sher Khan in the struggle with Mowgli, the central authority which kept everybody in check had fallen away leading to a virtual free for all. Finally the monkeys prevailed, and now lorded over all the vanas. Balloo the bear and Bagheera the panther, the faithful companions and guide of Mowgli, had retreated into the background and were leading the life of a recluse. Kaa the snake had been skinned alive by some humans because its skin made good purses for the ladies in Europe (PETA had not been born and Maneka Gandhi was still a model).

The anarchy in the vanas had reached such a stage that the monkeys of one vana were completely opposed to the monkeys of another one, and continued in their diatribe against each other. Each monkey leader claimed to be the real protector of the rights of the animals, but in reality cared two hoots for them. Not a cry was raised in protest when monkeys from the vanas of neighbouring countries raided the vanas of Bharat, and caused indescribable mayhem, for example these 'atanki' vanaras as they were called, set termites on tree branches which would break off at the slightest weight causing loss of life and property. No monkey clan was confident as to whether it could sleep peacefully on the same tree after return from their daily activity of harassing other animals. But no monkey talked about this 'atankawad' ,as they were too busy fighting amongst themselves.

At this very time in the vana of Rashtra Maha (remember we are talking of the sub divisions of Bharat Vanas) lived an upstart monkey by the name of VANAR RAJ. Vanar Raj incidentally belonged to the clan of another ferocious monkey BAL BAL BACH GAYE (Saved by the skin of the teeth), who was famous for his imitation of the voice of the roaring Lion. Well actually the roar was more of a purring of a cat, but as who is to bell a cat, who could dare to say the truth in front of B.B.B.Gaye .But the animals had a good laugh behind his back.

Vanar Raj always had dreams of emulating Bal Bal in scaring animals and causing havoc in the forest, but since primates are the predecessors of human beings, there are certain qualities in common, like filial affection overpowering bhai bhatijawad. So in this case, the claim of Vanar Raj in leading the hordes in causing destruction in Vana Rashtra Maha was superseded by the son of Bal, which led to resentment in the mind (or whatever he had) of Vanar Raj. He shrieked,bit,attacked but to no avail. Bal would not give way.

Seeing the wisdom of Bal in sidelining this upstart who in order to please Bal had started imitating the roar of Lion (the animals would have died of laughing at two cats,instead of one ), the animals gave a sigh of relief and said 'bal bal bach gaye' (saved by the skin of the teeth).

But Vanar Raj bided his time.

In the meanwhile Mowgli had fallen onto bad times. In the vanas of Vihara and Uttam Pradesh where he divided his time, monkeys of equal ferocious nature ruled. These monkeys were even worse than the monkeys of Rashtra Maha as they did nothing for the animals inhabiting these vanas. Vihar Vana was ruled by a very shrewd monkey Balloo bandar and Uttam Pradesh was ruled by a female monkey Khayawati who was legendary for her elephant like memory. Khayawati spent all her time in trying to hunt down her adversaries, the Siamese twin monkeys Motu and Chotu, her populace be damned.

Balloo bandar had become the darling of all the vanas because of his antics, which in reality was a cover up for his failure to perform his duties as the ruler of the vanas. He had even devoured the fodder meant for the horses and cows. But very shrewdly covered it up with his buffoonery. Mowgli loved Balloo for his antics,inspite of Bagheera warning him against falling for this theatrics."A leader should be known for his vision and care for his praja, rather than his jokes" Bagheera would say whenever Mowgli went to see him, " a leader fooling his people with jokes, is a dangerous leader", Bagheera would say drawing on his huge experience coupled with his love for the vanas. Mowgli, who was enamoured by the wit of Balloo the bandar,thought of Bagheera as a cantankerous old animal,whenever he said so. "Maybe he is jealous of Balloo the bandar", Mowgli would say to himself.

Animals in these vanas had been divided into sects based on their colour,teeth and other such outward manifestations. For example a tiger with 10 stripes was categorised as a different sect from the one with 9 stripes, a brown coloured wolf was informed about him being different from a light brown coloured one. These monkeys did not care about deforestation, encroachment and stuff. Neither did they care to appreciate the merit of the brave animals who thought about the betterment of the vanas.

Resultantly, the humans started encroaching into the vanas, and fruits and other products in the food chain started declining rather appreciably in the vanas of Vihara and Uttam Pradesh. The animals per force started to migrate towards the vanas of Rashtra Maha where things were relatively better, in spite of Vanar Raj and his cohorts.

But these migrant animals met with stiff resistance in the Vanas of Rashtra Maha. "You will take away our food", "you will spoil the environment in our vana",was some of the responses they faced. " Our Vana Manoos will be deprived of their due", shrieked Vanar Raj.

Mowgli was respected by the animals (apart from the monkeys, who looked at him as a threat) , and it is to him they turned towards in this hour of threat. " Do not worry,they are our brothers,they will not harm us", Mowgli would console them as well as himself.

Bagheera and Balloo (the bear,not the bandar) begged to differ. "Mowgli, you have the brains as well as the brawns to resist this injustice, if you do not rise now, it will be too late",they would advice.

But Mowgli paid no heed. He was busy enjoying the laughter challenge of Balloo the bandar and the vendetta saga of Khayawati, which was propagated to far corners of the vana through the medium of the speaking parrots,the Cockatoos.

Nature has the strange habit of getting even with people who do not pay attention to their environment, and so it happened to Mowgli. Things which were bad to start with started getting worse. The antics of Balloo the bandar and Khayawati along with the massive helping hand of Chotu and Motu ensured that the food chain was massively disrupted in Vihar and Uttam Pradesh vanas. Even ripe fruits were in scarcity,and whatever was available was devoured by followers of the leaders,leaving the other animals in the lurch.

The news soon reached these Vanas about some ripe fruits which were on offer in Rashtra Maha vana. Mowgli made up his mind about trying to get some ripe fruits on offer along with other timid animals who were however apprehensive of Vanar Raj and his aptly named Vanar Sena.

But hunger does strange things to even the most scared of animals. So the animals made up their mind to try their luck. Bagheera and Balloo the bear came to see off Mowgli and the other animals before they proceeded. There was no sign of Balloo the bandar, who as the Cockatoos informed was busy challenging Vanar Raj to a verbal duel. Mowgli felt the pangs of guilt about his previous inference about Bagheera when he had warned him about Balloo the bandar. He hugged Bagheera and wept openly. But being a human he was still ashamed of accepting his mistake openly.

Bagheera, however understood.

" Go my son and may the almighty be with you", Bagheera said," and remember the simple fact that Bharat vana is one and belongs to all of us, so do not be scared of anybody."

Mowgli and the other animals reached Rashtra Maha vana with trepidation. Expectedly, an extremely hostile reception awaited them.

" Go back you hungry animals", the members of Vanar Sena shrieked,"why don't you eat fruits in your vana rather than take away fruits from our Vana Manoos?" they continued.

The trembling animals of Vihar Vana and Uttam Pradesh vana looked towards Mowgli in askance. After all being human he was expected to face these tricky situations with his intellect and courage.

For the first time in his life Mowgli felt helpless. He had refused to listen to Bagheera when he spoke of the dangers of accepting charlatans as leaders, and now the chickens had come home to roost. Mowgli had made the policy of silence into a virtue and only laughed at Balloo the bandar's antics and discussed Khayawati's revenge. He had never given thought for the betterment of his vana. Now he realized that animals like Balloo the bandar laughed at animals like him rather than with them . But it was too late now. He and his friends were hungry.

Mowgli mustered courage and spoke, " we are hungry and there are no fruits in our vanas,not even ripe ones. And we will not eat all the ripe fruits in your vana, as there is plenty for everybody. For the sake of uniformity, we can have a competition where everybody gets an equal opportunity to eat these ripe fruits. If your animals can eat more ripe fruits,we will not protest and go back"

It sounded like a sane solution. The animals looked in awe towards Mowgli.

The Vanar sena was nonplussed.They had not expected any resistance from these weaklings. They looked towards each other. Bullies really do not know how to react in case of resistance. They are mighty only when not opposed.

" So competition is what you want, eh?" a voice rang out !!

The vanar sena suddenly parted and gave way, VANAR RAJ had arrived.

Surprisingly, Mowgli felt no fear. He had expected Vanar Raj to be a mighty warrior from the description of the Cockatoos, but he seemed like any other monkey.

" Why do you come so afar to eat fruits meant for our vana manoos ?" Vanar Raj's tone was threatening ," why don't you stay in your vanas and eat the fruits available there", Vanar Raj continued.

"Because there is nothing available there, and isn't Rashtra Maha vana part of Bharat vanas, so why this discrimination?" Mowgli countered.

" So why don't you tell your leaders there to make fruits available in your vanas also, but you will not do that, will you? You will simply come to our vanas and eat whatever is available here. I will not let that happen anymore!" Vanar Raj was emphatic in his statement.

Mowgli could sense that Vanar Raj had a point, for monkeys like Balloo, Khayawati, Chotu, Motu and their ilk had simply exploited the resources available in their vanas and done absolutely nothing for their improvement. The fruit crop had simply dwindled without any body giving a damn. But Mowgli also realized that it was no use blaming these selfish individuals for it was humans like him and other mute animals who had given them a free run. nobody had dared to question their actions in time and now .........

But there was no way back, " I know that we have not stood up to our leaders, but fact also remains that you too do not have the interests of the common animal at your heart when you stop us from eating fruits, for all these vanas belong to all of us, and you have no business to stop us from eating fruits available here. What happens if tomorrow we stop animals from your vanas entering our vanas on any filmsy context. I request you to desist from dividing animals. The Bharat vanas are under threat from humans, vanas of neighbouring countries. Let us stay united rather than fight amongst ourselves", Mowgli said.

" How dare you, you impudent human! Now even you have started speaking like a leader. And I cannot have two leaders in the same vana. This vana is for our vana manoos. Be prepared to face the consequences if you don't vacate our vana immediately," Vanar Raj showed all his teeth in anger. His cohorts started shrieking in unison. The atmosphere was very scary.

The animals of Vihar vana and Uttam Pradesh vana were scared. After all no Balloo the bandar or Khayawati would come to save them, neither would they give them fruits if they went back.The choice was between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Mowgli knew that the moment of truth had arrived. Regrettably, he realized that things would have been different, if he had paid heed to the advice of Bagheera and acted accordingly. Monkeys of the sort of Vanar Raj , Balloo, Khayawati etc.cannot be allowed to control the destiny of the vanas, for they have no thing except their own interests to serve.

Then the Vanar Sena attacked. The rest of the animals of Vihar Vana and Uttam Pradesh ran helter skelter. The attack was most severe on Mowgli, for Vanar Raj knew where the real danger emanated from. They tried to tear off the chaddi (loin cloth) of Mowgli for it was the only possession he had. The chaddi covered his modesty, self esteem, self respect. Vanar raj knew that a self respecting individual who had loads of confidence and self esteem was dangerous.

Mowgli fought with all his courage and strength.He was surprised to discover the strength he never realized he had. Maybe a cause gives you the power to fight back. But it was difficult to fight such monsters all alone, for his friends had abandoned him.

But true friend don't abandon you, do they? Just as Mowgli felt that he was going to be overpowered, help arrived in the form of Bagheera and Balloo the bear. United they fought back the attack of the Vanar Sena and retreated gracefully. In the heat of the battle, Mowgli thought that he saw Balloo the bandar, Khayawati, Chotu and Motu arrive on the scene and join hands with Vanar Raj. Mowgli thought that he was hallucinating due to fatigue and consoled himself.......Was he ??????

Mowgli is now recovering his strength and learning the nuances of vanahood under the able guidance of Bagheera and Balloo the bear.

Vanar Raj, Balloo the bandar, Khayawati, Chotu and Motu are getting sleepless nights over the comeback of Mowgli.

A man awake is a man dangerous.

EK APRINDA HAI SHARMINDA, THA WO NANGA ! AJI IS SE TO ANDE KE ANDAR THA WO CHANGA ! SOCH RAHA HAI BAHAR AAKHIR KYON NIKLA HAI!! ARRE CHADDI PAHAN KE PHOOL KHILA HAI .............

Disclaimer : This is a work of fiction. However my apologies to sentiments of the monkeys hurt unintentionally.