Zapp: The Squirrel Who Wanted to Fly

By Rachit Kinger

Set in the jungles amid nature's weirdest animals, "Zapp" is an allegory about individual freedom in contemporary society wherein a happy-go-lucky squirrel travels across the world in search of meaning, freedom and ironically, a sane society. Join Zapp, the brave squirrel, on an adventurous journey across the forests of Pinegrove, on a quest for life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wisdom Tree Publishers
• Release date: Feb 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9788183282765

Rachit Kinger

Rachit Kinger has done his education from all corners of India; primary school in Patna (Bihar), secondary school from Lawrence School, Sanawar, a premier boarding school near Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh); graduation from University of Madras, Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and post graduation from Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). As if all this travelling was not enough, he spent three years in Merchant Navy in hope of travelling around the world before he decided to call it quits and did his MBA from the prestigious IIM-Lucknow. Other than writing, he is passionate about photography, movies and travelling.

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Cover

© Rachit Kinger, 2009

Illustrations – Dharmesh

First published 2009

Reprinted February 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise — without the prior permission of the author and the publisher.

ISBN: 978-81-8328-137-9

Published by

Wisdom Tree,

4779/23, Ansari Road,

Darya Ganj, New Delhi-2

Ph.: 23247966/67/68

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Printed in India at Print Perfect

The Squirrel who

wanted to fly

A Magical Parable about

Living Your Dreams

RACHIT KINGER

for the free soul

One

1:45 am is not a good time to be outside the house for any kid, more so for someone who is just sixand-a-half days old and is barely bigger than a tea leaf. Yet it was precisely at that time that Zapp had decided to wander off into the forest.

Nights are dangerous in the wild. Romancing the coolness and mystique of the night is a prerogative of the mighty and the vicious. The lesser animals wander around, mortified, trying their best to keep their feeble smells away from the olfactory range of their predators. The seedy side of the hierarchy of power is veiled by the darkness of the night and its fury, unveiled. Despite the wild, the fact that Zapp did return home that day had nothing to do either with his presence of mind, or speed, or courage. If he returned alive that day it was only because fate had decided so for this little squirrel. How else could one explain the fact that Zapp would chance upon the one creature the whole squirrel community dreaded, and make friends with it!

Saap was the only snake in the whole of Pinegrove. She had effectively wiped out half the squirrel population of that area and showed no signs of retiring. Luckily, for Zapp, when he accosted Saap that fateful night, she had overeaten and was still struggling to gurgle down the last rabbit she had for dinner.

In a very squirrely voice Zapp had asked her, Excuse me ma’am. I have heard there is a shrub of berries somewhere around here and that they are the juiciest and the sweetest berries in all of Pinegrove. I was wondering if you would know where exactly it is?

At first Saap was startled and one must say, why shouldn’t she be? It’s not everyday that a delicious, soft and fresh out of the egg squirrel walks up to her! She wouldn’t have given another thought about savouring the little fur ball had the rabbit (yet to be digested) not decided to give life another chance. It twitched and moved and gave one last try to tear open her neck from the inside and find its way to freedom. Then realizing and probably accepting the hierarchy of the food chain, it gave in; no one fights against nature or rather, no one wins. All was quiet now but that little moment of desperation of the rabbit, even though unsuccessful, had left her a little disoriented and completely enervated.

I’m never eating prime young rabbits again. They have too much energy and strength, and worse, absolutely no brains! Then looking back at the bulge in her body, where that rabbit lay, she spoke in a manner so polite that it seemed almost sarcastic, You are only troubling yourself, dear. Come on now, I don’t mean to hurt you. It’s the law of nature. Cute furry things are food for black ugly things.

Zapp, amused by the whole spectacle, and totally oblivious to the situation, inquired like a zealot, Whom are you talking to?

Oh, that’s a rabbit. The idiot must’ve disobeyed its mother and wandered off. I wish I had never come across it. If it twitches in there one more time, I swear I could die. I have had enough for tonight and now this rabbit is stuck in my body. It wouldn’t be digested till late morning and anyways I shouldn’t have eaten so much, I’m putting on too much weight. One of these days I wouldn’t fit into my snake hole.

Are there many rabbits in there? asked Zapp, pointing towards Saap’s belly and almost jumping, I have never seen any and my mom tells me so much about them. My brother had met one the other day and told me how fast they can run and how high they can jump and how they never tire of running fast and jumping high. Can I take a peek, please? Curiosity may have killed the cat but no one ever mentioned anything about a squirrel.

Like an epiphany it hit Saap, this little squirrel was small enough to get into her and come out without hurting her, so if it could go in and get the rabbit out in a very smooth manner it would ease her of so much pain. Saap obliged and the little squirrel, oblivious to the danger that it was in, happily ventured to take a peek. Zapp took a few steps inside the long tunnel but unfortunately could not see anything. There is nothing here, he shouted.

There are lots of things there, Saap shouted back, you just can’t see them because there is no light. Just keep going until you reach something big and furry. Zapp wondered how lots of things could be inside that thin