In The Rabbit and the Squirrel , Stina Wirsén’s illustrations are as evocative as Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s prose. The book opens with a drawing of the Rabbit in a suit and the Squirrel in a dress, holding hands, dancing in gay abandon, seemingly without a care in the world, against a blue chromatography backdrop. This sets the stage for the story, which is really about indomitable spirits, although it is subtitled “A love story about friendship”.
The illustrations give a touch of cuteness to this story about two rodents. However, far from being simply cute, this book, about inter-species alliances, is more like a fable for grown-ups set in urban and chic spaces; but there is that feeling of warmth that comes from reading stories about characters finding meaning in their lives from all that they go through.
The Rabbit, a young male, and the Squirrel, a young female, were the best of friends. They linked arms and “went for a walk” and spent time “on the sly, always by themselves”. Squirrel’s parents did not approve of their daughter’s friendship with Rabbit as his “reputation as a rake and castaway was notorious”. They tried to find her a match in the Chipmunk, the Owl, and the Boar. The rest of the delightful story is about how these two friends find happiness and also a philosophical reflection on life and love that adult readers will identify with.
The Squirrel is someone who many of us must have aspired to become at some point in our lives. She is strong-willed and questions conventions but also has to sacrifice a lot — like many of us — to those very conventions. She fights criticism and judgement, makes difficult choices, suffers a broken heart.
Wirsén’s drawings stole my heart even as I fell in love with the Squirrel. Anyone who has ever fallen madly in love will identify with this story.
The writer, an acclaimed author, is once again a medical officer with the government of Jharkhand.
The Rabbit and the Squirrel; Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, Penguin Random House, ₹399
