DREAMER - ‘Mom!’ he’d ask, ‘if I don’t marry and if I don’t produce kids, will that change this world? Will the world come to an end? Will the jungle disappear? Mom! Everybody does the same thing - Get married, make kids, and die. But I don’t want to do the same thing. I want to be different. I want to live differently. Live Mom Live!’ he’d say. `Live your life the way you want to live - Not the way others want you to live.’ He’d talk as if he was a great philosopher. And Janu would love to listen to him talk like a grown up man. He always loved to talk the way grown ups did. Kids in his age group didn’t feel this way. These replies usually were very disheartening to Janu. She just didn’t know how to convince him that this was the only life any animal could live. And this was the only life that they had. And this was how they could spend it. There was nothing more to do in this jungle other than hunting for food, eating, playing around and sleeping. She knew that Little Ribbi was a dreamer – dreaming that would just remain in his dreams. She had seen this world. Seen the way dreams collapsed like a house of cards. Seen the ups and downs of life. Been through the good and bad. But she couldn’t make Little Ribbi understand this. He was such a dreamer – always thinKing about doing something different. But…..

AMBITIONS - But Little Ribbi had his own aims and ambitions. Though he’d spend his day jumping around, he’d still be restless. His heart would still be restless, as if he had to do something. As if this wasn’t enough. As if something was missing. As if he was wasting his life without any reason. As if there was something more to life than this.

PRIVACY - The Lion King moved around, without looking up and without noticing anything around him, deep in thought. ‘How can they just come here and intrude into our privacy. I just can’t believe this. Why should we run from our own homes and hide somewhere, when they are the ones who should be running from us.’ He sat down and looked around. ‘These humans will always be greedy. They’d always want to pry into others’ lives. And we couldn’t stop it - Because even the guards standing at our gates are humans. And some of us animals are living in their homes and farms as domesticated animals.’ He almost spat out the word domesticated. ‘Shame on us animals.’ His face had by now twisted with rage. And Little Ribbi could see each and every hair and wrinkle of his clearly. He was so close.

PORTFOLIOS -The birds of this jungle had a vital role in the management committee. And because they could move faster than the four legged animals, the job of spying, communicating and broadcasting was handled entirely by the birds, the head being the Pia, who was one of the ministers in the jungle, apart from Foxy and Bhalu. The portfolios of distributing work, maintaining discipline, and giving advises to the King, were handled by Bhalu and Foxy.

SELF-DEFENCE - Here the Lion King interrupted, ‘the carnivorous crowd, please remember that no misbehaviour will be tolerated. I won’t put the entire jungle’s life at risk, just to satisfy your appetite. And humans are known for their attitude. They’ll say, we did it out of self-defence.’ He mimicked. The big bear hid his smile beneath his big paws and looked away. The other animals looked at one another and smiled secretly without letting the King see it.

MY BABY - As soon as they were out of the crowd, Little Ribbi pulled himself out of Janu’s grips. ‘Leave me alone Mom. I’m grown up now. Don’t treat me like a kid. Everybody is looKing. It’s embarrassing.’

Janu didn’t know what to tell. She said. ‘But you’re my baby. You’ll always be my baby right?’ She moved closer to him and kissed him on his forehead. ‘You are my baby. However big you grow you’ll always be my child.’ As she said this, Little Ribbi raised his eyes and saw her sweet sad face, her eyes full of tears. And all the anger in him vanished.

RESPONSIBILITY - ‘No Mom.’ He stood straight, wiping his cheeks with his little hands. ‘Till now Bhalu was the one who was protecting me. Now I’m the one who’ll protect him. I’ll take the whole responsibility of whatever happened.’ He looked at Janu and consoled her. ‘Mom, I’m your son. You’ve taught me to stand up and face problems, not run away from it. How did you ever think that I’d leave Bhalu to die, while I run away? You’ve not brought up a coward. Your son is old enough to take care of himself and stand up and face the situation.’

COWARD - Then he turned towards Monku. ‘Don’t ever think that Janu’s son is a coward, and will run for his life. I know how much my mother loves me, and I know how much you love your son. Don’t worry Mom. I’ve made a mistake, and I’ll bear the brunt of it.’

I WANT TO LIVE THE WAY I WANT - `Mom, I’m not living for the King.’ He replied. `I’m living for myself. I don’t want to please everybody else and strangle my dreams. My dreams are mine – my life is mine. I want to be free. Free from all these clutches. I want to live the way I want to live. And nobody else has the right to say anything, except you Mom.’ He gazed into her moist eyes and pleaded, `I just want you to say yes Mom. I don’t care for anybody else. Just say yes Mom.’ He held her hands lovingly.

HOW COULD I LET MY BABY GO AWAY - This was not happening, she thought, as she lay down on her bed and tears streamed down her face. How could I let my baby go away – that too to that human jungle! She clutched her heart with her hand. How can my baby live there with those ruthless people. She had heard so much about the human world – so much about their cruelty to animals. The jungle news daily brought one or the other news of animal abuse. There was never a day when an animal was not killed or tortured. How could she let her little baby into that cruelty? She knew he was growing up. She knew he was an independent little creature. But she never thought that he’d ever talk of leaving the jungle. Wild jungle animals never spoke of leaving the jungle, however independent they became. O God! Why did this safari happen? She thought. Atleast he wouldn’t have known any of this, and he wouldn’t have …

THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO IN MY LIFE - This is what I want to do in my life

This is how I want to be

And this is how I want to live my life

This is what I want to do

I want to Live my life the way I want to

And let me be free to do what I want to

I’m going to live my life the way I want to

And I’m going to do what I want to

LET ME LIVE MY LIFE - Let me live my life the way I want to live

Let me be the way I want to be

Let me do the things I want to do

Let me live

let me live

I know you’re the one who taught me how to walk

But Mom I’ve learnt to walk

And I’ve learnt to run

Let me stand on my feet and show the world

That you taught me enough

Let me go Mom let me go

Let me live my life let me go

Let me live my life the way I want to live

Let me be the way I want to be

Let me do the things I want to do

Let me live

let me live

PLEASE DON’T LOCK ME IN HERE - Ishu screamed in fright. ‘Please don’t lock me in here. I’ll die. Please!’ he joined his hands, begging for mercy. ‘Please remove me from here. I didn’t do any harm to you. I just came to see this human jungle. I’ll never ever come back here. Please leave me. Please please please.’ He begged and pleaded with tears in his eyes, holding on to the bars of the cage.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU - Little Ribbi’s eyes moistened at the very thought of Siddi. He looked at his little cap and hugged it to him. ‘Siddi, do you know how much I love you? I’ve risked my friend’s neck for you. I’ve hurt my Mom for you. Please don’t be like these people. Please’

IS THIS THE FOOD YOU EAT EVERYDAY - ‘Is this the food you eat everyday?’ Little Ribbi asked, holding the dirty plate, and smelling it.

Before Cuty could reply, the bulldog replied, ‘No, usually we get food from the Taj group of hotels, but today we’re on diet.’

Little Ribbi blinked, putting his plate back with a thud. ‘How could you talk like that!’ Ishu shuddered at this.  He knew Little Ribbi’s anger very well. He could see his eyes now, spitting fire. Pointing his index finger at the dog, with the other hand on his hips, he screamed, `I try to be nice to you and you are such an arrogant snob domesticated dog, faithful only to humans. My friends were right. Dogs are meant to be slaves to humans, tied by a chain and a strap to the neck.’

THAT’S THE ONLY DREAM I HAVE - The little sparrow on top of the peahen’s cage started talking. ‘Whenever I sleep, I just dream of going out there, spreading my wings and flying.’

The little bird on the top, which was named by Ishu, cried out. ‘I don’t even dream. I know my dreams will never come true. I’ve never flown. Look at this.’ She said showing her tied leg. ‘They know I can’t fly, so they’ve left my cage unlocked and tied my leg. Only if I could fly once before I die. That’s the only dream I have.’

PLEASE DON’T KILL ME. I DIDN’T TO DO ANYTHING TO YOU - Ishu joined his small hands and begged him. ‘Please don’t kill me. I didn’t do anything to you. I came from the jungle to see this world. I just came here for a safari. But if you don’t want me to, it’s okay. I’ll go back home. My Mom will be waiting for me. Please don’t hurt me.’ He begged, still crying. But his pleadings fell into deaf ears. The guy didn’t even bother to look at him again.

THIS WAS A TORTURE CHAMBER - Little Ribbi looked around him. When he had started out of the jungle, how much the jungle beings had told him about human cruelty. And how much he had thought that they were all lies just to stop him from going out. Now he realized the truth. He could never forget how Ishu had suffered in that lab. Lab he spat out. That was a torture chamber. How he could still remember the faces of those little ones who’d be tortured to death for no fault of theirs. The screams of pain. The cries for mercy. He covered his ears with his hands, as if to shut off the noise.

'ATLEAST YOU FOLKS HAVE A PLACE TO GO BACK TO. BUT WHERE DO WE GO?' - The hen from the neighbouring house came nearer, as she saw the housedog moving away. `How is Ishu?’ she asked. She was fond of Little Ribbi, and knew how much he had taken care of Ishu.

`He is okay.’ Little Ribbi replied. `I’m sending him back to the jungle tomorrow.’

The hen sat down in front of them and nodded. `Atleast you folks have a place to go back to. But where do we go?’ She paused, her face sad. `We’ve nowhere to go. These humans can cut us any time and eat us. And we couldn’t do anything.’ She sighed `We’re forced to grow up fast so that they can eat us anytime.’ She sniffed.

Little Ribbi could feel the sadness in her creeping into him. Are all the animals as sad as me? Is there no way I can help them?

THEY KILLED MY ELDER BROTHER TODAY -The chicks nodded. `Atleast we can live freely for some days, without bothering about death.’ The smallest in the pack came forward. `They killed my elder brother today.’ He wailed.

The big hen put her hand on his mouth, as if to stop him from talking. But Little Ribbi could see the fear in the little one’s eyes.

He put out his hand and stroked the little one. `Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you now.’ He said, and moved away. He straightened, as he realized that somebody was standing there in the corner. Then he saw Bully, standing guard.

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