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Cozying up The omnipresent scamps

The raucous noise they generate rattles you. They plop and plunk, rumble and tumble until you are exasperated. The furry demons with a big, curious mind of their own had a reason to have a blast on Friday. It was World Rat Day.

One needs a little Ratitude to be pleased about Internet websites replete with celebrations by rat-lovers. Colourful posters with screaming slogans like “Its A Rat’s World” are constant reminders of how one cannot think of a world without co-existence with the tiny creatures. “It’s My Day – Back Off’ warns a bold post card. Websites offering T-shirts and more for sale propound the rodent cause. In some countries, parties are hosted and cute post-cards exchanged in a gesture indicating that its time one began to respect the omnipresent ‘intelligent’ things.

Heck, everyday is rat day. What else you call the manner in which they have free run of the place, gambol up and down the stairs, chew books and DVD boxes, steal whole pages of children’s notebooks and nibble on the food grain stored in warehouse.

That the little rodent rascals have historically had a pretty bad reputation, whether portrayed as disease-spreading pests or food-thieving scamp was no deterrent to the rat fans the world over who celebrated the sixth annual World Rat Day for their furry friends. The principle behind the occasion, which began with a small Internet community six years ago, is to repair the image of the rat. Through positive promotion, rat enthusiasts hope to use World Rat Day to show that pet rats are ‘intelligent, devoted, clean, gentle and lovable’.

On the other hand baiting and trapping continues to get rid of rat menace. “Ugh! It’s unthinkable. I am basically an animal lover. But having soft corner for a creature as grotesque as a rat, is absurd,” sneers Mandira, reflecting the views of the anti-rat brigade.

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