Hey I am Vanu. I am a monkey🐒. And all my life I have been spent around these homes and trees scavenging for food. My Nana has told me tales about a luscious thick forest🌳🌳 where he used to live and hide from top predators. Not any more! Here, I seem to be the top predator. I bare my teeth at unruly boys. 🐵
I see a girl, as sweet as a butterfly 🦋, who looks at me with awe when I swing from one branch to another. I see her clapping in delight.🙋♀️ Her jubilation encourages me. I try and show my benevolent skills. I approach cautiously maintaining my discretion and distance. But then her stout caretaker approaches and mouths few words that I do not like or know. 🤦♀️🙉
Why does she despise me? My momma says that humans think we are unpredictable and dangerous because we do not speak their language. 😒 Ain’t love a Universal language? I am confused! 😕 🙈
Am I really unpredictable? I think the humans around me are so! I see a man swishing in his luxury car to a swanky place, full of big machines, where he goes and jumps and sweats and makes funny faces.🏋 He runs at a steady spot 🏃and tries and does the same tricks that I do on a pole.🤸 Ofcourse, I do them better. 🙊
But after this man comes home, he slouches his buttocks down on his big fat couch and orders everyone around. He doesn’t even move a finger, except for the one which is continously on that small little thing forever in his pocket and by his bedside. Something that works like a torch also. Highly advanced.📲 Maybe he is somewhat like my big Nana. No! my Nana is strong and wise and gives me ample counsel and time. He hardly gives any time to his children.
I see the mother, fierce yet loving, caring and strong. I see her bathing her children tenderly. Just like my mama removes the lice from my head and scratches me. She doesn’t like me near her children and sometimes I sneak inside her kitchen and take her goodies away. She doesn’t even know I am there. I do not make any noise. And I also wipe my feet with the curtains on her window when I jump in. Once I took my friend in too, but alas he was noisy. He was also smart. He opened a big white cooling machine and spilled the mushy liquid maybe daal on the floor. We were exposed. We ran away. I felt bad for the mess. Now, she has become very cautious. Getting back in has become difficult.
Food is in ample here, I do not mind. Some well meaning gentleman has developed a nice vegetable patch. And even though it is well guarded by his best friend- the dog 🐕 my arch enemy. But we young monkeys, work as a smart team. We use distractions as a ploy.
There are a lot of wild berriers growing around me in abundance. 🍇But, I have more chances of finding food in a big green blue container. It is maintained with utter disregard by humans here. And sometimes contain baby excrete like smell and products. There is one miscreant like substance in all shapes and sizes and colors. It has a tendency to stick and cause problems for us. 🤢My Nana, since long has taught me to sniff the good stuff out and to use my hands and sharp nails to carefully pick my desired product. I eat what sustains me in one go and carefully pack and leave the rest for later.
The jungles are day by day reducing and my Nana tells me that we have to get used to this new ecosystem of living around humans. He says it is safer to live in and around their campuses. 🏡Jungles are few and far away. Usually on the outskirts, and sometimes near industries spewing black smoke into the air. Living here in city campus is more sustainable. All it needs is getting used to unruly crowds of young boys who sometimes use stones to drive us away. They miss all there throws.
Unfortunately, one day a stone stuck the smallest amongst us and he died after blood loss. That was a sad day for our community. No one ate. There was no chatter. We were all sad and were looking for ways to get back at miscreants. But my Nana said it is best to move on. I could not sleep properly for many nights later.
But life goes on. And I am back to being the chirpy charmer that I am. I beleive there is no life without a little mischief! And I will carry on, with elan, with my folks on this adventure called life!🐒🐒🐒
Everyday little things 