If Monkeys are in 3192, can 3195 be far behind?

The title is an inspiration from poet Shelley’s lines, ‘If winter is here, can spring be far behind,’ just to fit in with the monkey menace in SFV

I don’t know how it is with you, but I always think that things go wrong only for others. Misfortune happens only to someone else, never to me. Optimism rides supreme despite repeated warnings from well-meaning co-residents, sometimes with photographic evidence, of the menace. Having gone in for a forest- view abode, probably it’s time to live with its attendant advantages and constraints. After all, everything comes with a price. On the plus side we are cut off from vehicular pollution, traffic congestion, or a crowded marketplace. On the flip side the animal fraternity is reigning supreme to reclaim its lost territory. 

My friend and neighbour Hari rang me up over the intercom this morning. “Mama, can you and Mami come to our house quickly please?” It was breakfast time, so I thought that Geetha, the culinary expert always keen to try out what she had watched in the Food channel, had attempted something new for breakfast and they wanted to share it with us. No, not this time. They wanted us, instead, to watch the monkeys make a breakfast of their morning’s acquisitions - chappatis, mixture packet, mangoes, bananas… that they smuggled from Maple 4 flats. 

They were a family of seven – five adults and two kids. The baby monkeys were assigned to sneak through the small window openings or elsewhere, lay their hands on whatever they could, and deposit them safe to the adults waiting on the chajja of 16 and 17 floors of Maple 4. When we went there, they were busy enjoying the booty, sometimes fighting for equal share, and at other times disallowing solitary claim to another item.

“No more taking things easy,” said the lady of my house on hurrying back home. “Close all the glass windows, and lock them,” she ordered; I obeyed, but none worked, they were way past their expiry dates, builder’s lifetime guarantee regardless. 

It is at this time that alternative methods flash past your mind. “Bring the sewing machine oil-can. Possibly if oiled well, these latches might lock,” she persisted. 

It did not strike her that long ago when the sewing machine literally disowned her and began operating on its own terms, she had given it away, along with its paraphernalia, in a sort of riddance move.

“I should have retained the oil can at least. Anyway. All right, then get me the oil-flow regulator from the kitchen.  You know the one I use to regulate the flow of oil while preparing dosa, adai, etc. for you,” she told me in a manner that I was the lone eater in the house. But no time for argument. I managed to lay my hands on it in less time than usual. She applied on all latches with a victorious look. None obliged. The next thirty minutes she spent cleaning the excess oil that was seeping. 

“I think, rather than spending your time on blogs, you should write a strong letter to the builder to come and see the fate of his lifetime guarantee items, See these, the health faucets, the electric switches...Most of them we have begun to buy in  wholesale.”

 “That is all okay for the future. Tell me what we should do for now,” I asked, trying to get her to the point. “How else do you think? Let us just lock the house and go on a vacation for one week – say to Coimbatore and be with Leela Akka, Shanta Akka, and others. After all they have also been inviting us for quite some time. Also, there are a lot of activities taking place in the new Ganesha  and Guruvayoorappan temples in Phases 2 and 3 of the retirement homes. We can get a first hand account as well,” she said.

Kaha monkey menace aur kaha vacation -  अजीब दास्तां है ये, कहाँ शुरू कहाँ खतम 

(If you have any comments, please write them NOT in Telegram, WhatsApp or ADDA, but in the Post a Comment column of the Blog.  It then stays with the blog. Thanks.)