Subu, The Friendly Monkey | Flash Post 310

We’ve not written a story in a long time.

You’re right, Button. We can. Now?

That’s a great idea. But who will start?

I will.

Yippeeeeee. I love stories

A monkey named Subu was somewhat tired of spending his days only at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park playing with the same old friends, the routine chatter, the same old food and the sameness of every day.

Subu hatched a plan and made up his mind to have some fun all by himself because he knew his co-mates were cowards.

He swung from one tree to the other jumping in joy because he had broken free from his regular boring schedule finally landing on the branch of a tree that looked into an apartment. He peeked in through the window from his perch and tried to gauge if there was anyone at home. As he didn’t see anyone, he landed on the window sill in one jump.

He got a better view from his window perch and, as one side of the window was not open entirely, pushed it open to get a better view of the interiors. The first thing he spotted was a carton full of ripe, juicy mangoes on the dining table and, the thought of eating a mango all by himself made him drool.

Suddenly the mistress of the house, Neera, came into the kitchen and, seeing the monkey on the window ledge, went and crashed into the cupboard where the crockery was kept while running out. “There’s a monkey in our kitchen”, she yelled. Hearing Neera’s screams, her two children aged 10 and 8, rushed in, hoping to see the monkey. By now, the monkey had jumped back to a branch of the tree and was merrily swinging from branch to branch. “Where’s the monkey mama?” they asked. “He’s on that tree,” she replied, pointing at the tree outside their kitchen window. Her kids ran to the window to catch a glimpse of the monkey and found him squatting on a branch and grinning cheekily from one ear to the other as if to say–come out and play with me.

From that day onwards, the family didn’t quite object to the monkey entering their house through the window and stealing some fruit now and then because they were fascinated with him. They were also fascinated with his extravagant lifestyle as he liked watching television with the air conditioner turned on and feeding on only mangoes when they were there!

One evening, after the family returned home from an outing, they found Subu sitting on one of their sofas, eating a mango with the air conditioner on, watching television. The minute he heard the doorlock click, he got up hurriedly and, smashing the AC remote to show his irritation at being disturbed, jumped out from the window.

On another day, when the kids went down to play along with their friends from the building, they found Subu waiting in the playground. Once the children started to play a game of ring-a-ring-a-roses, Subu joined in. Gradually, a close bond developed between Subu and the kids from the building. They’d play every day after school and Subu would enjoy a meal every other day catered by different families living in the same building.

One day, Subu suddenly started to miss his monkey friends and, though he’d become very attached with his human friends, wanted to go back to the jungle to meet up with his old friends once. He decided not to bid goodbye to his human friends and family and, on a bright and sunny morning, slipped out of the jungle. His old monkey friends were thrilled to see him again because they had been worried for him. They hugged each other, chattered about the same old things and enquired as to where Subu had been all these days. Subu told them everything about his new-found human friends and distributed mangoes that he had stolen for them amongst all his friends. After they had finished eating, his four-legged friends asked him about his plans. Had he returned to stay with them or was he thinking about returning to his human family.

After much ado, it was decided that Subu would alternate in sharing time between his monkey friends and his human friends. After having spent time in the jungle, Subu realised that he wanted to visit his human family to check how they were faring.

On the day he returned to the city, his little human friends ran to him and hugged Subu tight. They all had tears in their eyes and asked Subu why he had disappeared. Seeing the love his little friends showered on him, Subu swore never to run away again.

In the meantime, word reached Subu that the monkey patriarch had passed away and, since he was next in line, he would be required back in the jungle to take over the reigns. While his heart broke on receiving this news, the responsibility of taking care and making important decisions on behalf of his monkey family made him think over the matter with a clear head. Where was his presence required more? Subu finally came to the conclusion that he would return to his original home where he was wanted to be a leader to his ilk.

His absence from the city extended from days to months with his human friends worrying about Subu’s absence, still counting the number of days and hoping that he would return to them some day soon.