By Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
Madamundu forest was chock-full of animals. There were several troops of monkeys, pitched against each other. They were always fighting for territory. Whenever a stray monkey wandered in to an unfriendly territory belonging to another troop, the warrior monkeys will jump on him and chase him out of fruiting trees. They had no defense against the fruit bats, birds, squirrels…. The latter swooped in, took the fruits, flew or run off. It was frustrating for the fighter monkeys to defend their territory against flying birds and fast-moving critters.
There were bears too in the forest, which were adept in climbing the tree, eat the fruits and enjoy the honey from the beehives. The only thing the monkeys could do was to screech, scream, squirm and show their teeth. All that bravado did not bother the bears. The tigers had no enemies other than humans. When the flies bothered them too much in the bush, they climbed up the tree and took a siesta up on the sturdy branches. The monkeys had no control over the tigers. They went where they wanted. If the monkeys were too aggressive, the tigers ate them.
The stragglers from the enemy troop were mauled, bruised, lacerated and bloodied. Under these conditions, the troops lived apart in an uneasy peace. Some stragglers moved out of the forest into nearby villages and towns to live on scraps. Some were adventurous in raiding and foraging peanut farms, with mounds of harvested peanuts waiting for transportation. Their favorite places were the plantain farms, where they stole the bananas egregiously right from the hands of the farm workers. They knew their yellows and greens. They went for the yellow bananas.
Mango farms were no exception. A troop goes into the mango farms at harvest time, when the fruits were about half or fully ripe. They raided the fruit-processing plants, where the fruits were skinned, cut and packed for domestic use or for export. They jump on the heads of the workers irrespective of their gender, grab the skinned ripe mango slices from the moving belts, and stuff their pouches. The workers are the devotees of Hanuman, the monkey god. They did no harm to the monkeys. The stealing and harassment became a daily occurrence and a great nuisance. The proprietor hired owners and Hanuman monkeys (Langur monkeys) to make rounds around the factory. The Hanuman monkeys and their handlers thwarted the rhesus monkeys from the factory floor. The size of the langur monkeys frightened the rhesus monkeys, which were kept them away from the plant processing floor.
Naturally the fruit prices were higher. At least there was no invasion from the simians.
An owner of another mango processing plant put up a razor wire perimeter, which the monkeys could not jump over to reach the floor of the processing plant. Some bold monkeys were caught in the maze of the razor wires. In their attempt to escape, they sustained lacerations, bled and died. The compatriots were screeching and making a racket, attracting the attention of the owner. The owner dismantled the razor wire perimeter fence to prevent such needless death of the monkeys.
Back in the forest, an abandoned and disowned straggler was scavenging the forest floor looking for fallen fruits. He came across a snail.
The monkey asked the snail, “Who are you?”
The snail: “I am a snail.”
The monkey: “You must be the two-neuron moron. One neuron tells you whether you are hungry. The second neuron identifies you food.
The snail: “Is there a limit to your insults. You came to me. I want a favor from you. I would like to take a ride on you, while you jump from branch to branch and when you swing on your prehensile tail.”
The monkey: “I see, it must be the Play-Neuron in you, besides the Hungry-Neuron and the Food-Neuron. What can you do for me in return?”
The snail: “I can keep you free of the nits.”
The monkey took a liking for the snail, let him ride on him and fed him fruits.
Days and months went by. The snail grew to a one-pound weight splurging on the fruit.
During their stay together, the snail made sure there were no nits infesting the monkey for which it was grateful to the snail.
The monkey: “Mr. Snail, you are now a megaton Moron. You are getting too heavy for me. It is time for you to disembark from your perch.Thank you for being a friend.
When he reached a lakeside, the monkey dropped the snail off at the lakeside. A nearby troop welcomed the estranged monkey with fruits on their hands.
They went their separate ways. The monkey and the snail are unlikely friends. Everyone needs a friend when that someone is down and out.