Monkey's business
11. Manu’s monkey business
Manu and his monkey were always a spectacle. How many people kept a monkey for a pet? And got away with it in an apartment complex? How they met was an equally amusing story….
Manu was a good person, he genuinely cared about people and wanted to help them, lend a ear to their problems, but a year ago he realized that listening to so much negativity was beginning to affect his ability to write. His creative juices were running dry... sapped by the never ending complaining and venting he took in from his friends, acquaintances and well... just about anyone. Poor Manu, stuck between hell and a really hard place (meaning he could not bring himself to stop them, nor could he tolerate it for himself any longer) decided he would have to be creative(naturally) and deflect all the negativity that came to him by keeping something so distracting on his person, that people would immediately forget why they had come to talk to him and instead focus on that… slightly farfetched and a little wasteful and indirect as the plan was, Manu decided this could be achieved by keeping an interesting pet… Manu had gone to a park one day. He was there to escape a particularly annoying ‘neighbor aunty’, who had been literally banging on his door since 6 in the morning to vent about a servant who had been stealing washing soap and salt from her every week. She wanted to devise a plan to catch her ‘in the act’ and of course the ‘nice’ and gullible Manu would have to be involved. Manu had actually locked his door and hid in his own home, checking outside his door several times before making a clean escape to the park. The park was empty, except for a few kids and their mom’s at one corner of the park, playing on the swings, and at that time of the day most people found it too hot to be taking a walk there anyway. Manu found himself a stone bench in the shade, and took in the sound of silence… as he made himself comfortable… ‘SWOOOSHHH’… he heard something swing from a tree suddenly, brushing against several leaves as it did that… he looked up and the sun blinded him momentarily until he saw what had broken the silence once again. A little monkey, swinging from one tree to another, landing gracefully on the boundary wall of the park. Their eyes met briefly and Manu remembered the guava he had slipped into his kurta pocket as he escaped the confines of his home. That was his breakfast, but then again Manu with the heart of gold (tired heart now)… wanted to give it to the little monkey. He took out the fruit and lured the monkey to him and soon the furry devil was sitting next to him chomping away at the guava, while Manu watched with glee.
Manu took the monkey home, because he had realized his search for a pet began and ended in the park that morning. But what was surprising was that the monkey let him! In a week they were inseparable, and after a quick visit to the vet, who was shocked and slightly displeased at his choice of pet, deviating so much from socially accepted animals…they were coexisting beautifully. Manu had found a great pet, a friend and negativity repellant all in one monkey…who he called Monkey! Silly as it was…it was an endearing name... and he seemed to respond, so it worked!
Monkey inspired Manu enough to finish writing a play he had been working on… and the play ‘Who’s got my knife?’ went on to get rave reviews…
Manu was thinking about his next play… he needed a killer idea… something he would be able to build around the beautiful girl he had met at the restaurant...a day had passed since they met, and she had not called, but Manu did not want to lose hope, he would find her! But see, Manu was going to get a little help from his monkey friend; he just did not know it yet!
Monkey had the habit of going off on little adventures, he would come back of course, and never caused any damage (not really anyway), but he did scare people just a bit. And he definitely was attracted to any object that was food, resembled food, or anything that caught the light and would appear shiny...
So while Manu was lost in thought…Monkey was off to play…he let himself out through a window, and Manu enjoyed being in denial about the danger the little monkey would be in each time he went out, so according to Manu, Monkey never left the house without him.
Monkey decided he had had enough of Manu’s boring building. The building next door had so many shiny objects to lure his attention, and Monkey was off swinging in the direction on one particular balcony. Sunday morning’s were lazy and slow anyways, so nobody noticed Monkey (by the way he had a collar and a bell on it too) swing to ‘Magnolia’, to that third floor balcony… belonging to the pretty lady who had not so long ago caught the attention of his owner (some prefer ‘dad’, but that might be creepy for others)…Now this is not just what happens in movies people… there is no such thing as coincidence! Movies imitate life... and here was life…happening!
Kirtana was making her bed… singing to herself; she was going to pamper herself today, being a Sunday and all. She would do a home facial and the three of them would make a nice Sunday brunch and laze around and talk and eat…she was happy about not really doing much. Her attention was diverted all of a sudden; as she looked out of her balcony window… she did a double take. Sitting on the ledge was a little monkey, poking curiously at the mirror work top she had hung out to dry on her clothes line… she looked at him, but surprisingly he had not noticed her. She spotted his collar and bell, and figured this monkey probably belonged to someone. Something was written on his collar, but she could not read it from that distance. Finally he saw her… She thought he was the most adorable little monkey she had seen, and slowly she reached out to open her balcony door, to get closer to him. As she slid open the door… Monkey jumped at her, and Kit slipped, falling backwards with the surprise, and hit her head on the half open door. This week... Kirtana had fallen way too many times, literally and otherwise... poor poor Kitty!!
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