Confession

While we all are busy searching for age defying creams, posting absurd status messages on social networking sites, partying hard for random reasons, there are few things we overlook and how. I am not moral policing as there is nothing wrong in doing that. It’s a free world with free wills. I am homebound these days so I tend to think about things which I may not have thought, otherwise. May be, it is the after effect of staying in a plush society with lots of greenery around, away from the maddening crowd. I see it as a rare commodity these days.

Every morning, crooning of birds wake up, sometimes I sit in balcony watching them for hours. I keep a book on birds by my bedside to learn which bird have I spotted today. Sometimes I take notes also, but that is when I am at leisure, which again is rarest of the commodity these days in my life.

One morning I woke up to the same sound and got out of bed to make tea. I came back to my room. I was talking to my husband when I heard sounds in the kitchen, I ignored it thinking it is the maid. And just then I saw a she monkey and her baby in my bedroom balcony, I freaked out. Rushed into the kitchen just to make sure things are in place as I remembered that I had left the kitchen door open to let in some fresh air. And what do I see, a giant red-faced monkey sitting on kitchen floor with casserole in hand, nibbling on previous night’s chapattis with some homemade achaar. We it hushed it away and have been keeping a close check on the kitchen door, ever since.

The same incident repeated. In fact, monkeys visit our home and other homes around almost every day. I don’t like the site if monkeys, maybe because they resemble us so closely. Anyway the agenda is not that. The point is will our kids live up to this day when they would be able to see monkeys in home or will we be running a save monkey campaign sooner or later. Why don’t we appreciate things which are there now, why do we rare for things which we lose or have lost, fat being an exception. We have managed to scare away rich heritage, what is a monkey then. May be it is still found in abundance as it knows how to deceive people, like we do all the time.

We all love wildlife stories whether they are in granny tales or in Ruskin bond journals, or may be in a lame journal as this one. There are instances which draw our attention towards them, but it is sad that those instances are rare. After thinking about these issues for long, I may still chase the monkey away, but with little more respect. Even if it is short-lived. And not with a stick, may be by shouting. Just may be.