SIMIAN TALES

The festival season in the Indian sub-continent has begun and the relationship between siblings highlighted by Nagapanchami, Raksha Bandhan et al. This was preceded by the Friendship Day and will be followed by the feasting of Ganesha. Not to forget the Iftars which mark the end of Roza everyday in the month of Ramzan or Ramadan.

The trip down this festive lane was ironically triggered by the ancestor visiting our household as we were on the roof top of our abode. Amidst the fragrance of the jasmine on the one end and the tempting greenery of the gooseberries we suddenly noticed a quick movement which was too large for the owner of the gooseberry tree - the squirrel. Even as we trained our eyes on the approaching movement felt by our sixth senses, the spectacle of the simian ancestor became clear. A couple of quick movements later it was noticed that the simian was a true parent who had come in search of its protege which was escaping from the prying eyes of a parent. The two played the game of hide and seek with elan across the neighbourhood as we collected the flowers for the day and descended the flight of stairs with relief to realise that the gooseberry tree being frequently torn down was not the work of an errant human but that of a simian.

Strangely, a couple of days earlier, I had the occasion to sight one of the simians at office. This one was trying its hands at Bill Gates' Windows. On my entry he just sat on the ledge of the window with the mouse in hand. As I sauntered in, he gnawed at the mouse and growled at me. Softwares can make anyone go crazy and this young hi tech monkey was no exception. Realizing the need for assistance as I called out for the office boy, the naughty young one case an eye on my lunch box. Luckily, the boy walked in and picked a stick. Faced with the prospect of a thrashing, the young one just dropped the mouse and cast an eye at the outside world. We stopped for the next move of this young one. Quietly he picked up his tail in a claw much as a woman would pick her saree pallu and swung out in a trice.



A few days later as we were closing the office down at the end of the working hours we had two very harried customers scampering in. They achieved what no human could have done to the office goers. In a race across the office corridor they froze everyone to their respective spots. Wish one could trace their blog to enlighten ourselves on the glee these simians derived from this exhilarating experience.

May be the time has come for us to outsource the work to these simians or would it be the case of Animal Farm?