Misdeeds

A large troop of monkeys lived on a huge banyan tree near an ancient temple. Moti was the leader of this troop. Moti was a wise and sensible monkey. He took care of every monkey, young and old. Everyone was happy and enjoyed a carefree life.

But there was one monkey in the troop who was foolish and rude. His name was Timkoo.  Moti had, on many occasions, advised and cautioned him. But Timkoo would never take Moti seriously. He thought that he was smart enough to take care of himself. He thought that Moti was a weak and silly monkey.

Every Tuesday a large number of devotees would come to the temple to offer prayers. Everyone would bring some offering for the Deity. Some people brought sweets and some people brought fruits and nuts.

The fragrance of the sweets and fruits was too tempting for the monkeys. They would all, one by one, come inside the temple. They would eagerly look at the people coming in and going out of the temple. Many people would give sweets and fruits to the monkeys which they devoured quickly.

No monkey would ever attack any devotee. No monkey would ever snatch anything from any person, not even from a small child.  Moti had clearly told them that no man, woman or a child was ever to be attacked or threatened.

No monkey, not even Timkoo, had ever dared to disobey Moti. But on one Tuesday, Timkoo attacked a small child. He had come to the temple with his parents. The child was holding a large paper bag full of sweets. Timkoo   snatched the paper bag. The child was too terrified to even scream. Timkoo ran away with the sweets. He climbed on the roof of the temple.  Some of his friends joined him. They greedily ate the sweets and felt proud of themselves.

Moti had been quietly watching this incident. He was angry and horrified.  He said to himself, “Timkoo is an idiot.  He does not know what trouble he will bring on all of us.”

In anger he ordered his troop, “Back to the tree, at once.”

When every monkey was back on the tree, Moti said to them, “Today Timkoo has committed a blunder. He attacked a small child and snatched the sweets. Till now people coming to the temple were not afraid of us. Many of them were willingly giving us sweets and fruits. But now they will fear us. They may even attack us. Therefore, listen to me very carefully. I am not going to repeat this warning again. Never ever attack anyone coming to the temple. Never ever snatch anything from anyone. Just eat what people willingly give you. If you attack anyone or snatch anything from anyone, we would all be in serious trouble.”

While every monkey saw sense in what Moti was saying, Timkoo was not impressed. He thought it was fun to terrify kids and women and to snatch things they were carrying. He provoked some of his friends, “Moti is now too old to be leader of this troop. He is a timid fellow. I am not going to accept his silly orders. Let us do what we want to do. Let us have some fun in life.”

Some of his friends got carried away by these provoking words. Next Tuesday Timkoo and his gang of monkeys started attacking young children and women. They snatched sweets and fruits from many women and children. Some of the children even got injured while running away from the monkeys.

Men holding large sticks attacked the monkeys and chased them away. Big boys pelted stones on them. Monkeys ran helter-skelter. Some of the monkeys got hurt.

Moti was wild with anger. He slapped Timkoo hard on his face. He shouted at Timkoo’s friends. They promised that they would never behave in this manner; they would follow Moti’s order; they would not attack people coming to the temple.

But Timkoo was incorrigible. And so were his friends. Tuesday came. Timkoo and his gang again attacked the people who had come to the temple. Moti was disappointed but not surprised. He knew that Timkoo and his gang would not stop attacking prople.

Back on the tree, Moti said, “Now we will never go to the temple. People are angry with us. They must be planning to get rid of us.  Now it will not be safe to go to the temple.”

Monkeys were disappointed. But they knew that what Moti was saying was right. Everyone accepted Moti’s direction.

But Timkoo and his gang were in no mood to go by Moti’s order. They no longer treated themselves as part of the troop.

Next Tuesday Moti and other monkeys of the troop did not go to the temple. But Timkoo and his gang were eagerly looking forward to their weekly visit to the temple.

“I think we should target boys and girls only; particularly those who carry large bags,” Timkoo suggested.

“Yes, that way we will get large quantity of sweets and fruits,” said one of his friends.

“Yes, we will then eat sweets and fruits to our hearts fill,” said another friend.

As per their plan Timkoo and his friends targeted a little boy who was carrying a large paper. Bag was full of tasty sweets. They could not resist the temptation of snatching that bag. They attacked the boy. The boy got scared. He dropped the bag and ran for his life. Before anyone could attack them Timkoo picked the bag and climbed on the roof the temple.  His friends quickly followed him.

Timkoo and his friends greedily devoured the sweets that were in the bag. They were all pleased with themselves. But soon all of them felt dizzy. A little later they were all asleep.

And when they woke up they were all stunned. They were not on the roof of the temple. They found themselves in a dense forest. For a moment they were dumbstruck.

“Where are we?” asked one monkey when he found his voice.

“How did we reach here?’ asked another monkey.

“I think we are in the forest, on the other side of river Chandravati,” said Timkoo.

“Then we are all doomed and for ever. We will never find our way out of this forest,” all other monkeys shouted in one voice.

Timkoo and his friends did not know that people had planned to trap them. They had mixed a medicine in the sweets which the little boy was carrying in a large paper bag. Monkeys fell for the trap. They snatched the medicated sweets and devoured them greedily.

 All of them fell unconscious. Men, holding large gunny bags, were just waiting for that moment. They stuffed the unconscious monkeys in the bags. They carried the bags across Chadravati River and left the monkeys in the dense forest.

“Don’t you worry, I will find a way to go back to that temple,” Timkoo tried to cheer his friends.

But they were already regretting their foolishness and misdeeds.

“We were fools that we chose to ignore the warning given by Moti. He is a true leader. He is wise and cares for everyone. You are an idiot and unfit to be our leader. We should have never followed you. We should have never troubled people coming to the temple. They trapped us and now we will have to live in this forest forever. Leave us now or we will thrash you,” everyone said in one voice.

Timkoo had no option but to beat a hasty retreat. He was now totally friendless in that dense forest.

A wise crow, perched on a nearby tree, had been listening to their arguments. He laughed and said, “Your misdeeds catch up with you, always.”

© i b arora