Of monkey business and life lessons

“Yatrigan Kripaya dhyan de. Gaadi no 11212, Pune se Mumbai jaanevaali Deccan Queen, platform no 1 se ravaana hone vaali hein” warned a pre-recorded female voice which echoed in the misty but otherwise mostly empty Shivaji Nagar Railway Station.

“Hurry up! Let’s get the tickets” exclaimed Sangam. Nisarg scurried to the counter. We were on a weekend trek to Bhimashankar.

As the train moved slowly, Anil, Nisarg, Sangam and I barely managed to get into a general compartment. It was packed with people, goats, hens and what not. It was very difficult to move. Luckily, being skinny, Nisarg and I managed to move through the crowd towards a window. As the train swerved out of Pune, the tender rays of the Sun kissed the skin of the people near windows. It was a perfect sunrise in the back drop of hills - much like a kid’s first scenery drawing.

The train snaked across the hills of Western Ghats through a few tunnels on the way. One could see kids waving at the passengers in every village the train passed through. They seemed to enjoy both the sight and the sound of train. It was a delight to beholder’s eyes. For those kids, even an old cycle tire is a prized possession.  These sights bore testimony to the ultimate fun and bliss of enjoying even the simple things in life.

As we grow, we get caught up in the quagmire of monotonous jobs. Obviously, I am not asking you to wave at the passengers in trains. I mean, are we digging the wrong places for fun and happiness? We no longer seem to enjoy the so called ‘simple things’. Is that what makes us grown-ups?

Meanwhile, we reached Karjat. From there, we took an auto to Khandas, a village in the base of Bhimashankar hill. By the time we began trudging up the Bhimashankar hill, the Sun looked like an egg yolk on a frying pan. As we continued our trek, we saw a few Macaque monkeys along a cliff on the way. As they seemed quiet and unmindful of our presence, we clicked a few photos.

   

Suddenly as if after a meticulous planning, the whole group of monkeys attacked us. Sangam and I ran pell-mell while Anil and Nisarg were trying to find a way to escape. A monkey jumped on Nisarg’s bag and scattered its contents. Sangam was a little paranoid and was shouting at me to stop running. He was mad at me for leaving them. Nisarg had lost his rain coat, gifted by his father, in the commotion.

Somehow, all the four of us managed to meet near a tree. The Alpha male showing off its extra sharp canines inched towards us. Surrounded by monkeys in three directions and a steep cliff in the other, we were rendered helpless. We could neither run nor fight. So we decided to open up all the bags and show them that there was nothing left. The Alpha male pulled all the stuff out of bags and sat with us for a minute probing a piece of soap. After some time, they lost interest in us and vanished into the canopy.

It resembled a rape scene of typical Indian movie—scattered clothes, bags, bottles… It was a life time experience for all of us: of getting surrounded by monkeys, sharing space and time with the scary Alpha male…

I am sure we have all read many stories of valour in our schools. Some of us even imagine ourselves as the protagonist of the story. Do we really have those characters in us? Can we imbibe them just by being enclosed in the four walls of a classroom? May be, if we had stayed together, Nisarg might not have lost his precious rain coat.  

I realise that treks are not just aimless trudging in the wilderness. They teach us life lessons. They reveal our inner selves, improve our learnability and make us mentally strong. Until we are confronted with unexpected situations, we don’t quite know what we can and what we can’t. It is in such situations, we learn that life is not linear. But, isn’t that the beauty of it?

So, Yatrigan Kripaya dhyan de! What makes Life worth it is the journey—the people we meet, places we see, things we learn or unlearn, the joy we find in the simple things… What say, readers? Hellooo!! Anybody there..? Was I that preachy? J

Feel free to share your views and stories.

PS: Sitting through a boring lecture was the driving force for writing this article. After all, anything can be turned useful. Why not a boring lecture?!

Photos: Nisarg P Desai