Merchant and the Monkeys


I was 5 years old when I was admitted to a primary school nearby. I had earlier attended a Montessori school for kids.

Life in those days was different from what it is today. The parents were more sensible and less demanding on children. There was an easygoing atmosphere all around. As there was lot of holidays in the Hindu calendar, we were at home most of the days.

I still remember what took place on the first day when I joined the primary school. My parents had arranged for a flower-decked car, and I was forced to sit on a deerskin placed over a high seat. I was made to wear a rose garland and all our relatives from near and far had come for the occasion. There was lot of fun and frolic when a procession went from our house to the school.

I was not a sociable child. Even at home I used to move with my mother alone. Ours was a joint family, with my father’s and his elder brother’s families living together in the same house. I never used to mix with other occupants of the house. Even with my father I had only limited contacts. I was at my worst in the school, as I could not move with my classmates and teachers. I was being of a quiet nature helped to get along with the teacher.

At the end of the year there used to be a school day when parents would be invited and a cultural show consisting of dances and dramas performed by students would be put up. I was surprised when the teacher told I that I had been selected for a drama to be performed by the first standard students. I felt both elated and dejected.

Elated as I was selected for the play and dejected, as I felt nervous. The elation evaporated after I heard about the plot of the drama. It was a story ” Merchant and the monkeys” well known in those days.

The story was as follows. A merchant was selling caps. It was noon and he went for a siesta under a big Banyan tree. While he was asleep monkeys on the tree came down, opened the bundle of caps kept nearby and took away all the caps. When the merchant woke up after some time, he found the caps missing and to his astonishment noticed the monkeys wearing the caps and peeping at him from the branches of the tree. He did not know what to do. He pleaded with the monkeys in the choicest terms possible to return the caps. But the monkeys did not oblige. A passerby noticed the predicament of the merchant and advised him to throw down the cap worn by him so that the monkeys would try to imitate him. When the merchant threw away the cap from his head the monkeys also did the same and the merchant collected all the caps and ran away from the place.

I was told that the play required fifteen monkey actors and I would have to act the role of a monkey. I had to meekly accept the role, as I could not influence the teacher on my acting abilities for a better role. Boys, who had to act as monkeys, were told by the teacher to fetch their own caps for the play.

I told my mother that I wanted a cap for the play. Mother was quite frugal in those days, but also good at handicrafts. She made a very good cap out of cardboard and white paper. The cap fitted my head snugly and I was proud over wearing that cap.

The “D day” dawned and I went to the school in the evening. A crowd of relatives and family friends accompanied me, as my mother had publicized the event much earlier.

When I went to the back of the stage, which was the Green room, I could spot lot of my monkey friends with variety of caps on their heads. But most of them were wearing what were known as Gandhi caps. Gandhi cap was a popular cap in those days as the congressmen for the independence struggle used it. It was made of homespun cotton known as “Khader”. There were other types also like the “bowler” and the pith hat. But my cap was the only one, which was made of paper and easily identifiable as it had a unique shape and appearance.

We were all given face wash and applied with talcum powder on our faces. The teacher inspected our dresses of white jibba and pyjama. Then the most surprising thing happened. The teacher collected all our caps and tied those in to a bundle with an outer cloth. I got a jittery feeling as though my cap would not be traceable in that bundle.

There was a shrill whistle, which was the sign for the play to start. The merchant entered the stage with his bundle of caps and went for a siesta. We the monkeys entered the stage one by one and started enacting our pranks, much to the delight of the audience. Our leader opened the bundle of caps, and we all scrambled to pick up our caps. There were no problems regarding the Gandhi caps as most of those were of the same size and appearance. I was searching for my cap and could not locate it. Every other monkey actor had already worn his cap and was readying for the next scene,

Right from my childhood I was brought up to be sincere and truthful. While I could tolerate certain amount of fun and joke at my expense, I could never digest an injustice or insult meted out to me. There was also an over riding reason for me to grab the cap, which I would explain later. My searching eyes could spot out my cap on the head of Seenu, who was standing at the centre of the stage. I ran up to him with all vehemence, I could muster and shouted at him “ How dare you robbed my cap?” I grabbed the cap from his head. Even though Seenu was a peace loving friendly guy he could not keep quiet at that instant, as he felt threatened. There was a scuffle that followed, and in the end I was victorious, grabbing the cap and wearing it on my head with all glory. The cap, which was made of paper, got badly torn in the process, but I couldn't care less.

The audience who were watching the entire sequence of events did not know that the scuffle was not a part of the play but a clash of personalities. They were thrilled by the monkey fight and there were loud cheer and thundering applauses from all round. The reaction of the audience saved me from the wrath of my teacher later on. While she did not appreciate, she also desisted from pulling me up.

My relatives made fun of me when I returned home and the story of my play was remembered and told to newer generation of members added to our family as time rolled on.

The only person who knew the real reason for my grabbing the paper cap was my mother. The reason was simple. While most of the boys had round well shaped heads, I had an oblong head on which no standard cap would fit. Mother had made the paper cap to specifically fit my head.

Only a mother knows the secrets of her children



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