Monkey Talks
We have cleared the jungle to less than 15% and our monkeys and elephants have no place to roam about.
This is all about Real Monkeys.
In my book published about few years ago, "Living with Nature", the first 3 chapters were dedicated to monkeys and mangoes.
Mangoes are my favorite fruits.
Never mango drinks.
I hate fruit juices but love Coca Cola and Ginger Beer.
This was during my weaning off period from alcohol.
My favorite was Gin and Tonic.
Billiards game to go with it.
I hate the smell of local Arrack but had a penchant for VSOA during hospital life.
To cut that story short when I realized I was an alcoholic, I abruptly stopped.
That's it.
Mahinda Thera supposed to have had a "Mango Quiz" with our first King Devanam Piya Tissa.
What I extract from this story is not logic but that our ancestors like any prehistoric civilization were hunters.
Nothing but hunters.
But they never hunt our monkeys.
But presently, Ceylonese hunt, kill and eat money meat.
Monkeys carry human related diseases and AIDS is one among the many.
To begin with, one should never mess with our crows.
They are intelligent.
I am made to believe that even the descendants of crows treated badly remember their ordeals.
This is an epigenetic trait that is passed down to subsequent generations.
I tend to believe, if we ill treat monkeys for several generations they would pass down that trait like the crows.
What I have noticed is during the first generation itself monkeys tend imitate us and act rudely to humans.
The bottom line is do not ill treat monkeys.
Do not become friendly, too.
Be indifferent and shoo them away gently.
What I used to do is, if they come to our roof top, I climb to the roof top garden and watch.
Never leave water or food.
Won't react adversely but observe and respond in gentle tone "that your time is up to leave".
If you are having fruit trees have only one or two near your house which you can protect.
If you have a fruit garden, it is a full time job to protect the garden.
Like mongooses that open the doors of pens where animals are kept monkeys are adept at opening doors to look for food and some are really mischievous.
For the rest of the monkey stories read my book "Living with Nature" which include looking after water lilies, cherry tomatoes and allowing little birds (munia) to make nests.
I will end up with one monkey story.
We used to come to school very early in the morning.
One is to play soft ball cricket.
The other is to pluck fruits on our way to school.
Lovi-lovi
Ugurassa
Amberalla
Mangoes
Very rarely Tamarind
Velvet Tamarind (Gal Siyambala)
Mora
This list is in my book "Vegetarian Saga".
What we used to do is to throw a stick at the mango tree.
Not towards the monkey.
Invariably a stupid monkey would hit us with a ripe mango.
Pick it up and say Thank You and move on.
Please treat our monkeys well.
I can remember giving monkeys a treat with "Ice Cream Balls" from Alleris Company.
It is a rude shock for them with ice cold fingers but they find a way to open the "Ice Cream Balls" and enjoy them nevertheless.
The stupid guy the boss of Kandy, Maligawa or the Diyawadena Nillme was the one who poisoned our monkeys.
How come he is a Buddhist?
Ill treating elephants on parade is another issue.
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