Hello, Sparky here.
It’s raining one day, the next day’s blazing
hot,
6000 years since inventing a wheel to make a
pot,
Humans are a shining example of how to live
not.
His ways have put the planet in a tight spot,
probably he thinks climate-change is a fly
that he can swat.
But if he doesn’t mend his ways now as he ought,
all his achievements and intelligence will
come to naught.
Well,
it’s the same story really, just the title’s different. Since the monsoon set
in, we have had a few good showers and then have gone dry for days on end.
Just
a couple of showers into the season, Kiwi and Civvy remembered their quest for
building a nest for themselves. They had started off on their quest rather
enthusiastically, then probably they found other things that needed their
attention or they just shelved their plans to a date when they might need that
nest. Well, the rains came and they woke up wondering why there wasn’t a nest
to sit out the rains in.
They
are at an age when they think that an idea is enough, give it time and it will
work itself. Not unlike the humans who keep meeting to discuss the ‘idea’ of
climate-change. Anyway, all of that poor species’ schemes and plans have been
derailed by a tiny virus.
So,
with the start of the monsoon and the lingering grey clouds to remind them of
the season even during the dry spell, they have got back to working on their
nest. One of them had even written to a Hamerkop family in Kruger National Park
seeking their advice on how to build a nest. They are supposed to have received
a detailed instruction manual from them in the peak of ‘mango season’ and so
they had pretty much been sitting on it, eating mangoes.
A
detailed manual notwithstanding, the monkeys realised they don’t have the skill
required to build a nest. They would have probably invited the hamerkops to
build it for them but then they aren’t long distance flyers and in any case
they are too busy building their humongous nests which whether they will use it
or not only time will tell.
So,
the monkey teens did the next best thing, they approached Mr. & Mrs.
Woolly-necks and asked, ‘Could you please build a nest for us?’
‘What
do you need a nest for?’ asked Mrs. Woolly-neck.
‘So
we can shade from the mid-day sun, so we can sleep in it at night,
so we can stay dry when it rains.’ Said Civvy.
‘The
Banyan tree is already providing you with all that and more, Civvy.’
Civvy
didn’t have an answer to that one so Kiwi chipped in. ‘But we get wet when it
rains.’
‘Isn’t
that how it is supposed to be? You don’t mind getting your face and hands all
mangoey when you eat a mango so why mind the nourishing rain? And at any rate
the tree is taking the direct hit not you.’
Could
there be a counter to that one? Even the ingenuity of Kiwi and Civvy couldn't counter that so instead they changed tack and said, ‘Humans build houses that
protect them.’
‘And
look at the mess they are in, do you really want to be like them?’ This was a
dead-end. Not even Kiwi and Civvy wanted to be like the head-less and more
importantly, tail-less humans.
There
was no argument that would have worked with the Woolly-necks. One, other than
humans no one else in the animal world wastes time on idle and need-less
pursuits. Two, the only kind of charity in the animal world is a symbiotic one
and that to begin with is no charity at all. Even the charity in the human
world is almost always something else.
The
Woolly-necks were being nice to the monkeys else they would have been either
told off or laughed at by anyone else.
Not
having met with success with the Woolly-necks, the two monkeys put their heads
together for a good while and then were seen going around the island collecting
sticks. That’s where we will leave them.
I
wonder where this ‘quest for nest’ will take them but as long as they don’t do anything
stupid, like break branches, uproot trees to build that nest we will all watch them
while they go about their nest-building. If only there was such a control to be
had on humans, if only humans applied their intelligence and exercised more restraint
in their quest to make their lives better. Then all of us would be better off today and
not be on the cusp of imminent doom.
See you all next week. In the meanwhile, if
you would like to write to me, email me at Sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com