Shruti meets Monkeys

Hi All,

Disclaimer :

All characters in this story are entirely my imagination , and bears resemblance only to me (In certain cases to few people whom I know ) . Any incident that resembles something else is purely co-incidental)

Before I start , few clarifications about SHRUTI.

Shruti is not a super hero,

Shruti is not a guardian angel,

Shruti is not a Joan of Arc,

Shruti is just a normal girl unique in her own way.

Now that the disclaimers and clarifications are out, OVER TO SHRUTI.

It was a warm summer day. Summer in Madras can be unbearable, especially if there are six more souls sharing the same space. In this case, the six being, Shruti's grandparents and her two elder brothers, Shashank( alias Sashi ) and Santosh, and her thatha's Sister and Brother ( Tamil for grandpa).

Santhosh, the eldest had nicknamed thatha's sis as Inni. The name had no meaning, it was one of those mazhalai mozhigal which everyone adores. The name stuck and even the relatives started calling her as Inni. As it so happens, after few years everyone forgot her real name, and by the time Shruti was born ( after 4 and 1/2 years) she knew her to be Inni.

Similarly Santosh coined the term Othatha for grandpa's brother. Othatha was very fond of Santosh , and loved him as his own grandson.

The scorching heat burns everything that comes out in the open. Even the birds which swoop and soar , seemed quiet. But nothing not even the blazing sun could hold Shruti from playing outside. Her quest was simple. If her brothers can play in the sun, so can she.
She always made it a point to do what all they are capable , and thus ended up being a tomboy in her early years.

It was weekend, therefore no school. And it was her parent's visiting day .

Every weekend her parents visited , though they lived only a kilometer away. All three wandered near the gate every few seconds for the sound of footsteps. After an hour's impatient wait, they heard it.

Ammmmmma Shruti started screaming at the top of her voice, those standing nearby souls have thought her vocal chord might snap, but they were also used to this routine. She went to the gate to open the main doors. When she opened, instead of her parents, there were three monkeys on top of the mango tree, plucking and throwing mangoes at Sashi.

Mesmerized , Shruti could hardly take her eyes of the monkeys. She hadn't seen one, all her life and was fascinated too see it. When the monkey turned to face her she realized that, a baby monkey was holding its mamma's tummy. Shruti was oddly reminded of herself , she pushed these thoughts aside and continued to stare at her.

By this time Sashi's screams had awoken granny , who had retired for the afternoon nap. She came out and saw what was the source of all commotions, and shied the monkeys away.

Patti ada thorathada, paavum, adu veyila enga pogum. ( Granny don't shoo them away, where will it go in this heat ? ) questioned Santosh.

Aaama, inda madiri paavum partha un sapada adu eduthukum replied Granny.

( If you pity it, then your share of food will go the monkeys)

This thought seemed to terrify Santosh , who was a sappattu piriyan, and thus fell silent. But none, not even the crying Sashi would stop staring at the monkeys. To their delight and fear, the monkeys were staring at these three. The usual noise that was routine during Sundays , was missing. Not even when Amma turned up, did the three leave their posts. Fed up of calling them inside , granny started serve the meal outside.

And suddenly it happened, halfway through a mouthful , Sashi exclaimed,

Patti adunga jump panradungo, inga poguthu ? Poga venanumnu sollu.

Thatha was secretly glad to get rid of this nuisances. He preferred a disciplined life, but was open at the same time had hoped mapillai sir( Shruti's appa) would have called the officials, but mapillai sir was busy trying to draw attention of the kids.

Thatha's hope was in vain, because the monkeys promptly re-appeared in the backyard, where there were more trees and thus less hot. The three kids were delighted to see the monkeys again.

Inni , on noting all the commotion quipped, moonu kurangu, innum moonu kuranga parkaradungo. ( Three monkeys are seeing three other monkeys ) Othatha guffawed on hearing this.

Patti who was always wary of Inni said, kuzhaindagala appadi solladel Paavum nallikki thiruppi schoolukku poganum Avalavu books thookitu vera.

Meanwhile , the three monkeys seemed bored of staring at three kids, especially since, they seemed to be doing nothing other than staring back at them. Soon they fell asleep.

Atlast Patti persuaded them to come inside, and the three realizing that the monkeys wouldn't be awake so soon, decided to take a nap themselves.

After few hours of blissful silence, Shruti's ear- shattering scream woke everyone.

Kannum, adungala kaanum. Appovae sonnen thoonga mattennu, ippo parthiya, adunga poiduchu. Seeing this Santosh and Sashi joined the hue and cry.

Po, inime naanga yaarum un kooda pesa mattom, they chorused .

Patti tried to pacify them, neenga samatha irundeengana naan ungalukku ravaladdu senju tharuven. All three became quiet, because all three loved to eat Patti's special RavaLaddu.

Thatha was glad. He had wanted mapillai sir to make the call, but since mapillai sir, made no signs of calling, thaytha himself had alerted the Zoo officials. They promptly came and whisked the monkeys away.

By night time, all three kids bid their goodbyes to mom and dad,troubled granny to tell them a story ,and went to sleep.

That's the first part. Hope you all like it.

Be sure to give your feedback in the comments section.

Time for me to sleep.

CIAO.