Dating : Grandma negotiating with monkeys

Summer time… long long long ago…

Every summer we would visit my grandparents for a month.

They lived in a small village with an abundance of monkeys. The story is about an almost ritualistic, repetitious altercation between my grandma and the monkeys, which was hilarious to watch.

We would all finish our chores, including washing our clothes and hanging them to dry, and off we would go to play. Suddenly we would hear loud voices near the kitchen. We would all run to figure out the cause of this commotion. But we knew, almost for sure, what it was. And of course, we would see that the monkeys and my grandma were having a little argument!! Again!!!

• A monkey has taken an article of clothing from the clothesline.
• He is sitting on the roof, baring his teeth in a devilish grin and daring my grandma: “Come and get it!”
• My grandma is standing there with her hands on her hips, looking really upset.
• But, she knows the drill! She knows she has to negotiate for the clothes with a food item that the monkey wants.
• She tries a banana. Oh no! He shakes his head to say no and starts to walk away. He pauses a second to watch her reaction!
• Grandma is getting frustrated and tries again with a roti (Indian bread). Nah! Monkey is not in the mood for that either and shakes his head again to say no. He bares his teeth, snaps them together, lifts his hands up and is about to tear the clothing…
• Grandma throws up her hands, pleads “wait, wait”, and rushes to the kitchen again. The monkey cocks his head to ensure there is some action going on.
• Grandma grabs an apple, rushes out, waves it frantically towards the monkey to check “will this work?” Yes! The monkey smiles. He wants it and nods his head vigorously.
• Monkey holds the clothing in one hand and gestures with the other as if to say “put the apple on the ground somewhere in the middle!”
• Grandma gestures to say “put the clothing down as you pick up the apple!”
• Once they are both satisfied that an agreement has been reached, she puts the apple in the middle and moves back.
• Monkey comes and gets the apple, drops the clothing and runs back to the roof, happily eating his apple.
• Oh no! The monkey is not done teasing grandma. Once he is done eating the apple, he drops the apple core in the courtyard and makes funny faces at her again. This would get her yelling and screaming at the monkey again!!!

This drama would be repeated every few days! I never saw the monkeys tear or destroy any clothing. They used the clothing as a tool to get food, and it worked every single time! Expressions on the monkey’s face were priceless and will always stay in my memories.

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