Stories i tell my daughter: Sneaky Monkey

'Mama, i am hungry,' Minnie said to her mother.
'Here sweetie, have an apple,' Mother said giving a nice red apple to Minnie.

Minnie took the apple and went to the balcony outside the apartment she was living in. She lived with her monther and father in a tall apartment and she loved to eat while watching the cars zoom on the road below. They looked like toy cars from so far high.

Minnie took a bite of apple looking down from the balcony.

'Ouch,'she said as she felt someone snatch at her hand. She looked at her hand. Her apple was gone and there were small scratches on it. She felt the tears come to her eyes. Looking around, she saw an monkey eating her apple. He was sitting on a tiny ledge above their apartment.

Crying she went inside.

'Mama, the baboon stole my apple. He also scratched me.'Minni said showing the scratches to her mother.
'Oh sweetie. It that baboon again. Somebody must do something about him.'Mother said and she took Minnie to the bathroom to put some ointment on the scratches.

'Has the baboon done this before?'Minnie asked, finally controlling her sobs.
'Yes sweetie. He has been a regular pest. And he is very quick and evades capture. Don't worry, i will tell daddy about this and he will do something'.

Her mom gave Minnie a glass to milk to drink. She went to her room. Her hand was itching slightly. She was angry at the baboon and did not went him to snatch things from her.

She went outside and looked for the baboon. He was still sitting on the ledge that was on the side of the building. When he saw Minnie come out, he showed her the teeth and threw the apple core at her.

'Bad monkey,' Minnie said.

Minnie went back to her room. She had an idea to teach a lesson to the baboon.

When Minnie came out again to the balcony, she was wearing her old sweater and gloves. And she was holding another apple in her hand. This one looked even shinier.

And surprise, the baboon again grabbed the apple from Minnie's hand and climbed back to his ledge.The baboon tried to eat the apple. First he could not bit into it. He got angry and tried again, much harder this time. The apple broke off with a loud crunch. And the baboon yelped loudly as he spit out the part of the plastic apple from his mind.

Minnie was looking at all this and when she saw that baboon was getting angry, she started to laugh loudly and that made the baboon even angrier.

Realizing that he was beat, the baboon left from there and never troubled her again.

Story: Circle

Amarnath died on Saturday at 1:07 AM in morning. He was 79 years old and his youngest son was in the same room as him, sleeping and unaware of what was happening.



Amarnath though, did wake up from his slumber, just before he took his last breath. He knew. And he was happy that it was over. Being atheist, he did not thank god. He just let go.

That should have been that really.

But it wasn't. He felt himself gathering. Soon he was a small point hovering about his own body. He was not able to see anything but he still knew that he was gathering into himself and was still in same room. He still remembered the things. Not all the things. Just the things that remained with him. Indelibly imprinted on his conscious. The hand of the mother on his head as he was falling asleep on a warm summer night, his first sight of sea, and a few more. All inconsequential in conventional reckoning but still most consequential in a picture still larger.

Soon, there was a pull and the point went somewhere. It could not say where. But it went somewhere. As it zoomed, the point started to lose the memories. Soon all were gone. Nothing remained.


After a time, the point felt of joining. Something so large that there is no scale in which to imagine it. The point joined this big something like a drop of water joins the ocean. The drop is still a drop but it is part of something much larger from which it is indistinguishable.

After some time, a long time, the drop felt a pull. It went to a destination, a warm place. The point knew not how he knew to be there. But it knew that it was in the right place and it was meant to be there. And it expanded. Just a little bit. And it was a start.