The Professor of Thekkady Market

Last month, I went to the beautiful Thekkady with my wife and my grandchildren.
The place looked like a dream.
Tall green trees, cool breeze, elephants walking far away, birds singing everywhere.
My grandchildren kept shouting, “Appoopp, look there! Look here!”
I was tired, but happy.

After lunch, we were walking through the Thekkady market road.
Suddenly, something happened—so suddenly that I almost dropped my ice cream.

A monkey jumped down from a tree like a thief in a movie.
Before anyone could blink, it snatched the spectacles of a man standing near a snack shop.
Then—thapp!—it slapped his head gently, like a naughty child, and ran away laughing (yes, monkeys do laugh!).

The poor man shouted,
“Ayyo! My glasses! My eyes! My head! Somebody stop that criminal monkey!”

He looked very funny.
His hair was standing up.
His eyes were wide, but he could not see clearly without his glasses.
He kept turning round and round like a broken ceiling fan.
My grandchildren giggled so much they almost fell down.

Just then, the Police SI arrived.
A tall man with a big moustache.
He walked like a hero, but somehow his stomach arrived before he did.

He shouted,
“Who is shouting here? What is happening? Why is everyone laughing?”

The man cried,
“Sir! The monkey attacked me! It stole my spectacles! I want justice!”

The SI put his hands on his hips and puffed up like a balloon.

“Don’t worry! I will handle this! I will arrest the monkey! I will form a special team—Monkey Special Squad!”

The whole crowd burst into laughter

The SI was still shouting proudly,
“I will catch that monkey in ten minutes! I will teach it a lesson! I will even file an FIR—First Information of Rascal-monkey!”

People laughed again.

One uncle in the crowd said loudly,
“Sir, be careful. That monkey is smarter than my son-in-law.”

Another man added,
“Sir, if that monkey sees you, it will file a case against you!”

The SI ignored all of them.
He marched around like a commander.
He pointed up at the trees.

“Search every branch!” he shouted.
“Check every coconut! Check every jackfruit! This is a high-level operation!”

The SI raised his hand dramatically:
“Silence! This is a serious crime. No monkey can escape from me! Even if it jumps from tree to tree, I have… EXPERIENCE!”

The children around started clapping.

But then… a man from the crowd whispered something in the SI’s ear.

“Sir… that monkey lives in Minister Chacko’s farmhouse…
Very special monkey… imported food… sleeps in AC room…”

The SI’s face changed instantly.

His pride evaporated like hot water on tawa.

He cleared his throat.

“Ah. Is that so? Then… maybe… the monkey did not attack.
Maybe it was… playing.”

He turned to the man who had lost his spectacles.

“You must have stood in its way. Maybe the monkey thought you were its friend. Or maybe it did not like your hairstyle. These things happen.”

Then he said softly,
“Ah… that monkey… yes… he is not an ordinary monkey. Very disciplined monkey. Highly trained. Maybe this man stood in the monkey’s walking path. Mistake is human… also monkey.”

The crowd laughed again.
Even the man without spectacles started laughing.
What else could he do?
You cannot fight with a monkey… especially a minister’s monkey!

The monkey was now sitting on the next tree, wearing the spectacles slightly tilted, looking like a professor.

It scratched its head, looked at us, and screamed again:

“Eeeeekk!”

As if saying:
“Case closed. Now mind your business.”

My grandchildren kept asking,
“Appoop, will the Monkey Special Squad come?”
I said,
“Maybe… but only if the monkey steals the SI’s spectacles next time!”

My grandchildren laughed and laughed.
My wife shook her head and said,
“In Kerala, drama is everywhere. Even Monkeys have VIP connections.”

I stood there smiling.

Life is funny.
Sometimes too funny.

We all walked back smiling.
A small, funny moment.
But a sweet memory from beautiful Thekkady.