RAMAYANA

CHAPTER-5

THE ANIMALS OF MOUNT......

Raghu the squirrel was old. He was older than most squirrels he

knew, a fact that didn’t rest easy on his heart. On the brighter side, the

gods had blessed him with the monkey’s friendship. The monkey

crushed walnuts for him. Things worked out nicely.

There were parts of the day Raghu looked forward to. When the

birds returned at sunset from their day’s foraging, they told him of all

the things they had seen as they flew over Mount Himavat and beyond.

One of the younger birds came to him every day and stayed for hours,

chirping away without a pause about her day.

When she tired, the squirrel told her many stories from back

when he had been young and had roamed the land. She listened with

patience (she preferred talking to listening) until her mother sang to

her from above that it was time to nest for the night.

Raghu listened to her chirpy song grow fainter and fainter until it

remained not much more than a sound of the night. Then he slept and

dreamt of far away lands and strange creatures, as he had done every

night of his life.

It was on a day warmer than usual that it happened. Raghu had

just eaten and was thinking of napping in his hollow in the tree for the

afternoon when he saw the birds returning. The sun had still a long way

to go before it set. He was wondering what it might be about when the

little bird fluttered to a clumsy landing next to him.

“Something is coming! Something big! Really big!” she chirped

breathlessly. “It is flying towards us from the south.” The earth shook

and a rumble sounded all across the mountainside.

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One of the elder birds sang shrilly from somewhere up and she

winced. Then she said a silent bye to the squirrel and flew up towards

her nest.

From a distance Raghu saw his friend the monkey returning. The

monkey left the last vine in mid swing and landed in the clearing with

an awkward thump. Then he ran the distance to the tree on all fours.

The earth shook again as the monkey got to him, harder this time.

“I saw it,” said the monkey. “It is one of those southern monkeys.

Larger and hairier than us. But this one flies! And he is dressed as a

human soldier.

“I saw him come flying in, borne aloft by the wind itself. He went

running through the herb fields. I think he sought something particular

there. Every once in a while, he screamed “SANJEEVANI!” and pulled

out plants, chewed on them and spat them out. He even tried some of

the intoxicating herbs and foul smelling shrubs that crowd that area. He

spat it all out.”

The monkey giggled for a bit and said, “It was funny really. But I

was soon disgusted. He spat half-chewed weeds all over the place and

grew more infuriated as time passed. Then he yelled ‘HEAR ME

HIMAVAT! I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR GAMES!’ and ran, bounding

down the side of the mountainside like the wind.”

The monkey stopped for air. The earth shook again, harder than

ever. Without warning, a fiery storm descended upon the clearing,

threatening to blow away everything without roots. The monkey

wrapped his tail around Raghu and held on to the tree.

The squirrel saw panic on the monkey’s face. Then the shadows

shifted — the sun was behind them now.

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Minutes passed like hours. Nests fell from trees. Some birds,

including the little one, came and took shelter in the squirrel’s hollow.

Clouds flew past them in a blur above them. The sky changed colour

with every passing minute. After what seemed like eons, the storm grew

calmer and then stopped. Raghu thought he felt weightless for a

moment. The earth shook again one last time and all was calm.

They were all silent for a time. Raghu couldn’t breathe. He poked

the monkey. “I am sorry,” said the monkey, and eased his tail around

the squirrel, still not letting go entirely.

The birds flew out to seek their loved ones. From somewhere far

away, they heard shouting. It was happy shouting. Jubilant and full of

hope.

Then, without warning, scores of monkeys swarmed upon the

clearing. They all had baskets and bags with them. Some stopped and

looked around, while most just bounded towards the fields. The

monkey finally released Raghu.

One of the foraging monkeys saw the two panicked friends and

came to them.

“Desperate times, these,” he shrugged and smiled. “We are sorry

for the inconvenience our friend Hanuman caused you,” he said, a little

embarrassed. Then he added, “I welcome you to the presence of Rama.”

The monkey remained panic-stricken. The squirrel tried to smile.

“Come with us,” said the forager. “I will show you.”

They went out of the clearing, into the fields. Perched on the

monkey, Raghu heard more cheery yelling, this time from all around

them.