by Bela Swarup
Today was just another normal day… On the way to gym as I was walking past the green partitions in the club, suddenly I heard growling sound and two medium size monkeys came and grabbed my legs … It sounds funny now but at that point I was scared as they were hanging on my legs with their bare fangs and looking very menacingly at me .. I jerked my legs in a sort of wierd dance moves we see on shadi wala videos and thankfully managed to dislodge them ..they snarled and charged at me again , meanwhile few more came charging from the pool side, I screamed, luckily my husband and his friends playing tennis nearby heard and ran towards me, screaming on top of their voices Meanwhile I swung my gym bag as a weapon in front of me, but they kept advancing trying to jump on me. The ball boy threw the tennis ball at them and the others came forward with the racquets, they retreated but kept snarling …
The point Is this was totally an unprovoked attack, i was not even aware that they were there. I am calling it an attack as they did not try to grab the gym bag, they went for my leg directly and also they were growling before jumping on me. Almost a year back I have had a baby monkey grab my leg and cling on for a free joy ride but that was different, it’s body language was totally passive and playful. I kept walking while the mother sat on the side watching us keenly and the moment the baby realised that the distance from its mother has increased it just got off and ran back to her.
I would request the residents to be careful and the club authorities to take some action against such incidents happening again with anyone.
I was lucky the trackpants were thick so I got away without even a scratch.
On a lighter note Though it was indeed an unnerving incident, but I did learnt a few important things that I would like to share with all :
First shadi wala dance is very, i repeat very useful in such times
Second watching ninja cartoons with kids is very necessary as that ninja swing kept the monkeys from reaching me until help arrived
Third backing up against a wall prevents you from being surrounded and attacked from all sides simultaneously
And last but not the least having strong vocal cords is very necessary when screaming for help.
