The Monkey and The Crocodile...

Ever read the Panchatantra tale of the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile? Back then it used to amuse me only on the grounds of the talking animals involved, the rose apples and of course the name of the crocodile- Ugly Mug. I remember that I and my brother used to have a good laugh at that. The reason that I write about my love for this story now is only that I have understood the moral of it. The monkey, a herbivore befriends a crocodile, its predator. Despite the obvious danger to the monkey, the friendship blossoms until one day out of his wife’s request the crocodile complies with her fancy of having a monkey's heart. The presence of mind of the monkey saves him but the moral remains- “You can’t change the inherent nature of a being” The crocodile by its very virtue is a predator. Nature had made him a flesh-eating being and the monkey one day was nothing but flesh to him. It doesn’t make the crocodile malevolent or the monkey dumb (maybe it makes the monkey a little dumb for being hopeful- I am still battling that perspective), it just transpires to what we call "Mother Nature". The analogy that I draw from this brilliant story is that you come across people who are like the crocodile and the monkey with each other. It takes a lot to accept the inherent nature of a being. To accept it as a part of him/her even though it is at conflicting ends with what you believe in, is a challenge. For instance, there are certain presumptions, and blanket statements about men and women. That could box them in preconceived notions that make them more understandable. Like men can separate sex from emotional intimacy more than women. It doesn’t make the man a predator (in negative connotations), it just brings forth the fact of how nature made him. It can also be like shopping for most women, a futile exercise as coined by most men. If you are aware of the obvious repercussions of being with someone who is at conflicting ends with not just who you are but what you are, be prepared to escape and accept. The monkey in the end doesn’t shed a tear for the crocodile (however the crocodile does) for he realizes that the crocodile only conformed to how nature made him, what he is. This post is inspired by my rendezvous with the crocodile. It made me think that each of us is a monkey and a crocodile to someone or the other. Rather than hoping (like the monkey) accept the monkeys and the crocodile as who they are, not what you want them to be…or even better watch from a distance, admire their existence and their contribution to the food chain.