The Monkey That Terrified the Police: Ujjain's Wildest Story!

There is a beautiful village named Amritpur in Madhya Pradesh, near Ujjain. In this village lived a boy named Chandu. His father, Jeetu, was bringing him up as a single parent, as Chandu's mother had died when he was hardly three years old. Also living with them was a monkey named Bandar. This poor monkey had been taken in by Chandu's father when it was just a motherless baby. Its mother had lost her life after chewing on a live wire that hung from an electric post. Chandu's father took the baby under his wing and started caring for it as if it were his own child.

Every day, Chandu, his father Jeetu, and the monkey Bandar traveled to Ujjain, a pilgrimage town, by bicycle. Chandu sat on the carrier while Bandar sat on the front handlebar, ringing the bell every now and then. Once in Ujjain, under a peepal tree in the market area, Bandar would perform an acrobatic show.

Wearing pants and shirts, Bandar would imitate Bollywood stars and make the spectators roar with laughter. At the end of the show, Bandar and Chandu would walk around holding a bowl to collect coins. Afterward, they would purchase wheat flour, oil, and vegetables before heading back to the village.

After supper, they would lie down to sleep, with Jeetu lying in the middle and Bandar and Chandu nuzzling close to him on either side.

When things were going smoothly, a new police officer arrived in Ujjain and began harassing poor vendors and small traders. Before long, the trio of Jeetu, Bandar, and Chandu came to his attention. He sent a policeman to bring them to the station, demanding, "How can you keep and use a monkey as a means of earning a livelihood?" He shoved the father and son into the lock-up, brandished his revolver at them, and drove the monkey away.

No amount of pleading by Chandu could melt the policeman's hardened heart; what could a ten-year-old boy do against a crude man in khaki?

Brother Bandar sat under a tree in the compound for a while, and then, all of a sudden, dashed into the police station and emerged holding the inspector's revolver in his hand. The police officer came running out of the station, yelling at Bandar. Bandar scrambled up a tree, reached the top branch, and started meddling with the weapon. The officer and his two assistant policemen froze with fear. Standing at a safe distance, they begged the monkey to drop the gun.

The monkey was in no mood to obey. It kept looking alternately at Chandu and the policemen, as if to say, "Release Jeetu and Chandu, and you will have your bandook back."

The inspector understood the monkey's mute message and signaled the writer to set the father and son free. When Chandu and his father reached the tree, Bandar climbed down, walked straight into the station, placed the gun on the desk, and walked out coolly to join Chandu and Jeetu.

This extraordinary act by Bandar won them over. At the inspector's instruction, one of the officers retrieved their impounded cycle and handed it back to Jeetu. Jeetu, Chandu, and Bandar rode back to their village together. The very next day, the inspector joined the crowd that gathered to witness Bandar's performance, and when he left, he dropped a hundred-rupee note into the collection bowl.