AN ENCOUNTER OF A SIMIAN KIND

I love my house and the area that comes with it. With only slightly less than 90 houses around, people basically know each other. The best part is in some cases there are 3 generations living in the taman - from grandparents to parents to grandchildren (me as an example lah).

It's wonderful especially in the evenings to see lil kids engrossed in lively chatter as they cycle around in small groups or enjoy the swings or monkey-bars at the playground next to our house. The older kids of course would religiously head off for the huge field behind our house for their daily game of footie.

Come rain or shine, these kids always know how to keep themselves occupied. Which brings me to my title of course - an encounter of a simian kind. About a week or so ago, a young wild monkey somehow rather ended up at our housing area...more specifically at our street. I heard from my mom, who lived a few houses away from us that a monkey had been in and out of her neighbours' houses living a trail of destruction in its wake. Apparently in one instance dear monkey was super hungry and had taken the liberty of sampling Aunty Salina's lunch which she had prepared for her family. So hungry was the monkey that nothing was left for the owner except for empty pots and pans.

Efforts to capture the simian proved to be unsuccessful. On two separate occasions, visits by the authority which included the wildlife guys saw them leaving empty handed. No amount of bananas was good enough to entice it to venture into the traps that was laid out. Dear monkey cleverly evaded all of them and resorted to feast on foods only obtained from the kitchens. Over the week dear monkey became very friendly with the kids. Sometimes I'd see them chase the monkey who later became known as BOBO (courtesy of kids in the neighbourhood). And this action was reciprocated by BOBO who'd often chase them back. There were laughter and squeals all around as monkey and kids (Hannan and Yusuf included) take turn chasing after one another.

BOBO did not limit his interactions with only the kids. On several occasions I found myself having to face BOBO in what could only be described as a standoff. Me trying to guard the food in the kitchen, while monkey tried in all earnest to get his paws on the fruits of my labour. As long as monkey stays out of my house and doesn't harm my kids...I'm ok. But when monkey gets too close, then it's a different story altogether. ..as I've discovered one day upon returning from work.

I was just about to get out of my car when BOBO decided to pay me a visit. It jumped on my side window and tried to get in. Suffice to say I was more than stunned by this unexpected friendly gesture. No amount of shouts nor blaring of honks could scare BOBO away. I was stuck in my car and had no way of escaping. Help soon came in the form of hubby who came out of the house brandishing an umbrella. BOBO saw the umbrella and decided it was not worth getting into a duel with my knight in shining armour. I was saved. Slightly shaken but happy nonetheless to escape my simian friend.

To cut the story short, hubby got in touch with the wildlife people again and they soon arrived at our doorstep. The hunt for BOBO was launched again and this time they did not leave empty handed. Well not really anyway. Though they didn't get to physically catch it, they did manage to scare BOBO away into the secondary forest nearby. How relieved I was to be rid of this monkey menace only to be told by my aunt down the road that she had spotted a snake somewhere near her house a few days ago. Oh dear! :(