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The man and the monkey!

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, Nov 17, 2015.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    The Man and the Monkey

    During a chat with my good friend OJ, (Former Professor of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute), he mentioned to me that Aldous Huxley had once said that a monkey tapping randomly on the keys of a typewriter could produce all the sonnets of Shakespeare. Given sufficient time of course! I do not know in what context Aldous spoke these words. Normally it is only his famous brother Julian Huxley who was in the habit of spilling such pearls of wisdom. Julian, unlike his brother Aldous, was agnostic and a follower of Ingersoll. If I say that Julian once even remarked that it was easier to believe that there was nothing before there was something than that there was something before there was nothing, you will agree with me that it ran in the family.

    Reverting to Aldous Huxley’s monkey, I must confess that ever since OJ mentioned this to me, I have been feeling rather restless. I wondered what made him utter those words of Aldous Huxley to me. I knew that it couldn’t have been an indirect reference to me because I am much focused when I tap on my key board with a single finger. So the adverb ‘randomly’ cleared me from being put on par with a monkey. Could Aldous Huxley be so jealous of the Bard that made him utter these words? Why was he so specific about the sonnets of Shakespeare? It could have been all the plays of Bernard Shaw. The monkey would have found it easier to produce all the plays of Shaw than the sonnets of Shakespeare. Ask any student, not only of the present generation but from time immemorial, and he would have readily agreed with this.

    Was Aldous Huxley extolling the capabilities of the monkey in saying that it could produce the plays of Shakespeare by randomly tapping the keys of a typewriter? If he was, then why was he talking of the ‘prurient ape’s defiling touch’ in his novel Ape and Essence? Is this lack of consistency? But then lack of consistency appears to be more a rule than exception when people talk of monkeys. Take Valmiki for example. He paints Hanuman as the most colourful, most powerful and extremely resourceful character in Ramayan. His exploits in Lanka where he goes in search of Sita and later during the epic battle between Ram and Ravan have made him a cult figure and yet Valmiki never loses any opportunity to refer to him as a monkey with typical simian characteristics. Let me give you an instance. When he is entrusted with the task of finding Sita in Lanka, he reaches the kingdom of Ravan in one giant leap from India. During his search, he happens to see Ravana’s wife Mandodari sleeping in her palace. Her beauty leads him to think that she is Sita. He is so overjoyed at his discovery that he waltzes round the place kissing his own tail repeatedly. Valmiki describes the scene as the normal reaction of a monkey when it is overjoyed!

    Talking monkeys are not the exclusive feature of Ramayana. Those of you who have seen the movie versions of ‘Planet of the Apes’ would have come across not only talking apes but highly evolved ones too that treated humans like slaves in a distant planet. To a pointed statement from the astronaut who crash lands in that distant planet that the apes back home in Earth could never talk, an ape named Ari retorts ‘Maybe they chose not to... given the way you treated them.’ Interestingly an ape sums up man in these words, ‘I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself.’ It is this quality of man that results in his total annihilation and the emergence of a super intelligent race of apes. Man finally becomes the slave of apes.

    That reminds me of the role reversal TV ad of Kajol and a monkey for Alpenliebe. If you have not seen it, here is the link: I have heard people ask, ‘If man has evolved from the monkey, why there are monkeys still around?’ I often wonder if humans are the vanishing tribe evolving into monkeys and not as Darwin wants us to believe! Only the distant future can answer this riddle. The story of the Planet of the Apes may only be a pointer.
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2021
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  2. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    In the course of my observations of human behaviour, it has more than once occurred to me that the more difficult something is to understand, the greater the desire of people to prove they understand it, thus making themselves out to be intellectuals of the highest degree.

    That being the case, Bernard Shaw was not as difficult to understand as the bard. It is not surprising therefore to imagine that the said Huxley was trying to make out that Shakespeare was no great shakes when it came to churning out literature of any great calibre. Any monkey could do it. Bernard Shaw, being easier to understand, was not even considered worthy of mention. That is my theory.

    As for the superiority of monkeys to humans, have you heard that joke about the baby monkey who went crying to his mother complaining that some human kids had actually insulted him saying he was 'so like a human being'!

    P.S. Whatever OJ-da's intention was, he certainly got you to get your fingers to the keyboard once again! I have always maintained, the man is a GENIUS! :-D
     
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  3. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    This is not a comment but a complaint! Why can't I find the "like" button in my smartphone??
     
  4. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Cheeniya sir,
    It is going to be an interesting thread...with two stalwarts commenting or complaining (according to OJ sir)!!!
    Syamala
     
  5. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,
    For people who were born and brought up in temple towns with big Gopurams and mathil suvar( compound walls of the temple),not only gopura darsanam but also maruthi Darsanam is a part of daily life.Our house was a thatched one. We can find monkeys sliding down the thatched roof and straight away entering into the kitchen and partaking of idli, dosai or rice.Monkeys know the tricks.They know how to open the closed vessels, locate the tightly closed ghee cup and run away to the coconut tree .With great delight they would lick the ghee and throw away the cup into the neighbouring households.On many occasions the empty cup was traced from a house, a furlong far off.
    While we think of Hanuman, we are really proud and feel that we better be a monkey like Maruthi.The geneology from monkey to man is a vast subject under discussion for centuries.
    We have a close link with monkey in our family.I have narrated my experience in one of my snippets last year.
    [h=3]Unforgettable Experience[/h]Mind is often compared to monkey.In our school we often heard a story.
    A monkeywala ( kurangaatti) had a monkey which helped him earn his livelihood.The monkey used to serve food to him.One day a guest came and as usual the monkey started serving food.Before serving each item the man gave a nice hit.Only after getting a hit the monkey brought sambar, rasam etc.The guest was shocked.He said" the monkey is very obedient. Why do you beat the innocent monkey each time?"
    "I shall let you know, the monkeywala said".Now he kept quiet as the guest was watching.The monkey without being hit thought that he could do anything.He ran to the garden ,played with mud,and inserted the dirty hand into the dish.It started licking the sambar,immersed its hands into all the dishes one by one.The guest became restless and got irritated.He himself thought of hitting the monkey.
    Our mind is like a monkey.Unless we keep it under control,it would be wavering.
    Valmiki created an ideal monkey character 'Hanuman'who plays vital role in the epic sometimes surpassing the hero.
    In many hill temple like Sholinghur ,monkeys snatch away everything from the devotees.
    We went to Palani with my grandson aged three.There were a few monkeys sitting on the wall. My son bought a big bunch of about 80 bananas.
    My grandson was sitting on the floor of a four pillared mandapam and extended his tiny hand with a banana.It was a sight to see the monkeys come one by one and take the banana from the child's hand.Neither the child was afraid, nor the monkeys were in a hurry to snatch away the entire bunch.
    My son-in-law is a great devotee of Anchaneya and very often he says he has a vision of Anchaneya.On one such occasion he had a dream of Anchaneya conveying him a date, star etc pertaining to a period after 18 long months when he would be blessed with a baby boy and that he should be given Maruthi's name.He conveyed this to us .Just out of curiosity I verified the almanac of the period to follow.To our surprise the baby was born on the same date ,star notified .It was the star ( moolam ) of Anchaneya and he was named'Sundar' .
    Jayasala 42
     
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  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    My dear Satchi
    My point is why a monkey that has acquired the skill to type on a typewriter should be wasting its time on typing out the stuff of Shakespeare as surmised by Aldous Huxley. It leads me to think that he could be jealous of Shakespeare and was trying to make out that producing the works of the Bard was just monkey's game. I mentioned Bernard Shaw considering the contempt in which many English men held him. The following limerick would amply prove it:

    A poodle was charged by the law
    With resembling Hall Caine. With his paw
    Pressed close to his forehead,
    He sobbed, 'Yes, it's horrid,
    But at least I'm not George Bernard Shaw!'

    I belong to the School of Thought that proclaims that monkeys are superior to humans. We believe that humans precede monkeys in the evolutionary process. Some of us, of course, are prepared to consider the alternative theory that monkeys may have preceded humans in the evolutionary process but for some strange reason that process was halted midway and put on the reverse mode. As a result, humans are moving back to where they came from.

    You are right about OJ. That man is a GENIUS. And he is a great motivator too. But he did not get my fingers to the keyboard. He got only one finger of mine on the keyboard. My index finger!
    Sri
     
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  7. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    My dear OJ
    'Like' buttons are not probably provided in the smart phones because giving 'Likes' is not a smart thing to do!
    Sri
     
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  8. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    My dear Syamala
    We'll endeavour to make this an interesting thread! As you know, most of my threads start as pointless rambling but you all give it a nice direction and thanks to all your FBs, it acquires a lot of sheen and substance!
    Sri
     
  9. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear jayasala
    I have been reading Sundara Kandam every day for the past so many years and it gives me a great feeling of peace and well being. From the first chapter which describes his leap across the ocean to reach Lanka to the final chapter, it is all about the exploits of Hanuman. He is the single most important character in the epic post the abduction of Sita. Of all his qualities, his humility is the most notable one. Humility acquires great lustre when it is exhibited by a highly accomplished person. Thus he is a role model to countless devotees.

    Valmiki has conceived Hanuman as a much greater persona than any other character in the epic. It is significant that he has more temples dedicated to him than to Lord Rama Himself. This celibate deity even helps his devotees get good spouses and good children too! Except Valmiki, nobody refers to Hanuman as a monkey or even as a monkey god. Valmiki never projected him as Divine persona but vests him with such amazing powers that he emerges as a demi-God in contemporary Hinduism. In most of his encounters with Rakshasas , Hanuman uses only his hands as weapons and it is no wonder that the Indian wrestlers worship him ardently.

    Thank you for embellishing your FB with many anecdotes from your life. I have mainly talked about Hanuman in my response because of your devout references to him.
    Sri
     
  10. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Cheeniya sir,
    Why and in which context Aldous Huxley made the statement We do not know but why OJ sir mentioned to you about it he only has to explain it.Ape and essence....must have changed his views. Why Shakespseare and why not Shaw. When I read something and do not understand or do not like it I react in two ways...either I am not capable of understanding (if I am humble) or can say what is written, even a monkey can type (making fun of it if I am over confident).
    Hanuman cannot be considered a simple monkey, he is God in monkey form.....though some traits are there by which he spoils Ashokavanam.Rama, though God, because he took a human birth didn't he behave like a human being many times (like he cried when Ravana took away Sita)?He is an epitome of humbleness. (Now I know from where you learnt humbleness...by reading Sundarakanda).
    Monkeys and man...You think monkeys are superior? May be or in the process of evolution they have evolved in a parallel way developing each others' traits and moving back and forth.I saw the commercial you mentioned...good one. Once my son's homework was "Write an essay imagining yourself to be a monkey in the cage in zoo and what the monkey is thinking about the people visiting zoo". He asked me what to write. I told him to write by himself. He wrote about small kids, big good people, bad people who tease them etc etc and the last sentence was" I want people to be in the cage and I want to visit them."
    Thanks to OJ sir....by his comment or complaint he made you type a blog. It doesn't matter if it is one index finger or all the fingers. Great motivator!
    I enjoy reading others' comments and your replies more than my writing a feedback.
    Thank you sir
    Syamala
     
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