The Monkey King

Once upon a time, there was a lovely happy jungle located in the deepest forests of Gir… These were times when the civilisation hadn’t mushroomed wildly. The jungle had all inhabitants who lived in harmony and followed the rules and regulations of the nature. All were happy and life went on.

As anointed by the laws of the nature, the jungle was ruled by a wise lion. The lion was known to be just and a great leader. He was known for his honesty and authenticity. He was fair in his transactions and had been ruling now for many years. As the neighbouring forests started shrinking with the times , a troop of monkeys moved into this jungle and requested the lion to let them stay. The kindhearted lion agreed.

Over a period of time the monkey population grew compared to all the other animals. With the growing population of their kind, the monkeys eventually formed a group. They started murmuring on the administrative policies of the jungle and thought that since they were greater in number, the leadership must be from their species. One of the old monkeys voiced that since the lion is not from their tribe, why should they listen to him. They felt that the lion had been ruling the jungle for a long time unilaterally, and it is time they embraced democracy… a need for change in leadership was expressed. While they were prominent in number, but still were not the majority in the jungle… and thus needed the rest of the animals to support them. So, they devised a plan to persuade the other animals to join their cause. They started convincing the other animals to vote for one of them as the next king of the jungle. They said, “we are large in numbers; hence a leader from our tribe would benefit the jungle.”

The monkeys managed to convince most animals in the jungle to vote for the monkey leader. However, some old, experienced intelligentsia in the jungle were annoyed and approached their lion king. They spoke to him about this new dilemma. The wise lion understood the situation and could foresee what was coming and told those intelligentsia to have patience. He said, ‘wait and watch.’

The election day came, and the whole jungle voted. The big and small, the herds and the tribes, all voted for a change…. wanting the monkey leader to be the next king of the jungle. Hence the monkey representative came into power, and all the monkeys were thrilled. The monkey leader was ecstatic to have found the new leadership role, got very enthusiastic, started jumping from tree to tree, and showed his followers how serious he was about his job. The whole jungle was impressed to see the passion the new leader carried for his new responsibility. They all hoped that this change would be beneficial for the future of the jungle.

One day, a baby rabbit was lost in the jungle. The baby rabbit was not to be seen anywhere and the suspicion was that some predator must have taken him away for fodder. The jungle tribe got worried. In olden times, they would have approached the lion who would have found the victim for them and rescued it from the clutches of the predator… given its sheer strength and the fear its power invoked amongst any other animal. The mother rabbit approached the lion to help her rescue its child. The old king refused to help since he was no longer the king, and advised the mother rabbit to approach the New Monkey King for resolving their issues.

The mother rabbit now approached the new king of the jungle in the hope that he would resolve her issue and rescue the baby rabbit. As she approached the monkey king, she found the leader surrounded by his monkey followers who were singing songs in praise of his climbing skills. The mother rabbit and the other jungle inhabitants accompanying her put forward their issue, and the monkey king immediately jumped to their rescue… He said … “This is not a great problem… I will resolve it in no time”. Saying that, the Monkey King rapidly jumped down the tree and vigorously began climbing the second one. He again then jumped down the second one and climbed the third one. This way he started jumping on and off the various trees with great agility and speed… Seeing this dexterity and immediate action, the tribe & the mother rabbit were very happy….they were sure that the new king would resolve their issue and find the baby rabbit in no time.

However, much to their disappointment, the monkey king, kept jumping up and down the trees for the next full hour…. and the mother rabbit and her supporters watched him hoping he will resolve the problem. After waiting for some more time, they asked the monkey king, “ My Lord… We are amazed at the speed with which you swing from one tree to another… but what about our baby rabbit? When will you find it? Please find it…. else the predator will kill it and eat it up!!”

The monkey king replied, “I am not sure about the baby rabbit dear, whether it lives or dies…. But let it never be said that the Monkey King spared any efforts in doing what it knows best… swinging from one tree to another… I know how to climb trees, and as you all can see I have been doing that for the past one hour with all the honesty.”

During one of my sessions on the importance of storytelling as an important tool for pitching, one participant had narrated this story to me. It was not just allegorically hard-hitting, considering the socio-economic landscape of the society in general, but also a very apt metaphor on how the absence of relevant competencies can create havoc in teams, organizations, societies, or the planet eventually. Derailers to possibilities are usually found in nepotistic choices implemented by those in positions of power. Scientists have proven that even same community/family marriages within the human species, often lead to higher chances of mutated genes… leading to serious diseases… given their exposure to dormant mutative genes that find life… if the recessive conditions are triggered. What then, could be recessive regressive impacts of minds making way for what they please when they chose to ignore merit over other compassionate, nepotistic considerations. A cursory glance at the timeline of the greatest of dynasties reveals that, eventually, even they could never withstand the inevitable degenerating impacts of such choices. From Babur to Bahadur Shah Zafar, all over in 300 years…. From Chandragupta to Bhrihadratha… all over in 150+ years…  Or be it the Grand Old Party of India…. Or even the industry titans who once ruled the roost in their exchanges & domains, disappear every half a decade or so… Would the possibilities have been any different if the option of meritocracy was ever considered? Perhaps….

Will humanity ever learn?

Charaiveti… Charaiveti….