Arre Oh! Samba, Kitne Monkeys Hai?

The telephone at the Ramnagara police station rang and the Sub-inspector picked up the phone and barked “Heli” (tell me). Before I proceed with the story, I must tell you something about Ramnagara. If you were to take the Bangalore-Mysore Highway, you would come across the giant arch bearing the sign welcome to the silk town. Indeed, some sort of silk revolution happened at the behest of the state when the silk-worming and silk spinning was taken up earnestly in the town. Bangalore city about 40 kms from here also hosts of a silk board and a junction was famously named after the silk board. Now a traffic stopper of a junction where you can spend eons waiting for the traffic to move. Ramnagara was also famous for the blockbuster Sholay which was shot here amid the small rocky- mountains surrounding the village. It was remarkable that Ramesh Sippy created the Chambal valley right at the door step of Bangalore some 2000 plus kms away from the original Chambal. By far the best villain Gabbar Singh in the history of Indian cinema made his debut in this movie.

Now that you have a bit of background about Ramanagara let me proceed with the story. “I am Thakur speaking from Ramnagara” said the voice to the SI. “We have a problem of robbery and looting by a gang whose leader we call Gabbar Singh. Your immediate intervention is required” concluded Thakur. The SI knew that Thakur’s connection went up to Vidhansoudha and he immediately apprised his superior as well as the Dy Commissioner of Police to be on the safe side. He asked his constable to accompany him and proceeded to Ramanagara to get first-hand information and also file an FIR.

At Ramnagara they met with Thakur and few other people. They all complained of the mysterious appearance of the gang but no one was able to tell a clear story. However, evidence of looting and pilferage was all there for everyone to see. The SI filed an FIR and requested his superior to organize the CID visit as per instruction from Thakur. Thakur himself was no common man but an ex-police officer and his complaint cannot be neglected.

The CID came and perused the FIR and they too could not fathom what was happening. They decided to stay put at the village and enjoy the hospitality of Thakur. That night thakur had organised a born-fire and a couple of village belles were doing item numbers to the tunes of Bollywood and Kannada hits when the raid happened. The CID realised that the raid was organised by the simian brethren and Gabbar Singh the leader was indeed the head of the monkey brigade.

The following day, the CID called the Forest Department as they were better trained to handle simian menace. The Range Forest Officer(RFO) came and took stock of the situation. He was a smart officer and kept abreast of latest knowledge in his field. He recalled that the rhesus monkeys were scared of the Langoor monkeys. He knew of forest dwellers who kept some Langoors in captive on the sly and were called upon to drive away the rhesus monkeys. He called their leader Samba who asked “kitne monkeys hai?” in Gabbar style.

It took a week for the RFO to organise the visit of forest dwellers with their own brigade of Langoor monkeys to put up their camp at Ramnagara. That night when Gabbar and his gang struck, they were in for a shock as the ‘Panch’ Langoors were far more in their might than they could handle. Screaming was heard all around but the fight was over in a few minutes and the leaping Langoors stuck terror among the rhesus monkeys and they beat a retreat immediately. Gabbar and his gang were vanquished and scooted away from Ramnagara and the last one heard of this gang was in Chamarajnagar.

Thakur offered his daughter Basanthi in marriage to the RFO along with a farmhouse for them to take their residence. Now the happily married couple has a pair of twins whom they have named Jai and Veeru.