See, Hear and Speak No Evil!

Three monkeys (Üç Maymun, Turkish; 2008)
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

The original three wise monkeys, often seen in pop culture, probably originated in Buddhist culture and reached Japan through Buddhist missionaries. The monkeys embody the principle of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." They also have names: Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru.

MK Gandhi received a token of the three monkeys from a Japanese well-wisher. A larger representation is displayed in his memorial in Ahmedabad, Sabarmati Ashram. Gandhi's moniker, which spirals around non-violence, passive resistance, and satyagraha, syncs well with what these monkeys are trying to say. Are they?

When we say we do not want to see, hear, or speak evil, do we mean we want to view and consume things that are good, only good? Nature, in its all primitive form, can be an evil creature. The wrath of Nature has no boundaries. The natural forces of Nature bring us blessings in their own way, but they care for two hoots for people and live beings in their path. One good thing may be devastating the other. A freak thunderstorm in the middle of spring is a catastrophic event to rice harvesters and a nightmare to fishermen, but it is a boon to others. Those who lose out in this terrestrial sorcery are mere collateral damage. 

Fellow human beings can be equally evil, maybe for survival, place or dominance. It is all around us. Are we just going to see through the evil, shut our ears from injustices and not speak against tyranny? Just look away? Run away from it all to live in a world of make-believe world of no evil? 

Or does it mean that we should strive to create a world where there is no evil if anyone turns around to see, listen, smell or whatnot? For that, we should 'think evil'. Left to their own devices, I do not think anyone will want to do anything evil. It is the circumstance and desperation that leads him to this. Above all, one should have the wisdom to identify and refrain from evil. Then, there will be nothing to see, hear or speak. In the Analects of Confucius, a fourth monkey, Sezaru, propagates 'do no evil'. It is seen covering its genitals with its hands.

Another version of 3 monkeys
"Hear, see, and speak out loud
for what you stand for."

I discovered this Turkish director who has been telling simple stories with picturesque cinematography and thought-provoking themes. This is one of them. 

An up-and-coming politician accidentally hits someone with his car while driving in an isolated countryside late one dark night. The victim dies on the spot. He asks his driver to take the blame, as admitting his crime would jeopardise the politician's career. The driver and his family are promised a fat remuneration for his sacrifice. The driver goes to jail for a year.

The monthly money comes on time, but the driver's wife and the politician start an affair. Somehow, the driver's late teenage son discovers their clandestine activity. The son is now in a dilemma. Should he just let it pass or punish the politician with malice. Is this way he pays back the man who carried his blame?

Meanwhile, the politician loses his election. The driver completes his sentence and is released. Even though the politician wants to end their affair, the driver's wife is helplessly in love with her lover. The three monkeys are in a fix: the driver senses something is wrong, the politician cannot get the monkey off his back, and the son is angry. Meanwhile, the politician is murdered.

The driver comes to know from the police that his wife is having an affair with the politician. The son confesses to the driver that he killed the politician. Just as his boss did, the driver got a poor fakir from the mosque to be the fall guy and take the blame for the murder.

We can talk all we want about the three wise monkeys, but the present world seems to warrant the fourth monkey. Sezaru, the fourth monkey, has been looking the other way for so long. It is about time Sezaru stops the violence that embodies our world. With such laxity and laissez-faire attitude on sexual behaviours these days, is it not necessary for Sezaru to be shown with his hands covering his genitalia or covering his nose to denote the stench that is enveloping our civilisation?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Not just monkeying around!

Monkey Kingdom (2015)

You see a troop of monkeys up high in the telephone cables walking a tightrope trying to get to the other side. You think nothing of the endeavour. Little do you realise that the tribe is actually a band of wounded soldiers trying to recoup their energy so that one day that they could reclaim their motherland.

Well, these are some of the little things that you would learn after watching this documentary. That everyone, even low life animals with five senses, has a story to tell about their existence, their civilisation and their evolution.

The film follows the behaviour of a barrel of macabre monkeys in a certain locale christened Rock Castle in Sri Lanka. There is an obvious hierarchical way of life, in that the supposed high-class ruling class, protector of the clan occupy the highest level of the rock. Perched high in the strata, they are privileged to savour the best of the fruits and the best of the food available the whet the primitive desire of any life form, appetite. The low-lives, literally occupy the lower grounds scavenging on discards and devising their own ways and of survival.

Maya is the protagonist of the story. She is from the lower clan and is resigned to the fact that this is how her life would progress and end. She is just another monkey at the receiving end of her supposedly higher class sisters and the possessive alpha male leader of the pack, Raja. In comes Kumar, a castaway from another tribe who was trying to place his own footing in life. He swooned Maya away and planted his progeny in her. After a showdown with Raja, he was chased away in the wilderness. The fruit of the union materialised six months later in the form of Kip. 

The progestational changes in Maya with Kip in her bosoms made her see the world in a different light. Suddenly, she is worried of the kid. Perpetually living on crumbs and threading harrowing experiences on a daily basis was no way to pave a bright future for her offspring, she thought. The pouring monsoon rain was no solace for a bleeding heart. Life had it upsides too. Just like the mushrooms, which make good titbits, that spring after a rain, the aftermath of the monsoon brings the feast of flying termites. But still...

Life is its own dramas and melodramas. After 6 months, Kumar comes back strong and wiser. He is now more apt to interact with the ruling class and starts moving in their circles.

Tragedy struck the colony. A bitter battle with a mission of intruders made them lose their homeland. With a stroke with bad timing, Maya, Kumar, the wounded and ego bruised Raja and the sisters became refugees. They retreat looking for sanctuary. Shooed and chased away from marked territories, they learnt to survive in the boisterous concrete urban jungle. Here, they realise that the lower strata of the society who are quite used to the harsh living conditions of life were quite adapt to the street smartness needed for survival. They were quick with ideas to plan their next meal and plan their next 'takeaways' - from people's homes!

Just like the change of the seasons and the tides of the seas, adversities in life were soon replaced with comfort. Kumar and Maya, soon realising that there is no place like home, made their claim on Rock Castle. With renewed vigour of their urban adventure, they repossessed the rightful claim on their home from intruders. The stars shone again in their lives until another hurdle would arrive.

At the end of the day, you realise that it is the ambition of every sperm/ovum provider that their prodigy would be perched high in comfort devoid of the sufferings and uncertainties that their predecessors had to endure. Whether it is an amoeba, a lowly worm, macabre monkey or full grown sixth sensed homo sapiens, the law of nature, karma or whatever you want to call it, adversities happen. Hence, living beings should be prepared - rainy day, drought or tsunami. Adversities bring out best in man and the worst!

We claim that our Maker made us in his mould and we cannot be placed in the same of the kettle of fish as animals as we are superior! Perhaps we are guilty of personifying Him. We want to think that He should look like us. Well, this type of class politics is across the board. We humans have subdivided ourselves by colour, beliefs, class etcetera. Just like that observational studies have provided evidence for the existence of such classification amongst animals. So we are no different from animals!

FYI - Collective noun of monkeys - troop, cartload, mission, tribe, wilderness, barrel.