tshewang'sJournal For ye hadth I been; and for thou shall I be

Before breaking off for home we had agreed to have a nice get-together pointing the fact that one of our group mates had birthday next day. The group came up with the wonderful idea of playing anonymity; like secret Santa. Out of austerity, I got the birthday girl!

I roamed all day around Istanbul looking for a gift. Finally I chanced upon a stall selling small and beautiful artifacts. There, among many, I spotted the three wise monkeys. Getting to my room I scribbled a note on a card and yes, all set. She opened the gift. The first expression on her was full of self doubt. Of course she made it known by saying it loud.

“I don’t really know what these monkeys mean! I would be glad if someone explains it to me”

Not many seemed to know, but a friend at the back barged in and talked about how cool it was and that the monkeys inform us about, “Seeing No Evil, Hearing No Evil, and Speaking No Evil.” She was even more confused now.
“Does he think I am evil?”

“No, no, no,” some of them spoke in unison. “It is a nice gift.”

I was standing there, all the time right next to her, acting equally surprised but I could tell she was flustered and did not think of the present very well.

“I am not sure if anyone who gave me this thinks I am evil or like a monkey,” she mused.

Evidently, she hadn’t heard much about the 3 wise monkeys. I had more to worry about because if she didn’t understand the monkeys she would definitely not understand, and like, what I wrote in the card. I was glad we were to be anonymous about our gifts!
To make matters worse, I suddenly realized she was a Romanian. Just the previous day we had a racial fuss in the group where one of our members barged in Romania to be origin of vampires using words like ‘cruel’ and ‘evil’.

I can only console myself for the mere fact that I wanted to give her something that she could, keep it with her for the rest of her life, but all that she was thinking were outrageously out of the world and never an inch close to my intention. Did I think of her as a monkey or Evil? No man! She was one of my best ones to be with for all past days! So there I stood, watching her silently and hoping she won’t read the card, because she was found to misunderstand. But, she did. If there was a hint of smile of her face! I could see more blood on her face.
I hadn't thought what I was dragging myself into when I wrote the following;

“Hi Danja,
You are the fourth monkey! So, “Think No Evil!”
Happy Birthday!”
Yours Friend!