Author: Sorit Gupto
Publisher: Asmi Books
In Sorit Gupto’s Ek Tha Jungle, a man rescued from the river by a troop of monkeys enters a world defined by trust, curiosity and harmony. He is tended to with affectionate care, especially by the troop’s leader, the Mukhiya monkey, and soon forges an unlikely friendship. They enjoy their time together, and he even builds a small boat of entwined branches, guiding them along winding waterways and revealing their own home from fresh vantage points. But as their laughter drifts across the canopy, a subtle unease gathers: the man’s explorations conceal darker motives.
At first, the monkeys’ innocence is absolute. Unfamiliar with concepts of profit or greed, they embrace the man’s presence as a gift. He recovers swiftly under their thoughtful care and, after a time, departs. When he returns aboard a huge vessel—its hull bleeding oil into the once-pristine river—their illusions begin to crack. He persuades the Mukhiya monkey to fell trees for timber, then drags herds of elephants into forced labour, first through honeyed promises and then with dart-gun violence. With every blow, the man’s mask of benevolence slips further, revealing a Machiavellian strategist who views the jungle and its animals as mere resources.
Gupto contrasts two worlds, one of symbiosis, where creatures take only what nature provides; the other of rapacious expansion, where trees topple and rivers choke under the weight of human ambition. As the man carves roads through the forest, scattering porcupine families beneath his bulldozers, he dismisses the suffering as the animals’ own folly for lingering “in his way.” He polices their movements, warning them to stay clear of highways and nets, as though responsibility for their deaths lies with their ignorance.
The Mukhiya monkey, whose faith in the man remains rooted in early kindness, watches in horror as his friends are skinned, caged and paraded in distant cities. There, in a grand zoo built on stolen wilderness, he finds former companions huddled in cramped enclosures. The man claims it is for their own protection, that only he can shield them from famine or calamity. His words drip with false compassion, yet beneath them pulses an unyielding, cruel worldview—nature exists to be tamed, its beauty subjugated for profit.
By the story’s end, the Mukhiya monkey is confined to a single Jamun tree on the fringes of a human city. When young monkeys ask him, “What is a jungle?”, he is unable to hear their questions, lost in the memories of his destroyed home. Through this story, we are compelled to confront our own complicity in an unfolding ecological tragedy. Ek Tha Jungle asks: if we dismantle the living world around us in pursuit of “progress,” what remains of our humanity?
Sub-editor, Books Publications Team, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi