Summary of moments ch the adventures of toto
Answers
The narrator’s grandfather bought Toto, a little red monkey from a tonga driver to add to his collection of animals in his private zoo.
Toto was an attractive monkey with sparkling eyes. He would take special delight in scaring elderly Anglo-Indian ladies. Since grandmother was always averse to grandfather’s collection of animals, he decided to keep the news about Toto hidden from her until she was in better mood.
Toto was temporarily kept in a closet that opened into the narrator’s bedroom. After a few hours of keeping Toto in the closet, when the narrator and the grandfather came to see Toto, they were in for a shock. Toto had torn the wallpaper; the peg with which Toto had been bound, had been wrenched off the wall. The narrator’s school blazer had been torn into pieces.
The grandfather was quite happy at the monkey’s adventures. After this it was decided that Toto would be transferred to the cage where other animals such as a tortoise, a pair of rabbits, a tame squirrel and, narrator’s pet goat lived amiably. But Toto would create trouble for all of them.
The grandfather had to go to Saharanpur to collect his pension. He decided to take Toto along in a big canvas bag. Since there was no opening in the bag to allow his hands or face to come out, he would often jump inside the bag, making the bag look like as if there was a spirit in it.
As soon as the train reached Saharanpur, Toto scared the ticket-collector by popping his head out of the bag and grinning at him. The ticket-collector was annoyed at the discovery and asserted that the grandfather would have to pay for Toto’s fare. The ticket-collector assumed Toto to be a dog and would not listen to the grandfather’s argument that it was not a dog.
Once the grandmother accepted Toto, he was shifted to stable where, Nana, the family donkey lived. Toto could not get along with Nana as well.
Toto loved to take bath in hot water in winter in the same manner as the narrator would do. He would first check the hotness of water before jumping into the hot water bowl.
Answer:
Toto was a pretty monkey, bought by the narrator’s grandfather from a tonga-driver for a sum of five rupees. His bright eyes sparkled with mischief beneath deep-set eyebrows, and his teeth, which were a pearly white, were very often displayed in a smile that frightened the life out of elderly Anglo–Indian ladies. Grandmother didn’t like pets at all. So, once Toto was kept in a little closet. A few hours later, when grandfather and the narrator came back to release Toto, they found that the walls, which had been covered with some ornamental paper (Wall Paper) chosen by grandfather, now stood out as naked brick and plaster. Toto had freed himself from the chain and the narrator’s blazer had been torn in shreds.
Now Toto was transferred to a big cage in the servants’ quarters where a number of grandfather’s pets lived very sociably together – a tortoise, a pair of rabbits, a tame squirrel and a goat. But the monkey wouldn’t allow any of his companions to sleep at night. So the grandfather decided to take him along to Dehra Dun the next day. When the grandfather was producing his ticket at the railway station, Toto suddenly poked his head out of the bag and gave the ticket collector a wide grin. The ticket collector charged extra three rupees from the grandfather for Toto. On another day. Toto nearly boiled himself alive in the kitchen kettle.
Once when Toto found a large dish of rice on the dining table and started eating the rice; grandmother scolded him. Toto in response threw the plate at her. An aunt of narrator came forward to save her but Toto threw a glass of water at her. Then Toto ran away with a dish of pullao, sat on jackfruit tree till evening eating the pullao. And then, in order to spite the grandmother, who had screamed at him he threw the dish down the tree and chattered with delight when it broke into pieces.
Till now, the grandfather had realized that obviously Toto was not sort of pet they could keep for long. They were not wellto-do, and could not afford the frequent loss of dishes, clothes, curtains and wallpapers. So, at last, grandfather went to the tonga-driver, and sold Toto back to him – for only three rupees.