Monkey Trouble

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Delhi has a long history of stories woven around monkeys. Some are real and some like the story of monkey man attacking people in 2001 are a figment of people’s imagination. Recently Delhi Metro hired a langur trainer (langur is a black faced scary looking monkey ) to frighten off other monkeys from boarding trains and upsetting passengers after a monkey got into a metro car. The monkey boarded a train at the underground Chawri Bazaar station and disembarked at Civil Lines station. That is about 3 stations.

There are about 10,000 to 20,000 monkeys in Delhi. More than 5000 at the Tuglaqabad fort ruins alone. Twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays), many people consider it sacred to feed the monkeys. I used to take my children when they were small to watch people feeding monkeys. I remember once a man had the shock of his life when the monkey he was feeding a banana slapped him hard. He was punished because he didn’t peel the banana. These monkeys are really spoilt. I tried to photograph a monkey recently from close quarters. When I took long to click the photo the monkey got annoyed and bared his teeth menacingly. I ran for my life. In 2002 the Delhi High Court demanded the MCD eliminate the monkeys. It is 2008 and the monkeys are still there. They attack police and train stations. One sneaked into the international airport last year. They scale the walls of govt buildings, gnaw electric wires and enter through open windows to steal food. They were once accused of scattering top secret documents inside the Ministry of Defense. I say ‘accused’ because the animal might have been a homo sapien.

A monkey paid a visit to my house early in the morning today. We don’t experience such incidents often in our locality because most houses in our area have dogs. I have two German Shepherds in my house. The first thing that came to mind when my domestic help informed me of this uninvited visitor was the security of this monkey. I am by nature a non violent person and wasn’t sure if my dogs feel the same when they see a monkey. With humans they are more than friendly. The monkey sat on my balcony undisturbed by the attention he received from all the spectators including me. He posed for some photographs and took the aerial route to make an escape. I forgot to mention that he brought his breakfast (a roti) with him. My domestic help- a devout Hindu supplied water to him in an empty cola bottle. The monkey didn’t oblige him and after having a look at my dogs went away. I missed a unique photo opportunity when the monkey was keenly observing Veeru, my dog. Actually I was too worried about Veeru’s reaction to take a photograph then.

Enjoying his meal, oblivious of his surroundings

Having a close look at Veeru

Water in the coke bottle

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Tags: Delhi, Dogs, India, Monkey