September
15, 2005
Monkey Menace
in New Delhi
Indian capital, New Delhi, is again in the grip
of a monkey menace, according to a recent BBC report
(8/27/05). The metropolis has remained infested
with thousands of rhesus monkeys for decades past.
According to a Hindu legend, the simians, descendents
of monkey god, Hanuman, are as sacred as cows. Culling
them in therefore not an option.
“Please do not feed the monkeys”, implores
a sign at Raisina Hills, the complex of colonnaded
buildings that includes the President’s residence,
Parliament and Cabinet offices. Ignoring the sign,
worshippers reach the Raisina Hill every Tuesday
handing out bananas. The monkeys love the free lunch.
Their credulous devotees go home elated by the thought
of having earned the blessings of Lord Hanuman.
The thousands of officials who work in the government
buildings face a different situation. They have
been bitten, robbed of their lunch boxes, their
files ransacked, their window panes banged, and
the saris of lady workers pulled off for the sheer
fun of it perhaps.
The marauding monkey gangs have enjoyed tearing
up official files in total disdain for the Official
Secrets Act. That has in a way expedited the disposal
of government business. For, nothing often comes
out of the official labyrinth of red tape!
If his senior pulls up an official for sitting on
a file, he could sneak into a corner, tear the file
up quietly and attribute his own impish dexterity
to the hordes of monkeys in the area. Animal activists
would be at a loss to defend their protégés
in such cases.
They keep arguing that the media hype about the
simian ‘havoc’ is giving monkeys a bad
name!
The main problem, they insist, is not the rising
number of monkeys but the growing population of
humans. “We have encroached on their homeland,
we have taken away their fruits, we have reduced
their water resources, and we are trapping them
from their home range, from their forests; so they
are coming to urban areas”. Makes sense, doesn’t
it?
The Government, the ultimate repository of national
wisdom, started thinking of ways and means of killing
the snake without breaking the stick, that is without
offending the religious susceptibilities of any
community. Some scientist came up with the plan
to scare off the monkeys with ultrahigh frequency
loudspeakers. It did not work: the monkeys followed
the formula of in from one ear, out the other.
It was then decided to trap and ship them to distant
regions and states. Some 400 monkeys were caught
at Raisina Hill and moved to a holding area on the
outskirts of New Delhi to await their return to
forests in neighboring states.
That too didn’t work, as no local or state
government was willing to accept the transfer of
the ache to their own heads. We have a whole lot
of monkeys of our own, each one replies.
How about the devotees of Lord Hanuman? They were
willing to feed bananas to their deities every Tuesday
but lacked the resources to build a haven for over
5,000 of them; nor were they willing to accept the
saris of their womenfolk being pulled off in public!
The rhesus macaques fear the fierce looking ape
called Langur. Some people train these apes to hold
at street corners shows to collect money. These
Langur-walas saw an opportunity to make some extra
money. They moved with their acrobatic Langurs into
New Delhi and started scaring way the much smaller
rhesus monkey, but for a fee. This developed into
a Langur squad. But, it too did not work as the
smaller but perhaps smarter monkeys would move away
temporarily from the area of Langurwalas. In the
evenings they would return to their old haunt.
Then a few years back some prankster saw a good
opportunity to pull a fast one on the Delhiwalas.
He would don a hairy costume, put on steel claws
on his fingers and start scaring pedestrians in
dark alleys.
The terror caused by this nocturnal ghost, part-man,
part monkey, was reported to have struck at more
than 65 locations in the city. Two persons died
trying to escape the monkey man. Many have reported
having received scratches from his claws. Sketches
of this creature carried by the press, put him at
5’ 6’’ with long black hair or
clothes, steel claws and a helmet.
Those claiming to have sighted this spook were unable
to give a cogent picture of what they say. One man
said that he looked straight into the green eyes
of this creature and when he tried to get a hold
on it, it turned into a cat and slipped away. Another
said he bumped into it but could not recollect its
looks as he was sleep walking!
Los Angeles Times’ New Delhi Bureau reported
on May 21/ 03, a very amusing aspect of the story:
“Leading Hindu nationalists insisted that
the military intelligence agency (ISI) in Pakistan
had sent the monkey-man in a sinister plot to destabilize
India. Several members of Parliament demanded that
the government send in crack paramilitary units
to catch the ape-man.” L.A Times report further
said that the New Delhi police force had accordingly
deployed 1000 officers, many of them posted on rooftops.
A reward of $1000 had also been offered.
As for the allegation against the ISI, it would
suffice to quote Times of India columnist, Siddhart
Vardaragan, who said in a write-up: “Reviled,
feared and fantasized in equal measure, Pakistan’s
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is one enemy India
loves to hate …Many in India believe the ISI
is only slightly less omnipresent than God….
Even the demolition of Babri Masjid has been attributed
to the ISI. … The only terrorist crime in
modern India that we can say with certainty not
the handiwork of the ISI was the assassination of
Mahatma Gandhi on Jan. 30, 1949. That too only because
the dreaded intelligence agency did not exist at
that time.”
Reverting to the subject of monkey, let us remember
that modern-day historians tend to give a logical
interpretation to the description and role of Hanuman
as presented in the epic, Ramayana. It describes
him as a monkey ruling over vast legions of his
species in South India where prince Rama of Ganges
basin was sent in exile. There his wife Sita was
abducted by Ravana, king of the ape-like crude,
black-skinned and wild beings called Rakshases.
Noticing the misery and sorrow of Rama, Hanuman
offered to help him retrieve Sita from the clutches
of Ravana. He did succeed in that and was consequently
raised to the status of a deity.
Historians agree that a king Rama probably existed
in ancient India, particularly as almost accurate
description of the location of Lanka is given in
Ramayana. Hanuman was a human being as he is presented
conversing with Rama. Ravana too was a human being.
Being of Dravidian race, both were dark-skinned,
hairy and of short stature. Poetic liberty of the
tall, fair-skinned Aryan composers of Ramayana turned
them into monkeys. But, Rama’s immense gratitude
to Hanuman led to a place being allotted to him
as a sacred deity in the Hindu pantheon.
The continuing monkey menace in New Delhi might
lead to a reconsideration of the sanctity attached
to this animal. Why not capture the vexing critters
and ship them to China and the Philippines? You
know what they do to the monkeys there. That should
put an end to the menace in New Delhi.
