Monkey Woes

These last few months have seen me engaged in a campaign to house the monkeys of Ayodhya and Faizabad in mini-sanctuaries at different places in the two towns. I have submitted a detailed proposal on behalf of the Sahriday Samiti to the district, State and Central administration to prepare such green forested acres for the monkeys who run rampant among the rooftops and streets, snatching what they can from unwary people, and getting caught in wires and cables.

The monkeys here, Rhesus Macaques, are a khaki coloured, low-browed and short tailed species different from the Bonnet Macaques seen in the South. They are always ripe for being made into a political-religious issue by Hindu fundamentalists who make much of them being forms of Hanuman. But their welfare is not a matter for anyone to be unduly worried. In fact, they are perceived as a huge nuisance, and cost lakhs of rupees in damages every month and crores every year. The telephone department alone shells out Rs. 20 lakhs a month on damaged cables and installations, not to mention the Electricity Board, local cable TV operators, shopkeepers and street vendors, and ordinary residents who cannot put out clothes or edibles in the sunlight, grow a kitchen garden, or even have a peaceful cup of tea or coffee on the terrace or balcony of their homes.

If things are left to be this way, any residual affection that people have for these animals, either in religious terms, or just as fellow-creatures will disappear, and more and more cruelty will be practised on monkeys in the name of self-defence. Recognizing this, I took up the cause of monkey rehabilitation to make people work for their own welfare, to separate issues of the common good from emotive religious and political flashpoints, and to actually achieve some long-term relief for monkeys. After all, with humans encroaching on vast areas of forest every year, where are these animals to go? My proposal covered points of public-private partnership, making faith and a respect for animals the positive cornerstones for true development, and creating examples of monkey rehabilitation that would serve to inspire other monkey infested towns of tourist importance, like Agra, Mathura and Brindavan.

So far, my proposal has met with a stony silence from the administration - both local and Central. My people's campaign, meant to put pressure on the administration through means like writing postcards and having neighbourhood meetings has been handicapped by my contracting TB, and by the stupendous inertia of the people in this part of the country.

Meanwhile, my own friendship with the monkeys is growing stronger by the day. Not only have I successfully got an injured baby monkey back on her feet after two months of care, I have also had my heart broken by her, and am daily called and greeted by around a dozen familiar monkeys who frequent our compound. I may never be able to solve their problems in the way I had dreamed, but at least I can give them grapes, bananas and roti!