Our Monkeys

Four days until I catch the bus to Delhi and though my thoughts are moving toward home I still want to post this info on the monkeys. When I took some of these photos I wasn't sly enough or fast enough and was hissed at by the one that seems to be in charge. I want my disturbing them to have been worth my fright.

I've mentioned the monkeys a few times in this blog. The first time was in March when I saw them along the road on the way to Ooty. I mentioned them again when I arrived in McLeod Ganj and was told to close the kitchen door so the monkeys couldn't get in. And then there were the quarreling ones at Baby Taj in Agra.




All three incidents were the same breed of monkey. They're common here. They're in the trees, along the roads, and on the rooftops. I tried for some time to get a photo of the ones who walk along our balcony. And here's what I finally got. Guess when the kitchen door is closed they're not inclined to slow down.


There is a spot along the kora, the ritual circuit, around the Tsuglagkhang Temple where a group of monkeys congregate most mornings - the young, the parents and the veterans. Three weeks ago I had one snarl menacingly at me. I now carry a rock, walk quickly, and look straight ahead when I walk the kora. So I wasn't too surprised when I was hissed at taking the pictures. Nothing like a bit of reality to go with your meditation.

Once I saw another breed of monkey on the other side of the temple complex. They were in some trees. They looked bigger. Their faces were black and they had long white or gray fur/hair on their bodies. I saw them only that once.




These are the guys we see most every day in McLeod Ganj.