On a relatively lean news day in the buildup to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the big story was Langurs. Ok so I exaggerate a little. It wasn’t the big story, but it was an interesting side order. The background is that most ‘normal’ monkeys don’t like langurs. It seems the latter are the bad boys of the simian world, at least in Delhi.
From time to time all the major government offices in the capital pay the handlers of these ‘fearsome beasts’ decent amounts of money to save their files (and their food) from their less alpha dog counterparts. If South Block can do it, surely the Games would need the same services.
So it came about that the organizing committee called on a bunch of these hired goons, to drive away monkeys from various Games locations. I’m not about to makes jokes at the expense of the men and women behind our glorious games, so please read on, it won’t be much longer.
As had become routine, I was hanging around outside the big building that houses Mr Kalmadi and the organizing team, when I saw a large crowd of reporters and camerafolk surrounding something near the parking lot. Hungry for a story, or at least not keen to miss out on something that the rest of the world had caught onto, I naturally made my way there.
Of course I found a bunch of about eight of our ancestors, along with their handlers, were the centre of attention. It was disappointing, for about 30 seconds. That’s when I saw a young girl, intent on playing the intrepid reporter, microphone in hand, make her way as close to one of the langurs as she could. I thought, maybe she wants to cop a feel. But the confident young lady proceeded to shove her mic, hopefully I might add, into the monkey’s face. And thus she stood, for about a minute, until a kind soul from the crowd mentioned, “Madam, I think the langur is saying no comment.”
I didn’t get a story, but I wish I’d have gotten a picture.
