Monkey Trouble

"hey! you glass, you monkey trouble!"

We laugh at the boy's warning as he points his finger at Deborah. Craig and Deborah and I walk along the bank of the Yamuna river in the morning. The boatmen come and go, bringing boatsful of people from one side to the other, commuters i suppose, families, and men with bicycles. The boats' colorful flags flap in the wind as the boatmen steer with their long bamboo staffs.

As we walk along toward the ghats, all in an instant, Deb cries out in shock, and as i spin around, i see the culprit running off. The monkey had come from behind with no warning, snatched her glasses right off of her face, and bounded up into a tree. Deb's cry gathers a crowd of boys who seem to appear from all directions, as if on cue. We run up after the monkey, keeping a close eye on him. He non-chalantly chews on the glasses.

The boys, yelling the whole time, clamber up the shrine beneath the tree. One boy pulls an apple from his pocket, and throws it at the monkey. The monkey nimbly catches it in midair, still clutching the glasses in his teeth. The boy tosses a bag of rice, the monkey reaches out, and the glasses drop from the tree. The boy with the rice grabs the glasses, runs down with his quarry, and proudly hands over the glasses. Then all hands come out, eagerly awaiting rupees. I press a 5-rupee coin into rice-boy's hand, small prize from a white foreigner. The boys jump up and down, clamouring, "twenty rupee twenty rupee!" as we push past the crowd and walk on.

I've seen some clever ruses in India - There's the well-known gem scam, the sales commissions for rickshaw-wallahs, and the "please buy milk for me (so i can run around the corner and sell it back to the shopkeeper for 5 rupees)" trick. But this - pet monkey, well-trained, boys hanging around with bags of rice in their pockets?? umm, i don't think so.

As we walk past the ghats, the old man sitting under the tree snaps his cane at Deb, and shouts "munkeee!" This time we heed the warning.