Monkeys in the ashram!

I was leading an orientation session outside today when a troop of about a dozen langur monkeys entered the ashram grounds and began feasting on the ample supply of foliage. We stopped the session for about 10 minutes so everyone could get cameras and watch the monkeys frolic on the grass, climb the trees, and do other things that monkeys like to do. If you know me at all you know that I think monkeys are awesome, so I was happy to break for them. Langurs are not aggressive towards people, but they can be aggressive towards each other, so anyway there is no harm in watching or taking pictures.

At first they just sat on some trees, bending branches and eating the leaves, and we got back to the session. Pretty soon, though, the monkeys became a bit more brazen. Branches started breaking, monkeys started chasing each other at full speed (and they can really move surprisingly fast) right next to our group, and fights (monkey on monkey only, of course) began to break out. The ashram groundskeepers, three or four friendly guys about my age, then came over with sticks and chased them away. Amazingly, the group was able to maintain its focus and the session actually went well.

Indians often seem surprised by Westerners' excitement at monkey encounters, and some are shocked to learn that there are no monkeys bounding around in American cities, and in fact no wild monkeys at all in the US. To many Indians, monkeys are just pests, since they are not eaten and can't be used for any kind of productive labor like cows or water buffalo. The relationship is probably analogous to the one people in the US have with deer, which have staked their claim to suburban America, eating garbage and shrubs. Though I suppose deer have yet to be responsible for the death of a the deputy mayor of our nation's capital...