I saw monkeys on my taxi ride up to Mussoorie, I hear them in trees around campus, I see them in the pool or around the basketball court some mornings. One could say this is monkey country. Here's a little diddy about them.
A Three Paragraph Story by Devan Landseidel
My first afternoon here, I went over to a friend's apartment to have lunch. Nan and I were walking up to her apartment and I noticed a reddish-brown monkey running across the yard into a tree. Yards are a rarity with campus housing, and understandably, all over the mountain. I met Nan's roommates as they came down for breakfast. They were desperately craving French toast, but the toast was no where to be found. Nan's first thought was, "I bet a monkey came in and stole it." All of us brushed the preposterous theory off and kept looking. We searched high and low, for at least 20 minutes. The roommates checked their rooms and looked through the pantry and kitchen at least 4 times. No luck. Disappointed, they got a taxi and went to a near by restaurant to satisfy their craving.
As the morning went on, Nan ordered some pizza from Clock Tower Cafe and offered me some of her chamomile tea. She happily explained "This is both local and organic. It was actually grown on this hill." We continued to catch up while sitting on her wonderfully sunny porch. One step out her front door and you can't help but enjoy the beautiful view of Witch's Hill. Soaking it all in, we could not help but wonder about the odd sound of birds in a near by tree. They were very busy and making a snapping sound as they fluttered about from branch to branch. Nan went in to find her Northern India Bird Book. Turns out we were watching Spot Winged Gross Beaks. Never too serious about birding, I laughed at what the book described a "rare and exciting find" in this region. However, a few of the colorful species have peaked my interest in the winged creatures.
The pizza arrived just after Kate, a Woodstock music teacher, came to join us. We were enjoying the pizza, filling Kate in on the events of the morning. I was explaining the search for the missing bread just a few seconds after I mentioned the monkey sighting in Nan's yard. In an exciting, eureka moment, I exclaimed, "The monkey was carrying something which looked like a plastic bag!" I went over to investigate the scene. Sure enough, there was an empty bag of bread on the ground. Apparently, the monkey opened the door and grabbed the bread. Lesson: be sure to close your door.
A Three Paragraph Story by Devan Landseidel
My first afternoon here, I went over to a friend's apartment to have lunch. Nan and I were walking up to her apartment and I noticed a reddish-brown monkey running across the yard into a tree. Yards are a rarity with campus housing, and understandably, all over the mountain. I met Nan's roommates as they came down for breakfast. They were desperately craving French toast, but the toast was no where to be found. Nan's first thought was, "I bet a monkey came in and stole it." All of us brushed the preposterous theory off and kept looking. We searched high and low, for at least 20 minutes. The roommates checked their rooms and looked through the pantry and kitchen at least 4 times. No luck. Disappointed, they got a taxi and went to a near by restaurant to satisfy their craving.
As the morning went on, Nan ordered some pizza from Clock Tower Cafe and offered me some of her chamomile tea. She happily explained "This is both local and organic. It was actually grown on this hill." We continued to catch up while sitting on her wonderfully sunny porch. One step out her front door and you can't help but enjoy the beautiful view of Witch's Hill. Soaking it all in, we could not help but wonder about the odd sound of birds in a near by tree. They were very busy and making a snapping sound as they fluttered about from branch to branch. Nan went in to find her Northern India Bird Book. Turns out we were watching Spot Winged Gross Beaks. Never too serious about birding, I laughed at what the book described a "rare and exciting find" in this region. However, a few of the colorful species have peaked my interest in the winged creatures.
The pizza arrived just after Kate, a Woodstock music teacher, came to join us. We were enjoying the pizza, filling Kate in on the events of the morning. I was explaining the search for the missing bread just a few seconds after I mentioned the monkey sighting in Nan's yard. In an exciting, eureka moment, I exclaimed, "The monkey was carrying something which looked like a plastic bag!" I went over to investigate the scene. Sure enough, there was an empty bag of bread on the ground. Apparently, the monkey opened the door and grabbed the bread. Lesson: be sure to close your door.
As far as I can tell, there are two species common to the area. The Gray Langour and the Rhesus Macaque.
Rhesus Macaque - the bread thief from the story. I saw many Rhesus out the window of the taxi while driving up to Mussoorie.
The Gray Langour - larger than the Rhesus, but less apt to mess with humans or walk into an apartment and steal a loaf of bread. On a few occasions, I've seen locals walking Langurs around on leashes as many dog lovers do in The States.
Ya know, I was really wondering where my snacks were going here in Minnesota. Damn monkeys.
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