My first encounter with a monkey was early on - at a pit stop (a dhaba) on the 10 hour drive from the airport to the village we were staying (Jamsher). I am 98% sure it was a monkey. It was sitting on a bucket, then it jumped up on the fence and finally, it disappeared over to the other side. Sure, I was really tired after spending the past day and half on a plane, and a bit delusional at the thought of another 10 hours in a car - but, it looked like a monkey to me!
The next time I saw a monkey was at Rangla Punjab. Rangla Punjab is this amazing little restaurant/amusement park (sub camel rides for roller-coasters) in Jalandhar. If you're ever in Punjab, you must check it out. You pay to get in, and
your ticket includes dinner at the restaurant inside. The first thing you see when you walk in is a couple of men dressed in traditional punjabi gear playing the Dohl (drum) and dancing. It's non stop entertainment from there on out. Entertainment includes live, non-stop on-stage musical (so much singing and dancing), camel rides, horse rides, pottery, skits, shops, food, and of course, a man with a couple of monkeys!
He's telling the story of how the male wanted to get with the female, how he made it happen, how they got married, and then finally how he took her off to their honeymoon (more video's from Rangla Punjab at the end of this post).
My third monkey encounter was the GREATEST! We were on our way to Agra from Delhi and had just a couple days left in India. Again, it was a really long trip, and we'd been in the van for what felt like days. We spent 10 hours driving from Jamsher to Delhi, then spent the night in Delhi and drove another 6 hours in the morning to get to Agra (We spent a few hours there at the Taj Mahal, and then drove back to Delhi, another 6 hours). Me and my cousin were busy turning the most mundane things we saw outside the window into entertainment, when out of nowhere, the van pulls over on the side of the freeway. I'm still not really sure why we stopped - apparently we had to pay some sort of toll? Anyway, there were some other big trucks and large vehicles stopped around us as well - and of course, tons of street vendors and beggars tapping on all our windows. I saw some really really cute jewelry and trinkets that I HAD TO HAVE, so we opened the door and the madness began.
After I had enough of that, I moved to back window, where a man dressed as a woman made kissy faces at us. Behind him, I saw a man with a couple of monkeys and I immediately got WAY too excited and pulled out my camera. To my
disappointment, the man instructed the monkeys to hide under the van and I was like, WTF!! He rubbed his thumb on his fingers and silently asked to be paid for his "service" - so my uncle gave him some $$ and out came the monkeys again. They were an awesome little pair. One jumped onto the van and slipped inside the window and hung out with us for a few minutes... probably scoping us out for jewelry and other valuables haha. That was pretty much the closest I've ever been to a monkey, and I'm pretty sure the first and last time I'll ever touch and interract with one the way I did. So much fun. I have video but I haven't gotten around to converting those yet.
The LAST time I saw monkeys (plural) in India were in Agra. They were EVERYWHERE... on the side of the roads, just hanging out. At the Taj Mahal, we saw tons of them running around outside the Mosque - pretty much blending in with people like it just didn't matter that they were MONKEYS. I mean, it was like they were birds, just there and no one cared... It was amazing.
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More Videos from Rangla Punjabi:
That is AWESOME, Rupa!! I am very glad you got to play with a real live monkey :) I wish they would roam around here instead of stray cats! My mom wants one as a pet. I'm pretty sure she'd just train it to ran over and smack me and my brother across the back of the head...
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