When in India, you will find people doing tricks on the road involving animals of which monkey tricks are the most common. I am not sure if you know that the word monkey is a general word for a variety of species of monkeys. In fact, they are primates that include apes and prosimians such as lemur and humans. There are 13 species of monkeys in India of which the ‘Common Langur’ is the most abundant. They are also known as the ‘Hanuman Langur’ and they are purely vegetarian. In fact, these langurs are everywhere. You’ll even find these in the city of Agra where the Taj Mahal is situated.
Sadly many of these are used for road side shows. They are taken into captivity and taught tricks and then used as a source of making money. To be honest, I am not sure if there are laws against it or not. If there is one, I have not heard of it and even if there was one I am confident that it never gets implemented.
Group of monkeys in Indian traffic
I have no idea how they are treated, if they are fed adequately or taken care off or not. Whatever the case maybe – these monkey shows is a part of Indian life. It’s a real treat if you ask me and children love them.
What are your views on these monkey shows? Would you pay to watch these shows or would you confront the man who’s doing the show or simply ignore it. As a tourist to India, how would you feel?
