Greetings from New Delhi, India, where performing monkeys spark delight — and ambivalence

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Years ago, when I lived in Delhi, a madari — a monkey handler — and his two performing monkeys used to come to my neighborhood on a bicycle. I loved to see them but was unwilling to be a patron. It is illegal to use monkeys for tricks in India, though the practice remains popular and authorities tend to look the other way.

Usually, the grandparents in my neighborhood called out to the madari. They haggled with him over a few hundred rupees, and then for a few minutes, the madari made his pets salute, somersault, hug or pull each other’s tails. The kids spilled with laughs. The elders looked pleased too.

Often, though, their act had no takers. The madari still came by, announcing his arrival by shaking a pellet drum. On one such lean day, he noticed me looking on from my third-floor balcony. I shook my head. He and the monkeys moved on.

On a recent visit back to my old Delhi neighborhood, I spotted this madari on a bike with his monkeys. They looked familiar but I couldn’t be sure if it was the trio I knew from three years ago. I only saw them fleetingly from my cab. And they all turned their backs on me.

I suppose I deserved that.

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