The monkey catcher

When the 48-year-old is out to catch monkeys,as his job as a contract employee for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) demands,he looks out for baby monkeys. He gets Rs 450 for every monkey he turns in to the MCD and that includes the little ones too. But no,he doesn’t want them to be orphaned or lost in the jungle.

So he brings them to the crematorium with its overgrown grass,its silent halls,and takes care of them.

From his meagre income,he buys fruits and milk,even pomegranate that sells for Rs 100 a kg,and raises them. When they have grown big enough,he goes to the Bhatti Mines area in Mehrauli and releases them. That’s where the MCD too releases its monkeys.

Bhikha,48,hails from a remote village in Gujarat. He came to Delhi in 1971,hoping the metropolis would give him an opportunity to make ends meet. In 1984,when he saw a bunch of monkeys chasing down a few school children,he lurched into action,tied one of the monkeys’ hands behind its back,dragged it and dropped it off at the MCD office. But he was careful not to hurt the monkey. That’s how he became a monkey catcher. He used to work as a driver but that wasn’t working out well for him.

Bhikha’s family is in his village. He sends home some money. For over two years now,he has been living in the crematorium with his son and the chowkidars who change shifts thrice a day. Of course,Jackie,his dog,is part of the ‘family’,too.

On lucky months,Bhikha can bill the civic agency for 10 monkeys – that’s 4,500 a month. But he spends a big part of the money on fruits that work as baits for the monkeys. He has been bitten many times,the swollen fingers and scars tell you of the perils of his job.

So far,he has raised at least two dozen baby monkeys. Five days ago,he went to Bhatti Mines to drop off Anu,a baby monkey he caught while on duty in West Delhi. He misses her. Even his famished dog,Jackie,refuses to eat. “Jackie used to sleep with her,play with her. After Anu’s gone,he is so lost,” he says.

I don’t know if I want to do this for the rest of my life. After all,monkeys are free animals. Yeh azad pashu hai. Inko kyun pakde ,” he says.

In a room that was meant to be a place for housing the drinking water machine,he has kept his seven cages,all rusted. “Maybe by raising baby monkeys,I will earn some good points and will go to heaven. Life is hell now. We never make enough money,” he says. “But then,you can’t give up your soul for money.”