Stories

I arrived to find myself surrounded by the lion-tailed macaques.

The entire property was swarming with them as they swung from the trees, hopped on to the roof of the cottage, peeped into the windows and clattered across the tin sheets.

I watched, delighted.

Monkeys are such fun to watch, and this lot was no different.

There was one, high up on the trees intently picking his nose. A young kid stepped over to peer at me and clearly didn’t like what he saw as he quickly scampered back to the safety of his mother’s embrace. Another male was walking on the roofs and decided on a whim to indulge in a quick mating with a female who was minding her own business and then both of them went their merry ways. There was a group of youngsters who were swinging on an overhanging branch before noisily falling on the tin roof. A gnarly veteran suspiciously peered at me over the tin roofs as the sunlight broke through the leaves behind him.

Photographically, however, they were on the wrong side of the property.

There wasn’t much of an open ground in this end, and almost every frame would have elements of the house intruding. Just once, a proud male with an impressive mane that stood at attention around its sharp-featured face, strutted past me with the drenched-in-rain background.

Which was a pity.

It had rained recently, the grass was still visibly moist, water still dripped off the leaves and the brown earth had taken the deeper shade that persistent rain bestows on it. In short, the background was beautiful.

But the macaques were not playing ball and they stayed up on the building.

I thought of taking images with the elements of the house in the frame. After all, that was also part of their environment. The dull brown tiles, the faded white painted pipes and reddish walls and the yellow window frames.

Just as the idea was taking root and I started looking for opportunities, the macaques melted away into the forest.

Never mind, they will come back. They usually appear at least twice a day.

They didn’t. Not that day. Not the following day.

I shall try out my idea next year.

I did take a few images…here they are.

This guy stepped out, looking wary but then, maybe not…the LTMs around here are fairly habituated to human presence

I am not a big fan of closeups…but this guy looked so majestic, that I could not resist

The light behind…ufff!!!

Am I being judged?

The leaves provide a natural frame and the light behind….divine!

This guy could have hopped onto the ground and comfortably walked across to the tree he was going towards.

But, no…he had to slither on this cable and delicately do the journey. Why!!!???

Maybe as the famous Mallory once had said…because it was there.

Thanks

Ashok