11.25.07 Cows, dogs, and monkeys!
Getting into the rhythm of living here is getting into the rhythm of climbing steep hills with potholes & leaking water from an aboveground makeshift plumbing system. But our morning walk to school is also made delightful by the occasional wandering sleepy, sweet-eyed cows & stepping around or over sleeping dogs (they work by barking all night to keep the bad elements away). There are also occasional herds of goats or working donkeys carrying loads of brick, etc. But an everyday walk around McLeod Ganj, is a real treat - observing people & animals – trying to survive in what ever way they can.
One evening, I was going back to our apt beside a cow that very nonchalantly walked by a grocery stall, nudged her nose into a potato bag, and helped herself to one while not losing a step in her stride. No one seemed to mind and she continued walking on, chewing oh so slowly – as if she was relishing the taste! Even the water buffalo are not bothered by the closeness of the honking cars or trucks, and…when they get tired, they just lay down - wherever they want!
Of course, the monkeys we encounter on our walks are not so sleepy-eyed or docile! Several times a day, they clamber on our roof & the metal roofs below & make a lot of racket! If we take the road into the market area rather than the steep, uneven, narrow, sometimes crumbling (or stepping over the plumbing) steps, we are careful to let the monkeys, especially moms with babies, have their space! As soon as we put a bag of garbage in the dumpster, they fight over who gets to check it first! They have also been known to steal puppies, if their own babies have died, so our apt manager was worried when one of his puppies was missing…but she turned up a day later under some furniture.
