So when you first land in Ahmedabad its striking how humans and animals, in particular the cows and monkeys co-exist quite happily within the chaos. If you’re lucky the peacocks also come out to play. I’m sure the non NRI Indians reading this will be rolling their eyes in mild scorn, but really, it is quite incredible how animals are accepted as part of everyday society. The cows look both ways before crossing the road! My brother was particularly excited by the monkeys, jumping up and down to feed them bananas whenever he spotted one. A group of them regularly visit my cousin’s flat, one of which was the chap above. Cute isn’t quite the right word, endearing perhaps. In any case, they’re definitely entertaining. I’m not sure what the future is for them, given the huge amount of construction going on in the city. There are roads being dug everywhere, massive malls erupting in the suburbs and flats/mansions going up in every area. I’m amazed at how quickly the city is developing. The landscape is already so different to when I was last here 4 years ago. There are attempts to preserve the green areas but a lot of habitats are being bulldozed over; I wonder how many of the animals will remain in the next 5 years.
