Tag: monkey

Jerry: A New Era?

Three days in a row, Jerry has shown up at the western cafe. Is this the beginning of a new era? Is Jerry growing up? The last monkey post was the first of those days. And this one contains the next two days of videos. As Satvamrita’s mother, I am a bit concerned about the last one. What is for sure is we have the opportunity to work out issues related to living learning and letting go.

Jerry!

The monkey came back to the western cafe after being gone for three days. It had been raining and we weren’t sure if that was what was keeping him away. When he arrived, he was greeted with a new name, Jerry! Satvamrita felt that his old name of “Monkey,” might have been getting on his nerves. It seems Jerry was not too impressed with the new name either. Was he only interested in the eggs? Didn’t he care about the joy we had felt in his presence?

The Monkey Seems to be Gone…at least for now.

There have been no monkey sightings in the last two days. We think he might be gone. Satvamrita said that the monkey may have felt trapped when it came into the café through the window and got stuck with my son between him and the door.

I hope he comes back sometime in the future. He has certainly given joy to me, my son and daughter, to other Amritapuri residents, and to those who read my blog.

In fact this experience has made it easier for me to not be in Amritapuri this year Getting the photos and posting about it has made me feel like I am there and a part of the process.

A New Monkey Wrinkle

This afternoon, while Satvamrita sat at a table in the kitchen, he looked up to find the monkey perched on a ledge close to the ceiling. I have taken my son’s photo and enlarged and cropped it to create the second photo for this post.

When I found out the monkey had gotten in through an open window in the next room, I asked if he was going to have the cafe windows screened. He replied, “Nah, we’ll just shut the windows.”

Is He Here to Stay?

Probably not. Their nature seems to be to roam. Hang out for a bit, and then move on. But it’s been nice for the cafe staff to have him around.

Even when he’s trying to show his mean face.

He’s even taken to posing for the camera.

Or trying to act uninterested in your presence.

But it seems there’s always a hidden agenda. Food.

Monkey Retaliation?

As I had mentioned in one of the earlier posts, my son keeps a broom handy to shoo the monkey away when he’s getting too close. Well it seemed that the monkey learned this trick and was using it for himself. As my son came down the stairs from the roof, the monkey held on to a tree branch that was hanging over the stairway and was shaking it to shoo my son away. Satvamrita may have experienced a moment of fear seeing the branch waving at him, but he quickly realized that the stick was still connected to the tree. Of course, Satvamrita, thinking this was funny, stopped to take pictures.

An Encounter with a Thief- The Real Story

I have written four posts about the monkey who is presently visiting Amritapuri. Early in his visit, he stole eggs from the western cafe. Since then, he has tried many times to steal more eggs. He obviously considers them to be a delicacy.

He hangs around the cafe even when eating food he has found in the vicinity.

My son believes the monkeys around the ashram are more bark than bite. If they show you their teeth, you should show them yours. If they growl at you, you should growl back. If you combine these actions with a stick, the monkeys will probably run away.

On this particular day, it was obvious that the monkey was determined to get in the cafe. It watched Satvamrita closely. He began to carry a broom so he could shoo the monkey away whenever it came near the door.

Watching Satvamrita. Looking for opportunity to steal eggs.
Watching from stairs. Getting tired of this.

When it became convinced its efforts were futile, it started to yawn. Soon after that, it wandered off. Time to look for an easier place to get dinner.

Getting tired of this. Big yawn.
Tired and bored. Even bigger yawn.