Since this is the second most emailed article on BBC's current page, I thought I should reflect on this monkey business a bit. This article reports on Delhi Metro's latest hire, a large black-faced langur called Shri. Bajarang Bali. Ok, I made that name up; blame the BBC's shoddy reporting for not mentioning this gentleman's good name.

So Big B gets paid $150 for his services, which consist mainly of glowering menancingly, and baring his fangs at his relatives and cousins, who happen to be notorious fare jumpers. As a spokesman for the Delhi Metro put it, recently one such cousin of Big B's boarded a train at Chandni Chowk station and travelled some 3.5 km to the Civil Lines station before alighting. Since he was hungry, he also glared at his human cousins for "kelas", "angoors", etc were not forthcoming. How dare they? Did they forget who saved Sita-ma?

Yes sir, we are like this only; cows on the streets, monkeys on the subways. By the way, Vikram Chandra's monkey in his novel "Red Earth and Pouring Rain" is a fantastic teller of tales.