Honey-Man

Hanuman, Kunal, & Chitrak

Going to India is always a treat.  Last year, Chitrak and I were able to stay in the Himilayas with his family for a little over a week.  I hope you enjoy reading about the experiences I had there (October 2012):

Okay, he’s not called “Honey-man” or “Monkey God,” but these are the only two names I can remember.

His name is really Hanuman (Han/oo/man), and he is a large monkey sculpture that sits on top of Shimla’s highest mountain peak, watching over the town day and night.  He is a mythical creature from ancient Hindu texts, and is known for his utmost loyalty to his king. 

On Thursday morning, my incredibly fit brother-in-law Kunal decided to take us hiking to see the Honey-Man, err.. I mean Hanuman.  There is no handicap accessible path; the only way is up - so we followed the steep, zigzagged road.  Truly, it was more like climbing a wall that had been slightly angled.  In one step forward, you find that your knee had met your chest.

Along the way, government signs motivated the fitness-minded.  They recommended time limits for the super healthy and the extremely unfit.  We began our climb with a burst of motivation.  After 15 minutes, we had reached a midway point, and rested while Kunal went into a local store and rented three walking sticks.  How thoughtful he was to let us rest AND get walking sticks for our weak and weary bones! 

It took me another few minutes grunting up the hill to figure out they weren't walking sticks at all; they were monkey deterrents!  Throughout our trek, monkeys curiously approached us staring with their little brown, bold eyes as they chomped away at vegetation.  It was hard to predict what they might do.

Monkeys are intimidating and very comfortable around humans.  Kunal had told us earlier, before the climb, not to bring anything with us (like cameras, food, and shades) because the monkeys would steal it and the only way to get it back would be to bribe them with food… if you were lucky.  I had mistakenly forgotten this, and brought along my purse.  I didn't have any food to barter, and knew if the moment arose, I would be ready to whack a monkey.  My hand tightened around the stick, and I firmly hugged my purse as we made our way up another incredible slope (with Kunal not even breaking a sweat.)

As we approached the entrance of the Hanuman Temple, I saw them, a large group of monkeys - babies, papas, and mamas - all sitting near the gate.  For a moment I thought I might be in a scene from Indiana Jones. It was childish, but the thought was still there.

Chitrak helping the baby monkeys get water.  The older ones knew how to do it already.

Inside we walked around and got an amazing view of the entire town. While there, we noticed a few men being harassed by the monkeys (but it was because they didn't have their handy-dandy monkey sticks or the awesome brother-in-law to rent them).  It was then that I noticed Chitrak’s had been in battle before – a crack was visible running down the middle of the stick.  The store owner we were renting it from had tapped it up.  Good as new, I guess.

It was a fun day, but boy the climb down was sooooooooooo much worse then the climb up!

I loved the view from the top.

Our clever little friends.

We made it to the top!