Monkey Thieves

I am not a fan of any particular show on TV! I have this habit of surfing between channels and then fixing up with something that I like. In such a attempt,I ended up on National Geographic (I used to be a great fan of Nat Geo Wild in my childhood) and I found this particular show being aired.



Initially I thought it would be a special episode of any show on the lives of macaque monkeys,who are well reputed for their restless activities. I love this species and I decided to watch the show,however later I found that this is an entire show itself,the show's name was 'Money Thieves'.

The production team has done a great job to make the viewer understand the monkey's life. This show is based on the lives of monkeys in the city of Jaipur. To be more specific,the show showcases the lives of a gang called the galta gang. The group lives in a temple and is well fed by the devotees, thanks to the love of Indian people towards Hanuman Ji,who incarnates as a monkey and helps lord Ram to defeat Raavan . The devotees therefore religiously feed these monkeys.

However,apart from the food they get at the temple,they are quite efficient thieves as well, terrorizing the people and vendors and snatching away food. The effect of economic slowdown takes a heavy toll on the amount of food provided to them and hence the troop resumes to thievery to feed their bellies. The group becomes too large and ultimately splits up into two.

This show brings awareness on the loss of natural habitat of many species due to cutting down of forests. These animals find themselves in an urban surrounding where their food pattern changes and so does their style of living. Hence,it is quite interesting to see the changes caused due to loss of forests. A mutual respect should be maintained between human beings and other species and if this respect is violated,both the species face trouble,which is well brought into the picture in this show.

The innocent thievery made by the monkeys is quite cute to watch. They fight with each other and with other gangs too. Sometimes they need to face the monkey catches too. Their life is full of struggles but they don't give up and strive to survive.