Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No it's Monkey Man!

Saturday, May. 19, 2001 Hysteria has taken over the Indian capital. In the low-income, eastern districts of New Delhi, some two million people are living in fear of attack from a Monkey Man -- as he has been crowned by an excited local press -- said to swoop from rooftop to rooftop biting and scratching his victims seeking relief outside from the brutal summer heat.

Three people have died, including a pregnant woman who fell down a stairway as she fled from her home in panic. The others jumped from roofs. A bounty of $1,100 has been put on the beast's head. Police numbers also have been tripled and city officials are demanding that the government send in elite commandos to track down the monster. But no one in authority -- not anyone -- has dared say it could be a fantasy and that the dreaded Monkey Man might not exist.

No one, that is, except for the India Rationalist Association, whose Secretary General, Sanal Edamaruku, says it's a case of mass delusion. "When wild fears are at a pathological level, critical faculties disappear and gullibility gains control," he says. It is no coincidence that a series on the exploits of the monkey-god Hanuman, showing this popular Hindu deity bounding great distances and carrying out extraordinary feats, is currently being screened on TV. "People in India often find it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality," says Edamaruku.

The Monkey Man is said to take many forms: robotic; half-monkey; half-human; a computer screen for a stomach; flashing lights for eyes; a dark shadow; wears an iron mask; has iron claws; has coil springs on its feet. According to police few people have actually encountered the monster. Most "eyewitness" accounts are second and third-hand. And those who say they have been attacked remember only "a dark shadow" just over a meter long. Their injuries are scratches, possibly self-inflicted during sleep, and light bruising.

If you're looking for an answer to this phenomenon, just consider that many of India's 300 million gods take the form of animals, birds and demons. The supernatural in this country is ordinary; it's to be expected. In 1995 a similar hysteria enveloped most of India when there were reports from around the country that images of the elephant-headed god Ganesh were drinking milk. Also last decade there were mass lynchings of unsuspecting travelers in Uttar Pradesh province who were believed to be eating children. The child deaths were later pinpointed to a pack of wolves.

There are no wolves in Delhi but there are hundreds of monkeys. And the center of power -- India's monumental Secretariat building which houses the country's chief ministries including the Prime Minister's office -- is a target. Packs of rhesus monkeys swarm over the building and have occupied parts of it for more than a year. No one is prepared to cull them because of their religious association. Instead Langurs, a much larger species, have been let loose to chase them away.

Langurs, which have darker hair and move quickly, are not common to Delhi. But perhaps the Monkey Man is a bored Langur that has gone walkabout to the city's eastern districts looking for fun. Who knows? It's anybody's guess. If there's a monkey involved Indians are usually believers.