All Creatures Great & Small

Well, I’ve now got used to seeing the very bony buffalo, wandering around in the roads, seemingly unsupervised, together with a prolific number of stray dogs.  These aren’t the only animals to be seen all over the place, roaming freely & foraging for food – there are goats, chickens & pigs, all too often to be seen feeding from the piles of rubbish that are a common feature of India. However, I was somewhat disconcerted to find that I was sharing the guest sitting room with a large, green lizard.  He’s about 8” long &

appears regularly at night, quite high on the wall, usually watching me eating my supper.  If approached, he tends to run & hide in the metal casing on the wall behind the fluorescent light.  However, when he decided to pay me a visit in my bedroom & particularly to peer down at me from a position above my bed, my courage failed!  Ok, so I’m a wimp, when it comes to little creatures too close for comfort!  The girls thought it hysterically funny & were wiping away tears of laughter when he darted & I jumped three feet in the air.  They then decided to remove him for me, so that I could sleep in peace.  This involved using a long pole & trying to chase him out of the room, which took some time but afforded them great amusement.  There was a similar reaction when a mouse decided to investigate the office last week!

However, I wasn’t prepared for the other visitors to the orphanage – the monkeys, who, as you can see below, come along the walls & past my windows, (together with tiny squirrels). They also get up to all sorts of mischief in the neighbour’s garden below my balcony, as you can see!  I was extremely thrilled to see monkeys outside but my excitement was met with disappointing calm, as I was told that they are frequent visitors here & are even inquisitive enough to venture inside, if given a chance, & can be extremely destructive in the house!

I’ve now more than once mentioned the rubbish, that’s strewn everywhere in India, although not on the Aarti premises.  When I asked if there is any move to clear it from the streets etc, I was told by someone, who has also lived in England, that the recycling system is actually better than in the UK.  Puzzled, I was given further clarification & it was explained to me that rather than a landfill scheme, both animals & humans forage in the rubbish & every possible bit of waste is ‘recycled’, if at all possible.  For example, animals eat a lot & the plastics are collected & sold on to gain a few rupees from someone, who will melt it down etc.  Occasionally rubbish may be burned to get rid of some of it.  All this may avoid landfill but the health hazard is immense!  It’s one of the things I’ve found very upsetting here – to see animals & people, including children, picking over the rubbish.  From what I’ve seen, there is still a lot which remains & obviously cannot be sold on & what about protection & the health risks?!