A City Gone Ape

Arijit Barman May 28, 2001 00:00 IST A City Gone Ape -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

It's a giant monkey. It's half man-half monkey. It's a man in black with red eyes, brass claws, a helmet, with a springboard that helps him leap over buildings. It's a woman in an ape's disguise. It's a voodoo spell gone awry. Instead of a prince—in a sudden and strange Darwinian twist—the man has been morphed into a monkey, or even worse, a half-baked one. It is the ghastly spectre that hangs over Delhi.

The capital hasn't slept peacefully for a week as absolute paranoia has seized the dark colonies and narrow bylanes of east and north-east Delhi. The "assaults" of this semi-simian marauder on a scratching spree has triggered mass hysteria, now engulfing the entire metropolis. The "monkey man" creeping up on hapless victims of the low-income bracket in the dead of night is now the city's sole talking point. Everybody, everywhere, everyday, is confronting this miniature King Kong and frenziedly dialling 100.

Overzealous Shiv Sainiks have already dished out their usual isi conspiracy theory to explain this monkey business. More hi-tech Delhiites are mulling over...