In Old Dhaka's Gendaria, Shankharibazar, Laxmibazar, Bangshal, Narinda and Wari, troops of monkeys have lived alongside people for generations. As the city has grown and trees and natural shelter have shrunk, they have come to depend more and more on people for food and a place to stay. Prothom Alo photographer Dipu Malakar followed them through a day.
The trees of a graveyard on Din Nath Sen Road in Gendaria, and a crumbling old building beside it, are now their safest refuge. A little away from the noise of the streets, the troop rests on the building's ledges and moves through the rooms along the graveyard wall.
The city corporation once fed the monkeys. That has stopped, and they now live on what local residents and passers-by give them. One picture shows a monkey eating a cucumber on a branch; another shows a man on Din Nath Sen Road buying cucumbers for them.
Inside the graveyard, several monkeys sit waiting to be fed, and the troop roams the neighbourhood looking for food. A mother sits with her infant on top of a lamp post, and a monkey on a branch teases a street dog below.
The troops show that wild animals can survive in one of the world's densest cities, but only as long as old trees, open corners and the patience of the people around them last.
Photos: Dipu Malakar, Prothom Alo
Photo: A S M Jobaer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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