Monkey rains money from Shimla rooftop

Shimla:It was a chilly snowy morning and then a monkey created a stir in downtown Shimla’s crowded lower bazaar.

On Wednesday a lone monkey began raining currency notes, of Rs 100 and Rs 500 and passers by on the narrow street below began quietly gathering them and continued to walk past happily .

Although it isn’t clear from where and how the monkey got hold of a bundle of notes and playfully showered them down the sliding roof playfully. He even tore some in boredom said onlookers .

Somebody informed the local police but by the time the khaki men reached the spot the monkey was gone and the last of the currency notes on the street below was being picked up .

It isn’t clear how much money came down as rain , but local newspapers reported around Rs 100,000 (Rs one lakh) must have been scattered down the roof flying down like children’s paper aeroplanes .

Surprisingly nobody reported the loss of money . Perhaps shopkeepers in they rickety shops below must have stacked some black money instead of keeping it in the bank which landed into the hands of the thieve monkey .

Several shopkeepers and residents confirmed the monkey showering notes .

“People seemed so absorbed collecting the notes and carrying on and it did not occur to anybody to photograph the monkey playfully flying down the currency notes,” said Manu Puri an eye witness .

Shimla has always been known for its marauding monkey who roam the hill station and often get into homes in search of food, they charge and attack locals and tourists as well .

The highest point on a hilltop in Shimla has a famous temple of Hanuman(monkey god) which is a popular with tourists. At the edge of this stands the highest statue of Hanuman at 108 feet weighing over 1200 tonnes.

Rudyard Kipling stayed for many years in Shimla and wrote about the ‘blunder log’ of the hill station.