CHENNAI: His name is Khushi Ram. Let’s introduce this baby primate by telling you for starters— nobody calls him ‘a monkey’. “Some people call him handsome, others say honey, but most of our female volunteers just call him darling,” says Dawn Williams, general manager of the Blue Cross of India, with a smile. Dawn who is known to be out on animal rescues at all hours of the day (and night) now makes it a point to return to his home on the same premises at the Blue Cross in Velachery, as early as possible to play big daddy to baby Khushi. “We’re keeping him here just until he finishes weaning,” he explains, as we watch the still almost bald-headed infant suck on his thumb. “And after that,” Dawn adds almost regretfully, “we’ll hand him over to the Vandalur Zoo.”
Barely 20 days old, Khushi (so named because he brings everyone khushi or happiness) was found in a dustbin at a residential area in the Tiruvallur district.
According to Blue Cross members, the newborn was discovered after a rescue call was made from an apartment building in the area. “Someone called in to tell us that a monkey was being bullied by a bunch of kids in the building who were throwing fireworks at it,” Dawn fills us in. But he goes on, “By the time, we arrived we were told that the monkey in her panic, had jumped on to a nearby transformer and got electrocuted.” According to witnesses at the scene, he finishes, “She was delivered of a baby just before she passed away.”
Thankfully for an orphaned Khushi, the story has a happy ending. “For now, he spends his days with attender Leelavathi at the BC aviary, and at night he curls up in his bed-basket sleeping near me with the AC on!” Dawn tells us. And he adds with parental concern, “Khushi can’t be left alone, whenever I try to leave the room, he darts forward toward me, climbs up and settles on my shoulder.” If all this isn’t cute enough already, the proud daddy adds that Khushi recently got his two front teeth. We’re not sure whether it’s because of the soya milk or all the mango milkshakes Khushi has been drinking. But hey, if only for a little while — this baby (monkey) will know what it’s like to feel what most of us take for granted every day. Home.