Yesterday I was out and about very early in the morning and instead of returning home decided to head into town for a nice breakfast. The day was a very auspicious one for weddings and most of the restaurants in Tiruvannamalai were inundated with large groups from wedding parties, having tiffin and coffee. My favoured and very excellent autorickshaw driver, Gandhiban, took me off the beaten track to a small, quiet restaurant were I was happily able to satisfy my cravings for pongal, masala dosa, vadai and coffee and a good read of the daily newspaper. Delicious - and well worth the drive into town. And also such a relief to eat undisturbed by my own six doggies at home, who are happiest when they eat food taken from my own plate.
I really liked the selection of photographs and religious icons displayed behind the cash register at the Hotel, excellent.
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So, after a delicious breakfast decided to stop off at the Animal Shelter on the way home to see how sweet Baby (the injured monkey) was getting on. To read more about the Animal Shelter, click on this previous posting about them. The first thing I noticed is how beautiful the shelter's garden looks - and what a perfect play paradise for all the resident doggies.
Dotted around the shelter, are lots of individual huts in which dogs can chill out and escape from all that alpha male posturing. The below photograph (home to the little fellow peeping out) looks positively inviting - something out of a desert island movie.
In the next photograph you can see Arunachala in the background peeping out over the foliage and trees.
And here is little Baby. Looking fantastic and like a total different monkey from the sad little tyke that was brought into the Shelter close to death just a few months previously. To see her photographs and read the story check this link.
Freddie her pal (who is checking out the keeper's pocket for snacks) was also rescued from a group of dogs, but fortunately was not seriously injured, and only sustained a relatively minor leg injury, which has now happily completely healed. Both Baby and Freddie are very young and separated from the respective family groups, so it might be quite sometime before they will be able to succeed independently in the 'real world'. So, for now their blue enclosure, each other's company, a place of safety and a time to grow strong and healthy. That seems like a very good thing for two special monkeys!
The last photograph is of Dr. Raju, one of the two vets at the Animal Shelter. To check out the website for the Arunachala Animal Sanctuary, click this link here.
