He takes the innate goodness of people for granted and does not even stop to think why is he being given a lift. He merely lifts the 10-litre water can and gets into the vehicle and immediately breaks into a conversation in a most cheerful fashion. Thanks to the lift, he has saved Rs 40 and he will be able to buy some cucumbers for the monkeys whom he has been feeding for quite some time now. Since it is the peak of summer, he takes two cans of water every day twice to quench their thirst.
Whagmare Laxman stays in a small little makeshift house with an asbestos roof with his wife Anusuya Bai, in Kerameri village, Telangana. His three sons and six daughters have been married off. He has two acres of land on which he grows pigeon pea and cotton. Laxman was a daily-wage labourer and used to sell vegetables, too. He managed to marry off his children and also saved Rs 50,000. "But now there is only Rs 3,000 left in the account and I am wondering what I will do after that. But since I know that god has sent me, I will continue to do it as long as I live," he continues chatting.
Once Laxman was travelling by a bike and returning from Jainoor when suddenly he spotted a monkey lying in the middle of the road. He got off the bike and gave it some water. It woke up and moved away. "Tab se main soch raha hoon ki bhagwan ne mujhe dhoot banake bheja hai (Since then, I consider myself an emissary of god)," says Laxman. He claims it has been 15 months since god made him aware of the hardships of the animals.
A devotee of Lord Ram, Laxman sports a huge red bindi and proudly says, "I am a Ram bhakt, Hanuman bhakt." Apparently, he has travelled to Pandharpur, Ayodhya, Mathura, Gokulam and Varanasi.
Laxman carries two water cans each at 11am and at 4pm. If he gets a bus, he has to pay only Rs 10 as the drivers let him carry the water cans free of cost. If he takes an auto then he has to pay for the water cans, too, and ends up spending Rs 80 for the day. The place where the monkeys gather is on a hillock about 8km from the plains; it is on a hairpin bend. It is a natural collection of stones, with crevices where the monkeys can take shelter from the sweltering heat. Though surrounded by trees most times of the year, the summer takes a toll on the trees, leaving them dry, and the monkeys without a shade.
Nobody offers the wild monkeys anything to eat. In fact, there are some who even pelt them with stones and hoot at them. Laxman has bought some large plastic cans and a few mud pots which he has kept in strategic places at heights so the monkeys can find them.
He spends from his own pocket and says his earnings as a daily-wage labourer is enough to arrange some jonna roti (jowar roti) and dal (lentils) for him and his wife. While he has now gotten busy with fetching water twice a day, the two now depend entirely on his wife's wages—Rs 40 a day. But, apparently, she does not complain, and even suggests he must buy cucumber for the simians.
He has been doing so for the past few months, but once in a while when he is short of funds and is unable to buy it, the monkeys complain and tear his clothes, he says, showing his torn dhoti. "My daughters give me money once in a while to feed the monkeys but my sons have never offered me even a penny," he complains.
He does not get a pension because, according to official records, he is 55, though he claims he is 60, if not more. But the mandal revenue officer has assured him that he will get his pension soon. Since the travelling expense sometimes becomes unbearable for him, he approached the sarpanch for compensation or a free ride on the bus. "Who asked you to do social work? Now bear the expenses on your own," came the reply from the sarpanch. Having said that, the forest officials are nice to him and give him a lift when they go up hill.
Laxman, of course, is a bit disappointed but says that he is praying to god that before he dies, they find another person who can continue with what he has started.
The monkeys, meanwhile, seem quite happy, chattering away and drinking the water brought to them by some strange man and who visits them twice in a day.
