At dawn, there was a thunder of paws, and then a barrage of rockets. My room was behind the church in a small house made of cement and corrugated iron, and it was often raided by monkeys. Whenever this happened, the girl would bang one of the big steel thaachchis from the kitchen, and then loose off a string of crackers. This would bring the langurs crashing back over the roof, and would set off the dogs and the frogs and everything else.
