Tricolour hoisted by monkeys before chief guest at Pushkar

JAIPUR:Teachers and students in a school in Rajasthan’s Pushkar witnessed a bizarre flag-hoisting ceremony during Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday. Instead of the chief guest, who was supposed to preside over the ceremony, the tricolour was unfurled by two monkeys.

The incident happened a little after 8am on Tuesday at the Pragya Bal Niketan.

“We have around 300 students, who had gathered at the school compound for the flag hoisting ceremony.

The flag was supposed to be hoisted by our chief guest, who is the president of the trust that runs the school,” Suresh Vaishnav, the principal of the school, told the HT.

Vaishnav added the two monkeys appeared out of nowhere and started approaching the tricolour, which was yet to be hoisted. “Before we could do anything, one of the monkeys caught hold of the rope and hoisted the flag,” he said.

A video of the incident has gone viral , leaving netizens in splits.

The monkeys are seen hoisting the flag followed by a shower of flowers. In the background, the students can be heard clapping and laughing as the monkeys leave after hoisting the flag.

“For a moment, everyone, including teachers, students and the chief guest, were in shock. Following that, we had to set things up once again before the flag could be finally hoisted by the chief guest,” said Vaishnav. Pushkar, one of the oldest cities in India which is situated in the Ajmer district of Rajasthan, has a large monkey population.