HS3012-URBANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT

TERM PAPER (INDIVIDUAL)

ABSTRACT
Urbanisation is the hot topic today for assessing a city or town on a global
platform. Urbanised areas are known to be developing at a pace that is faster and more
unique than that of most others. In such places, where life is fast-paced and the society
is apparently treading more on the 'rational' path, there could sometimes be scope for
irrationality in thought, to creep in and this is the purpose of an urban legend. The
term paper would mainly deal with how such stories are 'brewed' and how the society
welcomes such stories to feed on the thoughts of people, how they are developed and
how time, verbal connect and media platforms could distort them(general impact on
social psychology), thus bringing a sense of backwardness and irrationality in thought
and speech, where even those with the urban influence could tend to make little sense,
as they begin to believe well-woven tales originally framed for supposed
entertainment. The introduction will deal with the basic definition of an urban legend,
its deviation from the truth and various theories based on sociology and psychology.
This will be followed by the urban legend of the Monkey Man specific to the movie
Delhi 6 and analysis of them based on newspaper articles and scenes from the films
themselves.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 DEFINING THE HALLMARKS OF AN URBAN LEGEND
1.2 SOCIAL THEORY AND URBAN LEGENDS
1.3 RUMOUR THEORY
2. ANALYSING THE CASE OF THE MONKEY MAN (An insight into the topic
through the movie, Delhi-6 and articles based on the Monkey Man of Delhi)
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1 DEFINING THE HALLMARKS OF AN URBAN LEGEND
During the course of conversation or while even browsing through one’s inbox of mails or
even online news, it is commonplace to come across articles of intriguing tales of woe or fear,
politically controversial narratives or even corporate misdeeds with details that might excite,
or sometimes even incite the target audience. While often containing just a shred of truth, or
perhaps none, they are generally accepted as factual and enjoy rapid dissemination. Having
relied upon word-of-mouth in the past, in today’s electronic age there are varied methods of
instant communication, enabling a wider audience to be reached. Now when comparing this
to the Merriam-Webster’s definition of an urban legend as, ‘an often, lurid story or anecdote
that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true’, the above lines fit like a garment.
Most urban legends lack credibility, beginning with a vague third person reference in
conversations and narrations and although looked at with scepticism, they are most often
passed on from person to person and seem to very well endure the test of time and reason.
Now the main idea would be to understand the more intricate reasons as to why such
frivolous theories perpetuate through the realms of society for the longest time and see what
role they play in making people believe and spread them.
When breaking down the components of any tell-tale, one notices some common and
repetitive signs such as the constant insistence on the truth of the story, an attribution to
someone who might seem close enough to the person hearing the tale, but still not too close
as to go about an instant fact-check with them(quite simply putting this across as third person
reference) and in some specific cases, the themes possess a certain uncanny relation to one’s
personal prejudices or to beliefs and mythological folklore from the past which narrate stories
of good versus evil, exacting revenge, greed, desire, fear or even hope. If we look at the
constant insistence on the truth part of it, this is evident from how any of these stories start
off as, “You wouldn’t believe this, but you have to…”, “This is based on true incidents…”
etc. thus persuading the listener to give in to them. When looking at the third person
reference, all urban legends will often start off as having been heard from an unidentified
friend of a friend, from a police officer, or “on the news.” The exact source may not be
named; rarely is the legend passed on from the first person account. Nevertheless, this vague
source does not seem to matter because “a friend” would not lie. Followed by the anonymous
but reliable source are the additional details that lend credence and make the story relevant to
the audience. These details include such information as a specific street name, town, business
or school name, and even the name of a news source. The details could also sometimes be
unnecessarily and exceedingly morbid or might possess certain details to build on to generate
a startling theory or even yet another story. In the evolution of a legend, local rumours are
often woven in to lend additional detail to the narrative.
In order to observe the impact of urban legends on humans, it would require us to delve
into these additional details. It could perhaps be the very reason, many a time, why an urban
legend can even sustain the test of time and break all barriers of possible irrationality in order
to perpetuate through society and have a long-standing period, before all possible fact-checks
come to shatter the impact of it, or (who knows) perhaps start a fresh new legend from them!
 1.2 SOCIAL THEORY AND URBAN LEGENDS
This section looks at the additional details (which are the icing on the cake as far as urban
legends are concerned) to analyze social thought and realize how these intricate citing hold
the interest of people.
Our typical urban society is marked by development and the presence of the ‘civil society’,
encompassing those who are well informed and possess a mind of their own to question any
kind of drawback and constructively criticize every move towards further development.
There is also an equal number that is not involved in active developmental participation but is
more from ‘the old school’ and steeped in belief systems that often may not concur with the
evolving world and also a bit unaccepting of the ways of the present society.
It is always the showcase of strong emotions of fear, anxiety of the unknown or a sense
of hatred and bias, coloured opinions, blind faith and preconceived notions that drive people
to believe stories they otherwise wouldn’t, if they had thought with a less muddled up mind.
It is when humans possess strong emotions that they tend to lack a keen eye for detail and
settle for a more irrational thought process. The birth and dissemination of urban legends
stems from those particular weak moments in a society which ought to jeopardize the flow
with which things go on. If we look at the news media which also plays a major role in being
a part of the civil society, we do realize that sometimes they do waiver and fall prey to
resorting to petty methods to solve problems within their agencies such as perhaps building
the TRP and views and hence, constrict their view to just a matter of monetary gains. Or say,
if it be a local daily that seems to be having a bearish trend in the news market, they might try
to rectify the problem by simply adding another column in the paper, which they feel might
give the audience some reason to choose their news over many others. In such cases, the
news media makes the mistake of coming up with highly sensational news which might lack
complete credibility or amplify the effect of an ‘already circulating’ urban legend among the
crowd, by discussing and building on the narrative with unhindered detailing. They tend to
make the situation sound megalomaniac, in the simple hope of getting more audience and
greater views, as they aren’t looking beyond that. But in doing so, they do not realize the
effect it has on the people. If the narrative is meant to create fear in the minds of people, this
fear is trebled because no one would believe that a news channel would utter a lie or rake up
an issue of least concern.
In the instance of a corporate misdeed involving, say a major company that rules the
global market, the effect of what was otherwise a harmless story, just to pass time, could
change the fate of that company overnight. Global companies are the indicators of urban
spaces nowadays and their reliability matters a great deal to anyone who is investing in their
products. Thus even the smallest rumour that surfaces about their lack of quality (maybe
sometimes a harmless, fake story told to pass time) can prove to be fatal for their market
value and image.
It would be best to take an example of theories that arose from an actual incident to
understand the effect of the type of narrative on social ideology, especially in a place where
people are well informed and quick to catch the intricate details and draw their own unique
inferences. Let us take the issue of the Covid-19, which took the world by storm in the year
2020. The virus found its origin in the leading Wuhan Institute of Virology lab with the first
few cases starting in the city of Wuhan and then spreading to the rest of the world. Now,
when the pandemic was in its infancy, leading American physician-scientist and
immunologist, Anthony Stephen Fauci (who served as the director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to the president from 2021 to
2022) warned people of the gravity of the situation so they could take efficient steps towards
localizing the infection. However, no one took things seriously initially but the help he
extended to society especially backfired due to two very morbid theories that spread
throughout the world like wildfire, creating panic among all as to what the truth behind the
pandemic was.
Theory 1: China had started a type of bio war by forcefully creating the virus in Wuhan.
Theory 2: Fauci, as the Director of National Institute of Health, was directly involved in
funding the genetic engineering and culturing of the virus in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,
because the only reason he could have known what precautions to take against this pandemic
prior to its complete takeover, would be if he was in the frontline of research conducted to
create and analyze this new pathogen. (https://www.wionews.com/world/explained-anthony-
fauci-and-the-wuhan-virus-controversy-509578)
The first theory was quick to catch, owing to the basic details of the virus having been
discovered first in Wuhan’s laboratory and the first few cases to have been reported from
Wuhan alone. Moreover, a not very popular, but personally my opinion about the origins of
Theory 1, is that often, Indian cinema and news and maybe even other countries, show the
Chinese in not very good light. Some their own Chinese cinema has some very weird and
bizarre science fiction storylines, thus making it seem to the world, that China, as a country,
is upto questionable things. One can’t also avoid the fact that, the USA and China have
always been the superpowers of the world at constant loggerheads, and this has amplified
during President Trump’s tenure. The timeline of his tenure coincided with the start of the
virus. Now, if these details had never been provided to anyone and if the origins of the virus
were kept away from the public, this theory would not have arisen in the first place.
These two theories circulate among people and news channels even till date and wait to be
debunked, even after the leading scientist has resigned from his post as Director. The
probable reason for the second theory to have taken birth is that people were aware of his
earlier work in his 38 glorious years of serving the government. Fauci had been targeted
earlier in his HIV/AIDS research for not having included ACT UP members in the discussion
and research to do with the deadly disease, thus making it look like he was up to something
questionable in the name of learning about the sexually transmitted disease. Hence, well-read
people who knew that piece of information instantly linked it to the recent news. Many also
believe that in trying to come up with solutions, Fauci had revealed too much to the public
and created panic, thus ruffling the then President, Donald Trump’s feathers, so the
circulation of the theory could have been conducted by a Republican insider in order to
sabotage his career. News channels across the world came to conclusions and so did the
people and he was framed for no reason. This theory had far reaching effects such as death
threats given to the scientist (which were very easy to do, owing to his highly public career).
Referring to the recent interview with Anthony Fauci on Science Insider about him becoming
the devil during the pandemic (link in bibliography), he mentions, “The far radical right was
angry, and when people are angry, they need to channel their anger, otherwise it fizzles out.
You have to have a devil.” This sentence clearly states how people’s perspective about
someone or something makes them create theories owing to their bias.
This shows that people in urbanized areas have very organic minds which settle for the
most minute details in any narrative and come out with tell-tales of their own, based on mere
assumptions and prejudices.
However, the above was an example of how people who have completely adopted the
urban in them, respond to tell-tales and urban legends. When we next look at the other faction
of an urban society, it is hard to avoid the fact that illiterate people from the subaltern spaces
and those from the old school also play a part in creating speculation about a tell-tale. If
prejudices and an unnecessarily keen eye for detail is the reason for the completely urban to
believe a tell tale, then for those from the other faction, it is blind faith, tradition, casteist
views and religious prejudices and a general notion that any change for the better is foreign to
them and they perceive it as a social evil. In other words, it is important to realise that a tell
tale implies various things to people of different factions of the society. These are the reasons
for it to live on in society despite there being little truth in it.
All these aspects make today’s urban legends almost immortal, thus bringing in a
popular comparison between them and traditional folklore, which too are known to exist in
the social setup for an infinitely long period. The next topic discusses if the comparison is
completely possible and links it to the theory of rumours.
 1.3 RUMOUR THEORY
An important area in the study of urban legends in recent years has been in trying to find
the connection between modern urban legends and folklores either from the past or which are
modern themselves. Researchers wanted to establish whether urban legends were the modern
version of traditional folklore which carried tales of local beliefs or mythology. If one looks
up the definition of folklore from the Merriam-Webster’s, they can be best defined
as, ‘traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people’. When
compared to the definition of urban legends mentioned previously, the basic difference that
was discovered was that the origin, structure and function of folklores has been well
established by folkloristic legend study whereas this has never been possible while studying
urban legends.
This connects urban legends to the theory of rumours. Referring to the journal article put
forth by Patrick B. Mullen on Modern Legend and Rumour Theory, ‘Although the terms
urban legend and urban belief theory are widely used today, they are somewhat misleading.
Certain modern industrial countries are urban-oriented even in the most rural areas, but some
legends are distinctly tied to an urban environment while others are generally associated with
any area.
So, basically study states that an urban legend is a modernized version of folklore as it
contains non-traditional elements to it, which are more in tandem with the current affairs and
people’s opinions. They stem more from rumours that one hears every now and then while
engaging in conversations with others. Linking them to traditional folklore and stating that
they are the modern folklore might not always be the best way to describe them simply
because, legends are a viable form of folklore, continually changing and adapting themselves
to newer social contexts. There is a solid belief system engrained in all traditional folklore
and that is never subject to questioning by anyone. It is meant to be believed and is passed
down to future generations. However, legends were and will always remain the companion of
man and necessarily adjust to social change through the ages, thus making them flexible
enough to cater to the needs of people living in a highly civilized industrial society.
Moreover, they hardly get the ‘belief’ angle to them, unless someone from the old school, as
mentioned earlier, tries to get the inner meaning to the mere superficial legend and link a
simple integration of various rumours to something traditional.
2. ANALYSING THE CASE OF THE MONKEY MAN (An insight into the topic through
the movie, Delhi-6 and articles based on the Monkey Man of Delhi)
2.1 WHAT THE REAL CASE WAS ALL ABOUT
In the year 2001, the National Capital was gripped in fear as a strange creature began
attacking people in the eastern subaltern neighbourhoods. The creature was said to scratch
innocent ones while they peacefully slept on their terraces owing to the summer heat and
frequent power cuts which forced them out of the confines of their homes. This was not a
cause for concern for everyone though, as the stories seemed to stem only from the subaltern
regions of Delhi and no cases were reported, for instance, about anyone who was walking on
a lonely road at night. This proved that it was a localized issue.
However, the problem with this creature was that its origin wasn’t known to anyone, and
its basic appearance would undergo continuous mutations because truth was that, no one had
caught a clear glimpse of it, despite the large number of reports of it having attacked them,
thus the problem has earned the name of urban legend. The Sarai Reader mentions in its
article, The Strange Case of the Monkey Man that, “The creature was variously described as a
“half-monkey, half-man”, “a strange creature with a machine-like body with glowing lights”
and in some cases, a “man with a mask””. A deeper analysis of these descriptions would
prove to some extent that people were truly not sure of their own allegations of such attacks,
hence the best way to show the anonymity of the Monkey Man would be to describe him in
such a way, that his exact features are left to the other person’s imagination. This would be as
far as his description is concerned.
Coming to the origin of the Monkey Man, the Sarai Reader mentions that there were
many reports of a creature coming and scratching people who took refuge at night on their
terraces in the summer months. However, the first prominent and uncanny report was of a
human-sized dark, shadow-like being attacking someone brutally in the stomach. Moreover,
his injuries seemed to correspond to his narration, eradicating any sort of doubt. This
particular incident created panic among everyone as the true intentions of this creature were
unknown. This became the first report in this case and after this, several other incidents were
in tandem with it. However, it was unfortunate that, after almost a month of investigation and
having to deal with various reports regarding the same issue, the police were in for a rude
shock that the very first victim had literally ‘misused’ the name of the Monkey Man and had
actually had a violent fight with his sibling, the injuries of which he wanted to cover up to
prevent himself from getting apprehended and had hence used the earlier ‘terrace attack
related issues’ to his advantage. But the surprising fact despite all this was that, it didn’t cause
a closure of the case. The reason for this was that a little girl’s father too got attacked in
Ghaziabad (God forbid, he too wasn’t lying to cover up something for himself) and he
confirmed the features of the attacker as ‘being a monkey, but with black hair’ thus further
adding to the narrative. Analysing these angles given to the case of the Monkey Man prove
that the urban legend had influenced people so much, despite not being verified completely,
that its dissemination as well as the variations that took place in the original narrative, all
happened consecutively and the narrative chose to live on even as the very first case was
eventually debunked. This amply proves the relationship urban legends have with the rumour
theory earlier discussed.
 Eventually, the Monkey Man was reported to have turned into a cyborg which was
electronically driven and people were suggesting that using water to one’s advantage might
be a way to save oneself from impending attack. Besides, the Shiv Sena came up with its
extremely prejudiced views and claimed that the creature must be of Pakistani origin as the
ISI was known to have sent 131 monkeys across the border to create mayhem in the country.
This signifies the variations that an urban legend goes through and also shows how a
person’s or groups beliefs and prejudices can change the course of things.
Finally, with police being torn between rumours and facts, a conclusion was drawn to
bring closure to the matter. Social scientists came up with the analysis that the Monkey Man
was a figment of the imagination of the people residing in the subaltern neighbourhoods or
Delhi. The activities of this creature were limited to the lower and lower-middle-class
neighbourhoods indicates its close link with a subaltern imagination and existence.

2.2 THE MOVIE DELHI 6

A) THE BACKDROP AND SOCIAL SETUP SHOWN IN THE MOVIE
The name of the movie refers to the pincode of the city of Delhi, 110006, which is a part
of Old Delhi around Chandni Chowk. It is a typical subaltern region with closely packed
homes and commercial buildings and congested narrow lanes. At the very outset, when the
main character (who is an American Indian by birth) sees the streets of Old Delhi flooded
with people and describes the place as, ‘teeming with life and there being a constant buzz,
with everything happening at the same time, yet there being a perfect balance.’ The imagery
at the beginning is rich and imperative of the culture. There is symbolism too, as in the scene
just after the description by the main character, we are shown the railings, domes and
skywalk of the local mosque stretching across the road, but what our ears perceive are the
loud temple bells. This is the perfect way to describe the religious balance and the harmony
with which people with different Gods, beliefs and traditions could coexist peacefully.
The society is well-knit with strong human ties, irrespective of the background. However,
despite the balance, there are the usual lacunae which are present in any subaltern space with
low literacy rates. Harmony between different religions may exist, but this is not to be
misunderstood for secularism. This is evident from the fact that the entire locality and even
the family of the protagonist’s Hindu father had shunned his marriage to a Muslim woman,
the very reason for which the protagonist hadn’t grown up where he actually belonged.
Casteism within the Hindu religious setup is evident. One of the supporting actors plays
the role of a sweeper who belongs to a lower caste. One can see as the film unfolds, that she
is treated as an untouchable and not given any respect. In a scene where she offers flowers
from her side, to be given for a ‘havan’ or religious ceremony, she is shunned by saying that
if a person were to accept her offerings, they would be damned. Also, the protagonist,
unaware of the social setup, once helps her with picking up the garbage bag as he sees her
struggling. The scene cuts next to his grandmother smearing soil on hands for having touched
an untouchable. The local police objectify the woman and apparently use her to satisfy their
sexual favours and make use of offensive terminology while referring to her.
 Patriarchy is also prevalent in this place. Women from the upper caste households have
their freedom curtailed. We see the female lead is a young and carefree girl who wishes to
pursue her dreams of relocating to Mumbai to take up a career in the arts. The way she sets
out of her home is diametrically opposite to the way she is when out on the streets of Delhi.
However, the photographer who is shown to be her support system and promises to help
launch her, is actually a guy who is low on morals and is into objectifying women. As soon as
her family gets to know of her plans, they don’t have any second thoughts and decide to get
her married.
Last but not the least, illiteracy is highly prevalent and logic and basic knowledge is
overrun by a blind belief system. This is evident from the scene where the protagonist’s
grandmother collapses due to low blood sugar levels, but on their way to the hospital, they
are forced to stop in the middle of the road as a cow is giving birth to a calf and a priest is
performing rituals on the cow. Things become all the more insane when the grandmother,
even in her stupor, goes up to the cow to take her blessings.

B) THE CASE OF THE MONKEY MAN THROUGH THE LENS OF THE FILM
The movie is highly reflective of the urban legend and gives a very impactful message to the
audience at the end, thus ending any speculation about the Monkey Man on an optimistic
note.
This is the scene from the Delhi Airport where the news from the local news channel IBN 7,
seems to be blowing the case
of the Monkey Man out of
proportion, through even
their usage of words, thus
making something of least
significance sound very
problematic, just for views
and so that they can keep this
as the main topic of
discussion for quite a few
days, till the enthusiasm dies out and they’ll have to look for a new story. This amply proves
the way media covers news pertaining to any type of silly topic, despite the weightage of its
role in the civil society.
Different variations arise in the
description of the Monkey Man as
prove that the fear works on the
minds of the people to the extent
that the reimagine the story for
themselves and come up with newer
theories.
Another tactic could be that, as the
importance given to this topic begins to wane, some people create a variation just so that the
topic becomes fresh yet again.

One of the children uses his knowledge

from his textbooks as he has learned
about water causing a short circuit, so he
suggests pouring water on the Monkey
Man’s motherboard as a means to save
oneself from impending attack. This
proves how the literate people of the
society react to a legend like this. They are convinced about its truth, that they look at ways to
solve a non-existent problem.
A hilarious scene from the movie
where the kids are upto their usual
antics and are trying their hand at
driving, but once they notice the
policeman in their way, they duck to
avoid being noticed. The protagonist
realizes this later and now, it is his
turn to use the Monkey Man tale to his
advantage, so he lies saying that the monkey man could be invisible and he was the one at the
wheel so he can saves the kids from being apprehended.
The public servants and experts
on the topic give an even brighter
idea to hand over responsibility
to the Animal Ministry, instead
of simply asking the case to be
closed. Society indulging in
useless activity that is
detrimental to policy making by
trying to hand over a trivial
matter to a body that has greater aspects to focus on.
The useless issue is the main topic of
discussion throughout Delhi, so much
that it creates fear psychosis and freak
accidents that don’t directly involve the ‘supposed’ Monkey Man but are born from acute fear
and anxiety.

Last but not the least, a godman who promises to resolve the issue only creates tension
between the Hindus and the
Muslims, as he randomly
communicates with the air and
concludes that the Monkey Man
has been attacking as it is a
vengeful being that wants to
exact revenge as nearly 3000
years before, a temple was
demolished and a mosque was
built at the same spot. The
godman uses his personal prejudices to creep into the narrative thus bringing about major
riots in the locality.
Through the movie, one can literally see that the same balance and harmony that the
protagonist had spoken of at the outset, are shaken and cannot bear the test of time as an
urban legend engulfs the place. However, the urban legend lived on, despite the growing
irrationality in its every detail, thus successfully bearing the twin test of time and reason.
In such cases, the blind belief in an urban legend is enough to bring the downfall of society,
as one realizes that everyone deals with their own subdued bias, which is forced to be
unleashed in times such as these. For instance, it is evident in one of the scenes towards the
end, that no one really accepted the protagonist whole-heartedly, as part of the locality, from
the very beginning as firstly, he was a product of a Hindu-Muslim marriage and secondly, he
was not a complete Indian. This contempt towards him resurfaces in the heat of the religious
riots and he is unfairly thrown out of the temple and not allowed to enter as these reasons are
mentioned to him.

The above scene is the ending of the movie. It is highly symbolic of the end of all
speculation regarding the urban legend. The story has run its course of time and especially
because of the morbid turn of events, people on a more philosophical note, realize that no
monkey man exists in reality but there is dark side to human nature which harbours the worst
fears and prejudices and this is what is the actual Monkey Man. Thus, the throwing of the
mask into the fire, along with the annual Dussehra celebration in the locality signifies the end
of all bad time.
The movie perfectly covers every minute detail that is characteristic of the course an urban
legend takes in society, from starting with news reports, to rapid dissemination to variations
in the narrative to the thoughts of the people. It sends out a message to everyone to look
within themselves and introspect, and also mentions that unleashing one’s darkest side full of
fears and prejudices can lead to the society becoming dystopian. If we can set aside all our
negatives and lead a life devoid of complexities, then it is possible to maintain the balance in
the society even in the wake of a false alarm such as an urban tale, that is meant to disrupt the
peace.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. https://www.science.org/content/article/anthony-fauci-becoming-devil-and-warning-his-
successor
2. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3814160

3. https://archive.sarai.net/files/original/9db200b1072c5a230a6882d14d43d259.pdf

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVaSnRY5yrk – URL link for the full movie

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my professor, Solomon Benjamin and his
teaching assistants, Lalitha, Gowri and Amruthraj for having encouraged me to come up with
a term paper on this topic and also helped me build on the content by suggesting useful
references for the paperwork.