Sanket Jain

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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<h2>Walking a
livelihood tightrope – literally</h2>

PARI volunteer Sanket Jain aims to traverse 300 villages across India and, among other stories, produce this feature: a photograph of a rural scene or event and a sketch of that photograph. This is the third in the series on PARI. Draw the slider either way to see the photo or sketch in full 

“I don’t know how to smile,” says 11-year-old Laxmi
Prasad, a street artist from Bargaon village in Chhattisgarh. Laxmi, whose
silhouette you see in the sketch and photograph, belongs to the Nat community,
a Dalit group known for their skilled trapeze artists. These entertainers walk
on a rope tied between two poles carrying a large balancing wooden staff in their
hands. The rope, typically 25 to 30 feet in length, is at least 8 to10 feet
above the ground.  Artists as young as
eight years of age perform across villages and towns in different states, migrating
large distances to make ends meet. Laxmi’s family   left their
village in Pamgarh block of Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district to perform well
over 1,000 kilometres away, across Kolhapur and Sangli districts of
Maharashtra. This photograph of her was taken on the outskirts of Ichalkaranji
in Kolhapur.                        

She doesn’t have much to smile about. Her art form,
which once entertained people across villages and towns, is in decline. The
reason: competition from other types of entertainment, and a younger generation
wanting to explore different livelihoods. 

Laxmi must perform her risky routine at least six
times a day, each set ranging from 45 to 60 minutes. The modest income, which
depends on the mercy of the spectators, makes her sad. “Even after risking my
life,” she says, “I have to beg for money. People give us between one and 10 rupees
– which comes to less than Rs. 400 daily.” 

Her father, Bhagvat Prasad, 36, reckons that
less than 20 artists still practice these trapeze skills in Bargaon, a village of
around 2,300 people. “Earlier, there was at least one Nat artist in each
household. Today, nobody pays for this art in the village and so we migrate
over a 1,000 kilometres to Maharashtra every year.”

Walking a livelihood tightrope – literally

ରଶି ଉପରେ ପାଦରେ ଚାଲି ଜୀବିକା ଅର୍ଜନ

रस्सियों पर चलके पेट पालना

رسیوں پر چل کر پیٹ پالنا

Ichalkaranji

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Walking a livelihood tightrope – literally

PARI volunteer Sanket Jain aims to traverse 300 villages across India and, among other stories, produce this feature: a photograph of a rural scene or event and a sketch of that photograph. This is the third in the series on PARI. Draw the slider either way to see the photo or sketch in full

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