Nayagarh: Even as the death-defying acrobatic tightrope walking stunts on a rope by minor girls attract huge spectators, the game is full of risk.
The game is commonly known as ‘Baunsarani Khela’ or the Tightrope walk. It is the skill of maintaining balance while walking along a tensioned wire between two points. Infant girls can be seen not only walking on the tightrope but also performing dangerous stunts by balancing earthen pots over their head and riding a bicycle wheel on the rope.
At the age of going to school, the minor girls are forced to perform various stunts on a rope at a height of about 20 feet. Their parents can be seen beating drums and performing tricks to attract crowd.
The girls perform bare foot and sometimes even on a cycle rim. Although the death defying stunts attract crowd and skip the heartbeat of spectators, it involves risk for the girls.
At the end of the game, the family collects money using a plate given by spectators. They then pack and shift to a different place to put up the show.
“The government is rolling out so many schemes and programme for the poor section of our society. But the benefits are still elusive to many of them,” observed a spectator.
Echoing him, another spectator said, “It is pathetic to get people entertained at the cost of someone’s life. Many times, the girls fall and break their limbs and get crippled.”
When asked as to why they opt for such a risky game, the male member of the family, hail from a neighbouring state, answered “we do put our children’s lives at risk to keep the pot boiling” and left the place with quick steps so that another show could be put up before the day ends.
PNN
