Of Art and Artists ¦ Streets of Pushkar – Part 2

It was both amazing and disheartening to look at children performing at the mela. Amazing, because the physical feats these kids can achieve are simply brilliant, disheartening because it just seemed unfair to put them through the kind of training it would need to be able to do this.

Since I don’t really know the background and their living conditions, I can’t really comment. But it did get me thinking about lack of education, lack of nutrition & healthcare and rigorous training schedules (and possibly harsh discipline) needed to be able to do this.

Then again, in absence of education facilities in a large number of places, what do children do? Should they be left on the streets to pick up gambling, drugs or other such things. Or should they rather be put into the family trade?