Allahabad: The calm with which young Bijli walks on a bamboo shaft fastened between four poles contrasts the candour one usually associates with a six-year-old. The young girl seems unperturbed by the nip in the air or the faces in awe. She can’t afford to be distracted, life for her family and her is like walking on a tightrope, quite literally.While visiting the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, it is not difficult to spot rope walkers attracting people with their performances. The food they get on their plates depends on how impressed and generous the crowd of onlookers feels.As awed patron keep clicking pictures, Bijli’s mother Anita goes around collecting money from the group of onlookers at Parade Ground of the Kumbh-2019 venue.Anita said, “Subah se leke raat tak isi kaam karte hai. Apna khana leke chalte hai. (We work all day and travel with our food.” Most of them do not have any time to take a dip in Sangam, an attraction which has been luring thousands of devotees to the Kumbh Mela. “Yahan Ganga me nahane ka time kahan hai. Jahan nal hai wahi sare kaam ho jate hain. (Where is the time to take a dip in Ganga. We bathe wherever there is a tap,” said 15-year-old Rani, who is busy collecting money from onlookers while her younger sister Radha performs.All of five years of age, Radha ideally belongs in classroom full of children her age but poverty forced her to choose a different path. “We manage to earn Rs 800-1,000 during a snan day but there’s not much money during rest of the days,” said Rani, who is busy choosing a Bollywood number on her music system for her sister to perform on. There is also a section of pilgrims at Kumbh who are disturbed to see children so young rope walking when they ideally should be going to schools.“Inko tabhi utaarte hain jab ye pakke ho jaate hain (We allow children to perform only when they are fully trained),” said Anita.

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