The Nameless Artist

Madari's of Kolkata-  lost life, lost Animals

Wherever you go in your city, on the streets you might have encountered the Madaris entertaining the crowds with their highly trained and skilled performers, singing in exuberance and glee. One such performer you wold have often seen sitting pensively on the railings or pavements and chewing the leftovers of the city's amusements, what we were once in our primitive stage, are the monkeys.

Like you all, I too love to walk through the busy city road and discover stories on my small journeys. In a suffocating lifestyle, these escape in nature and open air gives me inspiration to look at life and believe in beauty again. On one such expedition, I discovered Md Asgar silently sitting with his monkeys playing under the tree shed in park st and looking at the passer by expectantly.




He had the look of a tired man who goes out everyday with the hope of earning something for his family and returning home empty handed. Some of us think what he does for a living is illegal, forcing animals to work for you is illegal and an inhuman  approach towards any living being is a punishable offence. Everything is being done to stop this abuse towards animals and people like Asgar are not an exception.


I was very curious, as a child I had seen a monkey act which had made me write a story once on them. I always wanted to know more about them and I wasn't letting this opportunity slip away. My instincts took over and I asked him whatever I needed to know, frankly the monkey family looked quite cheerful to me, the mother was constantly keeping a careful eye on the young one who was busy eating peanuts from my hands while the father acted like a sick old man, disheartened from family pressures while performing his final act which got the curious spectators throwing in coins after constant nudging from the monkey. They were harmless and content monkeys, I didn't see any sign of cruelty on them, except their attachment to the owner.


At first Md Asgar wasn't comfortable in talking to me because he suspected I was from the press or some agency which would take away his animals from him and abandon them to die in cages. He belongs to the race of Madari's who have been practising this trade for generations because of lack of job opportunities. When I suggested they could try alternatives like wage earning trade, he hopelessly stated that the poor is becoming poorer and the rich richer. The state of work is deteriorating  in Bengal and he had learned the art of this street show from his father which seems to be the only key that binds the entire community living in the cramped pavements of kolkata.

If they are caught, their animals suffer badly cause they have been brought up by them from a young age and played with their children like their own. They are a part of their family where they sleep with them and often help them in their work too in return of love and protection. The monkeys that are taken away often are maybe not returned to the jungles and their fate is worsening day by day.




I have seen the small stretch of pavement on which not more than 10 families of Madari's try surviving. It's a war between livelihood and freedom, between love and cruelty, between the rich and the poor. But after knowing about their plight I felt the monkeys and the Madari's are in grave danger of submerging under the pressure until some measures are taken to help the family members to find alternative income source and let the animals live like animals, carefree and away from the world.
So the next time you see a show do not blame the Madari's, the malpractice or the system, try to get them support to stand on their own feet with pride and honour.

We are lucky to have had education, lets make good use of it in bringing about a change in thoughts and our society.
With hope
Sufia