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Hand to heart, now.
At some stage in life, we have all seen a bear dance, haven’t we?
But it’s the bear that has seen worse. As a cub, he has seen his mother murdered senselessly by poachers. He has had his teeth knocked off, his claws chopped. As he screams in absolute agony while that is being done, a hot iron rod is inserted into his snout through which a rope is passed. The wound is left raw, infected and, often than not, bleeding. Each time the kalandar jerks at the rope, the bear stands up on his hind legs, ostensibly dancing but actually dying.
Ah yes, just to ensure that he does pop up on cue, he is given careful training: his legs are put onto red hot burning coals and beaten, so that he jumps up in pain. This is how they are trained to dance.
Now really, how does all of that have any bearing on your lovely life?
If you are an animal, none.
If you are a shred of human being, a little. Read on.
If the bear has his own problems, the kalandar has his own compulsions. The tribe knows no better. Mercifully, someone does.
To eradicate a problem, one must find a solution. And that is an alternate and sustainable livelihood for the kalandar.
That’s, where we come in.
We school their children so that the generational rot is stemmed. We give the kalandar an alternate source of livelihood in carpet weaving, sari embroidery or tailoring. In many instances they are also given jobs in our bear rescue centres.
We have rescued 397 such bears. Which means rehabilitating not just the animals but also the families of the kalanders who they belonged to. And running rescue centers to give the bears a life.
Evidently all this needs money. Some of which we do have. But a lot more that we need. Let’s just leave you with a little statistic before you start your busy day.
We spend Rs 18,000 per day on honey for the bears itself.
You do the rest of the math.
Now ads like this either stay or they go. It really depends on the kind of person who reads them. Either you flip this page. Or perhaps you feel a little small somewhere.
If the former is your calling, at least you now know that the bear wasn’t very happy to dance for you. If it’s the letter, call Kartick on + 91 9871963535 and tell him that you would like to put aside some cash for the bears.
In the ultimate analysis, charity is not about one’s conscience.
It’s about having balls.
Which the bear incidentally doesn’t have. Without anaesthesia.
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