It is a harsh life. They treat you like scum. Look at Sunanda Kumari. 32, eyes resting in hollow sockets, tired of being rejected everywhere. Couple of years ago she was flinging herself wildly on the trapeze, holding her Malayali audience spellbound. when. unexpectedly, the `mechanic' gave wad-. It was the one vital link she had with the King Pole high above and it snapped!

As gravity beckoned. she charged down the distance of three storeys in seconds and hit the net. The impact bent her spine and she felt an arrow plough through her chest. But the circus can be very cruel.To the sharp arrow in the chest was added a deep pain in Sunanda's heart when the Gemini management eased her out, not quite willing to keep an `invalid' in its fold.

Back home in Thalassery and drifting through abysmal penury for a year Sunanda joined the Great Bombay Circus. The sole intention was to find ways to earn her bread again, treatment was getting prohibitively expensive. But again her world crashed Her, body just wouldn't cope with the. stress anymore. The arrow in her chest would reappear once in a while. If she couldn't sleep, it was because the spine would cry for attention. When this time she was on the road she had no money. The earrings she held on to so dearly had to be traded for a thousand rupees so that she could come back home, safe. These days she needs injections every third week to keep her heart-valves from choking. It costs: 400 rupees a shot.

The plight of circus artistes can be miserable. Provident Fund deductions are made, records kept in fading register books. but at the end of their career the girls seldom get to see the notes. Like when Sunanda went to the Gemini Circus, not even a penny was offered for her treatment. Even the PF money did not come her way; her employers wouldn't disclose any details on the seven years of deductions they had made

Yet for all its shortcomings. all its inherent risks, circus life can be sweet. Especially for those men and women who find a way to add new meaning to their lives. Vishal,22, from Balasore and Geeta, just turned adult from Kurseong, wanted to rise above the ruck, put a full-stop to their uninspiring existence. So they married in May, a year after they had crossed each other's path and snatched a few moments of starry-eyed conversation in the dusty backyards, both preparing for the day's events.

That sultry May morning in Thiruvananthapuram. the Gemini Circus management. in a gesture worthy of being lauded. took time-off to celebrate their wedding, a simple ceremony at a temple. The duo emerged. barely able to conceal its glee. The two, presented with a few sarees from colleagues. were escorted back not to the circus but to a little hotel.

At company expense, they were allowed four days of honeymoon in the hotel. When they returned, the two entered not their cramped dorms but the sweet pleasures of a tent--the married men's accomodation. The circus elephants and ponies that accompanied them to the temple formed the bulk of the marriage party. A posse of photographers clicked away, the swelling crowds gaped open-mouthed. Later that night they hugged each other, tears of unalloyed joy rolling down their eyes. The events of that day are unlikely to fade away from their memory in a hurry.