Know your neighbour: Spiderman of Bommanahalli

By Aratrika Dey

Comicverse Queens, New York City has had Peter Parker as the resident ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman’ since 1962, and now Bengaluru has a ‘real-life’ web slinger of its own. Asrar Khan Usmani (23), or just Usmani, as he is commonly known, is addressed as the ‘Spiderman of Bommanahalli’. However, there’s a catch, instead of fighting off villains and saving innocent civilians, Usmani rescues animals. He has been at it for the last six years and counting. Sometimes, in true Spidey fashion, he scales buildings to save animals. A resident of Bommanahalli, Usmani gained the moniker of the webbed hero after videos of him climbing multi-storied buildings and going down wells to save helpless animals went viral.

The incident that changed it all…

Coming from a family of engineers and lawyers, Usmani’s plan was always to become a lawyer. But one incident changed a lawyer-hopeful to an animal rescuer. “I studied but ended up doing what my energy told me to.” He used to walk to school every day. “One day, while trekking on my usual route, I spotted an injured dog. That scene triggered something in me, and I thought I needed to help this dog.” As a tenth-grader with no mobile phone or messaging apps, trying to garner help in that scenario was difficult. “I reached out to people and organizations who would have been able to help the dog through my dad’s mobile,” recalls Usmani. “But from morning till evening, no one turned up, and the dog died the next day.”

Usmani’s first job after the dog’s death was to give him a proper burial. This incident served as a catalyst that made him drop the idea of becoming an advocate and focus on saving animals instead: “I asked myself, why can’t I become an animal rescuer? Why do I have to ask others for assistance?”

Usmani went from being a full-time animal rescuer to a certified healer and para-vet at the Cessna Lifeline Veterinary Hospital, after finishing a professional training period of three months – an added boost to his seasoned street experience. “When I started doing rescue drives regularly, I would frequent veterinary clinics,” says Usmani. “The doctors used to tell me how to tend to an injured animal, how to identify the injury, how to understand and treat these animals. They saw that I was a student and already doing so much, they decided to train me.” He has also helped co-found Paws and Possibilities. 

Your friendly neighborhood Spidey

The secret to Usmani effortlessly climbing sheer heights, is not the after-effect of being bitten by a radioactive spider but his keen observation of how animals move about, and watching mountain climbing videos on YouTube, coupled with his past training in martial arts. “I am into fitness; I start my day at four in the morning and train a few people. I run a lot but mostly, I employ moves I learned from observing animals, such as cats and monkeys.”

However, there is one question that comes to mind after watching him in action, is he never scared? “I never think about what happens next. I don’t think that if I climb, I might fall; I only consider the positives. My priority is to bring the animal back to safety.”. There have been times when he has climbed first and later figured out how to get down. “I will probably sit up there for thirty minutes, just to figure out how to get myself down – or while climbing down a well, I don’t know how deep the well is, I just go ahead and climb in.”

Memorable rescue drives

Usmani has a fair collection of memorable rescue drives. One such incident was when two kittens were stuck inside a dry well, one of which had already died. Without much thought, he went down the narrow shaft of the well. “When I reached the bottom and took the kittens, for a fraction of a second, realization struck and I went – how do I get up,” exclaims Usmani. “I was not into professional climbing then, so I was looking for holes and nooks I could hold onto.” However, a thought struck him about how monkeys move about, jump from trees and buildings, and employing those tactics finally helped him out of the well. “I got out slowly, and surprisingly without a single scratch on my person!” Another incident that stayed with him, and also the one which pushed him to gain social media traction was when he rescued a cat sitting on an awning of a window on the penultimate floor of a high-rise. “I received a call around 5am, saying that a cat has been stuck since the previous night,” he says. “I remember asking for some time, promising that once it’s six, I’ll be there – and it was raining at that point.” On reaching the spot, realization struck him that the building is quite high and the additional rainfall narrowed down rescue options. “But I asked my friend to wait for me on the ground, I thought I need to climb up first and then think about the rest”. He believes he can communicate with the animals. While reaching out to an injured animal to save it, he has never received backlash from the animal. The same tactic employed in this scenario ensured a successful rescue drive.  

Sometime last year, an old building collapsed and a few animals, such as cats, goats, dogs, and sheep were stuck inside the ruin. Usmani and his team were tasked with getting the animals to safety, but it was a risky procedure – one small trigger could bring the whole building down on their heads. “But we successfully saved the animals, and gently moved them,” he says. “The tension was high, but after we got out safe, we were so relieved and happy that we got to do something good that day.”

One man, many avatars

When he is not going around the neighborhood rescuing animals, Usmani is a passionate mountain climber. A ‘mountain leader’ with Bengaluru-based adventure start-up Miles to Trek, he leads teams on various treks organized by the company. Besides, he works with the Karnataka Civil Defense as part of a ‘quick-response’ team during floods.     

Future plans

Usmani’s prospects do not involve opening an animal shelter of his own, but building an animal sanctuary: “Here anybody can visit and learn about nature, animals, understand them and learn how to take care of them – it can be in the next few months or years, but the goal is to create a safe space for animals.” His wish is to raise awareness amongst the people through seminars  where he will tell people to follow their energy. “The young generation needs to know that they are not wasting their time trying to save a life; that they are doing good for the world.”

He can be reached at 80959-17197.