The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : No matter what, the show must go on

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

No matter what, the show must go on

S. Harpal Singh

Despite poor patronage circus artistes continue to trade their wares entertaining people

NO TAKERS: An artiste of the Empire Circus goes about her routine in Adilabad. The empty gallery behind denotes the sad state of affairs in the circus industry.

ADILABAD: It is seemingly a measure of the decreasing popularity of circus in society that the phenomenon of continuing dry spell in Adilabad mandal is being attributed to its ‘power’ to control rainfall.

Perhaps because the artistes perform the seemingly impossible with relative ease like in the Empire Circus that bid adieu on Wednesday, people in town are discussing their ‘skill’ to prevent occurrence of rainfall while the circus plays in town.

Future generations will find it hard to believe that artistes got themselves so endeared to the townsfolk that the departure of the circus was always an emotional affair in town.

The business having fallen on bad days, artistes now perform to empty galleries eliminating thereby all possibilities of being associated with emotion.

Until about two decades ago, the circus had rivalled cinema in show business. For many old timers, it was the circus that provided their first exposure to glamour, many of them ended up as artistes with different circuses.

The present difficult time for the circus business has also spelt doom for people from Krishnanagar of Nadia district in West Bengal on the Bangladesh border and Hitoda and Biratnagar in Nepal from where a majority of the artistes hailed.

However, there is no going back for the many who are already employed in various circuses. Despite the physical strain imposed by the profession, no artiste actually retires in a circus. Amal Ghosh of the Empire Circus goes on performing as a catcher on the flying trapeze even at the age of 63.

Meghnath and Thambi continue their romance with the circus despite both having lost relevance.

The former met with an accident and the latter who was a ring master lost out because of ban on wild animals. Meghnath gets paid in full with no work while Thambi works in the circus canteen. Jeena yahan, marna yahan..iske siva jana kahan..., by from the popular Raj Kapoor film Mera Naam Joker aptly describes the situation.

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