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Behind the scenes

W. Sreelalithagets curious about circus artistes

Photos: K. Ananthan

THE HIGHS AND LOWS Life in the big top

He’d fly thro’ the air with the greatest of ease —

That daring young man on the flying trapeze —

Flying Trapeze - 1867 (by British lyricist George Leybourne)

Of course, the song takes off on a completely different tangent, but trapeze artistes do display ‘the greatest of ease’ all the same! Welcome to Candyman’s Gemini Circus on VOC Park grounds. Every time a performer somersaults into t

he powerful arms of the catcher, you hear a collective gasp from the audience. The clowns in dashing colours get whacked, and the children double up with innocent laughter. Daring acts take home thunderous applauds, leaving the audience pink-palmed.

Extinguishing a candle with a whip, walking on knives or dangling from a rope, they perform with élan, and wear a perpetual smile. And, behind all these are long hours of practice, longer hours of travel, and life in makeshift tents.

K. Bavuraj, a trainer, tells us the artistes are from Nepal, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, and three from Uzbekistan who are on a cultural exchange programme. So, we go checking what story each one has to tell.

The first we meet is the oldest. Sixty-two-year-old P. K. Vijayan started as a clown at Rs. 5 a day, 45 summers ago.

He has been with the Great Bombay Circus, Kamala Three Rings Circus, Great Oriental Circus and Asian Circus. A fire jumper in his hey days, he shows you marks left by knife slashes on his head and neck. A trapeze, cycle artiste, and a clown now, he rues that “with very little patronage from the public, there is no future to circus.”

Madan Lal from Kerala is 60 years old, and he does not look a day beyond 50 years. Getting into a circus seemed the most natural thing to him, as his parents were circus artistes too. A catcher in trapeze for over 40 years, he also trains others. Interestingly, he has never had an accident so far! He visits his family twice a year. As circus artistes travel almost throughout the year, they get very little time with their family.

However, there are those who find their partners in the circus. As in the case of Rita from Nepal. A cycling artiste, she got married three years ago to Gyanu, a spring net and trapeze artiste, also from Nepal. And now, their two-year-old daughter Roshini travels with them too.

Does it scare Rita every time Gyanu goes out to perform? “No. And, what has to happen will happen,” she smiles, and says, she herself loves what she does.

Twenty-four-year-old Meena Sriprasad, acrobat and horse rider, has been married to juggler Vikram for a year. “Love marriage,” she blushes.

“Only Russian, no English,” announces Anna. And, Schar Khan agrees with a smile.

Both are jugglers from Uzbekistan. In the show, Schar Khan also performs what is called ‘hunter act’, cracking the whip to put off a candle or pluck a flower from Anna’s hands. When we point to a fresh bruise on Anna’s hand caused by the whip during a recent show, she dismisses it with a smile.

In the show, you find a clown doll bent, twisted, dragged and turned over. Only to finally reveal a little girl under the doll’s outfit, much to the crowd’s disbelief! Meet Trimesh, the youngest in the circus at 15 years. From Assam, her inspiration was her sister who was with Jumbo Circus. Though she initially missed her parents, she is now in touch with them thanks to mobile phones. Her parents met her when the circus recently toured Bihar. A friend of hers also is with her in the circus, so she doesn’t really miss friends back from Assam. Into it for the sheer love of it or otherwise, the circus is their life. And, what do they get out of it?

Says Ajay, owner of Gemini Circus: “There are around 200 people, including artistes, in the circus. Most of them are on a contract, and everyone, including the electrician, is insured.” Their medical expenses, food and accommodation are also taken care of. And, during school vacation, the children can stay with their parents in the circus, says Ajay. However, he feels the government could provide them infrastructure for training the artistes, and educating their children.

The least the public could do is, stop looking for passes, and pay for the tickets to the big top. Says Suba N. Subramanian of Suba Ads and Communications, who handles the public relations of the circus: “At least 30 per cent of revenue is lost in passes. And, these are the people who spend hundreds on film tickets.”

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