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A circus comes to town

Photos: K. Ananthan

Excitement IN the big top At the Great Bombay Circus

Clowns in colourful costumes, men and women on the flying trapeze, Russian cube jugglers, fire dancers from Uzbekistan, Nepalese girls dancing with hula-hoops, shooters to enthrall you and the acrobatics — welcome to the Great Bombay Circus. Th ey are here to stay until August 4 to entertain and amuse Coimbatore.

The 88-year-old mobile circus, now run by Sanjeev Balagopalan and Dilip Nath has made its grand return to Coimbatore after 15 long years. “We are over whelmed with the response,” says Dilip Nath. “The evening shows at 7 pm have a lot of children and families in the audience.”

When asked if circuses are dying, assistant manager, Prakash says, “As long as children want the circus to go on, the circus will live. A few years ago when we had to surrender our wild animals to Vandalur Zoo we thought it was the end of our circus. But, interestingly enough the crowds haven’t stopped flowing in.” The owner also asserts that circuses will not die and cannot die. “Our entire family is in the circus business – my brother and I run the Great Bombay circus, while our cousins run Jumbo circus, Gemini circus and Royal circus.”

“Our expense per day is almost a lakh. So, it is essential to break even but we cannot afford a loss,” states Dilip.

Running a circus is not a one-man show; a lot of teamwork and cooperation is involved. Timing and coordination also plays a key role; what happens if the man on the flying trapeze slips, or if the jugglers falter, if the dancers trip, or if the shooters fail to hit their mark. Endless training and endurance is the mantra. What comes effortlessly to them with poise and grace actually has a lot of hard work and sacrifice behind it.

Have we ever stopped to think what these circus artists are giving up to put up a show and tour around the country? Ask Subash, a performing cyclist, who has now been in this industry for over 20 years. “My wife is with me, we perform together but our daughter who is in class eight is in Chennai. We go home every now and then to see her.”

The Russian artists, the star attraction of the show, are touring with the Bombay Circus on a six months visa. This particular Russian troupe who are masters in cube juggling and hula-hoops have been with the Bombay circus for 11 months now. “We like it here,” they say in their broken English.

For some it is 11 months or a few years but for Rajesh, Circus has now become a way of life. Fortunately for him, his wife, Seethu, was born in a circus. “I have known no other life. Living in a circus is like living with a huge family.” Seethu, who is of Chinese origin, (her Chinese name is too tough for the Indian tongue) has settled comfortably with the Bombay circus and she speaks Malayalam with ease. Babu. K. Nair, one of the ringmasters, has dedicated his life to training the animals. Thanks to him, the elephants know how to bat; the Russian dogs are trained to parade around the ring with an umbrella, and earlier even the lions and tigers, were trained by him. He proudly shows off the scars on his palms and recounts fascinating stories with the wild beasts. The debate continues about cruelty to animals and forcing them to perform at a circus. But for small cities where a zoo is not an option, a mobile circus gives them a glimpse of wild life.

The Great Bombay circus has something for everyone – for children, for youngsters and even for the old. For an evening of entertainment and laughter walk in to VOC Park and lose yourself in the big top. Tickets are available for Rs.25, Rs. 50, Rs. 75 and Rs. 100 and the show timings are 1 p.m, 4 p.m and 7p.m.

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