We Love Circus!

Rambo Circus in action despite a small audience

Circus is in town! Back in the day, come December, the newspaper front page ads would scream 'Circus is in town'. However, now the scene has changed completely. No advertisements or billboards announcing the arrival of the circus. 

Since the rise of 'digital' advertising platforms, the ads have been shifted to YouTube and Google search. 

What triggered my thought of looking for a circus in Mumbai, was actually a billboard titled Cirkus. Not knowing that Cirkus was actually a Bollywood movie, I searched online and learned about it to my disappointment. 

Then I wondered if there was an actual circus that I could take my son to and rummaged through my faint memories of circus names and came up with two popular ones - Rambo and Jumbo. 

I searched for Jumbo circus and saw nothing. Then I typed Rambo Circus and there it was - a website which announced that the circus was in town only for the next two days. Then, the team would be performing in another city for the next month. 

While Rambo Circus was holding two shows a day since November 2, I only learned about it on November 9; that too since I made a deliberate effort to discover it. 

Nonetheless, I was too excited for the circus, since my memories of being to a circus had faded away as well. I thought it would be a wonderful idea to introduce my son to the concept of a circus at a young age. The cherry on the cake was that my son's entry was FREE - since his age is below 3 years. 

I asked my mother to join in and she did readily. Our tickets got booked and we were just waiting for our show to begin. We selected the 4.30pm first show on Saturday. 

Cut to the venue on Saturday. 

We saw the enormous and colourful tents and the huge signage that read Rambo Circus. As we entered the gate, we collected our tickets and headed to a small play area where my son posed along with statues of deer, rhino and his favourite animal tiger. 

We entered the show area and took our seats facing the front of the stage. Since we arrived 15 minutes prior to the show start time, only 40% of the total seats were occupied. The stage was barren, except for a large silver prop with two circles on either side and suspended diagonally in the sky. 

At a little after 4.30 pm, the lights and music came on. The kids were unable to remain seated in their chairs. The master joker emerged and set the tone for the first act - an aerial stunt using the silver prop on stage. And then the Circus began!

I propped my son on my lap so that he could get a good view of the stage. One after another, performances were announced including aerial aerobics, juggling acts, bicycle and motorcycle stunts, body balancing acts, etc. Some dangerous stunts involving knives were also performed with a caution for kids not to attempt these stunts at home. 

We were all very engaged for the next one hour. Everyone was applauding and cheering for the performers. Soon, a seated intermission took place and pop corn vendors flooded the aisles. The prices of the pop corns were very inflated - Rs. 100 for one small bucket. However, looking at the other kids with popcorns in their hand, my son demanded it too and we purchased one for him. 

He was very tired and sleepy by this time and soon fell asleep despite being very interested in the performances of the circus. Unfortunately, he was the one who was most eager to watch the animal show and he missed it just by a few minutes. 

The opening act after the interval was a cute display of safe stunts by puppies. It was a heartwarming performance. For the next one hour, the performances seemed to be repetitive and the audience too was getting tired of applauding during every act. The decibel level in the circus considerably reduced. The senior Joker tried his best to keep the enthusiasm high by cheering for the performances. 

The last act was indeed the most awaited - The aerial swing or 'Hawai Jhula'. The act was executed with perfection. 

All the performers came on the stage to mark the end of the show and dedicated a patriotic song to mother India. 

The buzz among the audience, especially those adults who had been to a circus in their childhood, was that the circuses of the past were more flawless and grand. The range of performances and its effortless execution was not matched by the present day circus. 

However, the fact also remains that the audience's interest and turn out at such circuses has also reduced enormously. With low support and lesser funds, it must anyway be an uphill task to pull off a month long circus with two shows a day. 

I applaud the performers whose genuine effort, dedication and hard work shone through on stage. Despite a few noticeable slip-ups, the circus was a fun event and a recommended to-do activity for grand parents, parents and little ones. 

My verdict is that if we spend lesser in malls and movie theatres which earn so much all year round and instead, we spend some money to purchase circus tickets for our family, we can help to keep this culture alive and thriving. 

I look forward to the next circus to which I can take my son, so that he experiences the innocent joy of yesteryears and doesn't only get engrossed with tech-savvy games and media all the while.