I went. I ran (okay I walked). I won!

Yes! I did! I really did win at the marathon! Second prize! I won just for being me! I arrived early in the morning at the almost unspeakable hour of (six). I did a lot of walking. That was before the marathon even began. Then this lady told me to walk some more to a different gate where all the costumed people were. So I did. And I took part in a costume competition, and guess what? I came second! Isn't it lovely?

And I got to meet so many interesting people. A condom lady, a devil lady, a one-eyed techie, a pirate, an anti-pirate, some trees, lots of animals and I even met a peacock man! It was all very hot and sweaty but it was tons of fun and I think I've lost some weight. I also got to meet lots of very sweet children! Like the beautiful princess Malaika, and a monk called Siddharth. Even though he had lost his Ferrari, he just beamed out the most wonderful smile I've ever seen. And this sweet little baby who didn't like all the noise, but fortunately I had some cotton wool in my make-up kit in my handbag, so I gave some to his daddy, and he put it in the baby's ears and after that he was fine.

After that costume competition I got a big giant cheque for twenty thousand rupees only, and it says I am offically now Sakkat Bangalorean Number Two. (That means I came second. It doesn't mean the other Number Two). And Sakkat Bangalorean means I am a really strong Bangalooraloo person. I feel proud that people said that about me. It makes me feel nice inside.

And I got to stand on a podium and got the big giant cheque and a bunch of flowers (carnations, my dear! They're in a vase in the sitting room now!) from a handsome young man whose phone number I forgot to take. I don't know what to do with the money. I think I will buy presents for my favourite people, and some money for my friends who Dream A Dream because it's very important to dream dreams and never give up on them, and some for a nice running track for a little twelve year old girl who can do the 100 metres in just 14 seconds, barefoot! And also I will buy a microwave oven, which is a present for me, because I am also one of my favourite people.

After that, lots of people with cameras and microphones wanted to take my picture and ask me questions, so I told them all about Dr Clown and also about Child Sexual Abuse because I was in the marathon to support Tulir, an NGO that has a Centre for Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse. I like Tulir a lot because they do so much to help children, and I don't like child abuse at all. It just doesn't make sense, does it? But it happens. So I think it's important to try and help in any way so that it can stop happening and then children can just grow up nicely and not have those pains and fears and sadnesses and then they'd grow up and be sad or angry grownups. It's very difficult to be a sad and angry grownup, and not be able to enjoy so many of the nice things of life and my goodness it's so unnecessary if we just looked after the children nicely so they didn't have to grow up that way! So I supported Tulir and told everyone about them.

It was really nice to see so many people there supporting so many different causes. It wasn't just nice, it was wonderful. That Kanteerva Stadium was just buzzing with good vibrations, all those people full of positive vibes, everyone doing something about something, to make the world a better place. That's what it's all about, I think. I hope we keep doing it. That way if we get reborn then we'll come back to a really nice world. That would be fun. Well .. actually it already is a really nice world. I just want it to get nicer and nicer, so that every generation can have fun stuff and happy memories.

Oh. It's really thundery outside. Long-playing thunder that just goes on and on, and it's raining a lot too. I wonder if the peacock man is dancing. He said something about liking to dance in the rain. Or maybe it was before the rain. I forget. Whatever. I hope he's dancing. It's good for the soul, dancing is.

It's been such a happy day for me. The most exciting part was when the ladies came running back into the stadium at the end of their 10K run. You could feel the stadium getting excited and I got excited too and wanted to run behind them (but I couldn't because I was in a different place). And another nice part of today was that there was so many people happy to see me. I felt like a movie star, cos they all wanted to take pictures with me, and they were all smiling and laughing. Just think, now there's hundreds of people tonight in Bangalooraloo, with pictures of me smiling at them on their mobile phones. I'm glad they get to keep my smile.

Oh there's the thunder again. It's a bit scary. I think I better stop writing because the electric city may go off. But before I end I just have to say OH GUESS WHAT I saw myself on TV tonight after dinner. It's the first time I saw myself from outside of myself. I got to see what everyone else sees when they look at Gladys. I just realised I'm a very funny old lady. I like me.

So that's all for now. Before the next thundery thunder starts, I'm off to bed. Good night!

NEWS: Many Smiles Per Hour - Time Out magazine

Lookie! Another article about the seminar, this time in Time Out Bengaluru, written by Amrita Gupta. This is a nice magazine that has lots of news about all the fun things going on in Bangalooraloo, if it wasn't for them I'd have no idea what to do with myself. It comes out every fortnight and for some reason, most of the people who work there have names starting with "A". But that's not to say they're prejudiced against the rest of the alphabet because I know for a fact they also have a "J". I think maybe people whose names start with "A" have to be very attentive and early to school so that they can say "present" when the teacher calls out the attendance register. And this has a tremendous impact on them, so they grow up to be journalists.

I'm not sure I was very good.

Well, I went to Sutradhar's seminar on Play In Hospital, today. I went with my friend Mili from Dr Clown, and we introduced our work to all the people there. There was another lady who does play therapy in Pune, her name is Meera Okay! She was definitely more than just okay, she's done a lot of work and has an organisation called CHUGRAD! And she had a very impressive presentation on the computer and was very organised. Not like me. I'm not sure I was very good but I talked a lot about whatever I could remember about our work, and so I hope that some of what I said made sense. Everyone seemed happy enough, though.

It was really nice to see that there are different people doing different things in different places - but all to the same end - to make children in hospital feel better. It was good to meet them all. I also got to meet a fellow clown, Pravin, who lives in Bombay! That was good luck! He had come down to Bangalooraloo for someone's wedding and when I told him about the seminar, he jumped into an auto rickshaw and came to it! Wasn't that sweet? It was nice to meet him. He does magic too, and he did some for Mili and me! I was very impressed!

My favourite part of the evening was at the end when they gave me a present! It was something they make themselves, the Sutradhar people. They have lots of lovely stuff - games and toys and books, and lots of different puppets, yum, you can see them and even buy them, if you click on the link. Anyway, my present was a puppet! A little Indian maharajah puppet. I can't wait to take him to hospital with me.

NEWS: Bringing Joy to Young Sufferers - DNA India

Here's an article about the seminar I'm attending this weekend. It's written by a very brave young lady who actually called me up and spoke to me, in spite of her terrible fear of clowns!

Sutradhar is the organisation that runs this Annual Seminar - aptly titled, because they hold it every year. This year, their theme is Play in Hospitals, so they've invited a play therapist to talk, and also invited me!

This is lovely: The Great Panjandrum

Ooh I just found the most beautiful poetic poem. It's very deep and meaningful and as I am a deep and meaningful clown myself, I am posting it here for you to read. What is very interesting is that this was written by Samuel, a boy who wrote this with his FOOT! (Or "FOOTE" as they used to spell it back in 1755).


So she went into the garden
to cut a cabbage-leaf
to make an apple-pie;
and at the same time
a great she-bear, coming down the street,
pops its head into the shop.
What! no soap?
So he died,
and she very imprudently married the Barber:
and there were present
the Picninnies,
and the Joblillies,
and the Garyulies,
and the great Panjandrum himself,
with the little round button at top;
and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can,
till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.

- by Samuel (Foote)

I'm glad you like it. (I knew you would even before you read it, so that's why I'm saying this in advance).

That's all for today. I've been doing lots of reading, all about the history of clowning and the different types of clowns, but now I'm sleepy, so I'll tell you about that another time. Good night.
P.S. I cannot write with my foot. I have tried. Left and right. Doesn't work for me.

Time Out magazine wrote this about the circus, and there's pictures too.

Slogan Murugan is a man with an interesting eye, he catches all sorts of intriguing images from around Bangalore and posts them on his blog. You should visit him!

Meanwhile, he visited me, and he gave me the link to a little article about the circus I visited last week. So I'm posting it here for you all to read, in case you missed it. It was in last week's Time Out Bengaluru, which is my favourite magazine here even though they spell Bangalooraloo wrong.

I love the circus BUT...

I love the circus BUT ...

I don't like to see a ring without a ringmaster.

I don't like to see lady circus performers dressed like they're not.

I don't like to see people crunching on lightbulbs or running fire all over their bodies or dropping knives on their tummies, or lying on glass and nails, because the children might go home and copy them.

I don't like to see an act where people pretend to be drunk and get the audience to laugh, because that tells the children that drinking is fun or funny, and it's not, it's just sad.

I don't like to see sad expressions in elephants' eyes, or what looks like tears running down a horse's eyes, because I can't speak Elephant or Horse, so I don't know how to say Sorry. I don't like to see mahouts poking elephants with proddy things, or people with whips, because I think working with gentleness and earning trust works much better.

I don't like to see clowns hitting each other, because real humour doesn't need violence. I don't like to see audiences who laugh at clowns hitting each other, because real humanity doesn't need violence to feel good.

I don't like to see young ladies swirling in the air, hanging from their teeth. I don't like to see people doing pretty things high up in the air but not having a safety net or proper safety harness, just a wire or a rope tied to their waist. I don't like to see death-defying acts that really are death-defying acts, because it tells me that not everyone in the world believes in the value of life.

I don't like to see audiences come out smiling and laughing without noticing that the circus people don't do as much smiling and laughing.

I love the circus BUT I don't think the circus loves itself.

An artistic rendition.

In India, you can't take pictures inside the circus tents. So I drew my own picture to show you what it was like. While I was drawing and colouring I remembered more things I forgot to mention in my first post. Like the Man of Many Waistcoats, who stood on top of a galloping horse and kept taking off his clothes as he went round. He had many many waistcoats and fortunately he finished going around before he could start taking off anything else.

There was also a pretty ribbony girl who did wavy things with ribbons and lassoos. There was another girl who finished the show up in the air inside a ring thing and she did acrobatics there (and guess what it was the same Titanic song that they had in Jumbo Circus. The circus people obviously like this song very much). And then there was the water-spitter who swallowed some coloured water red and dark green and then drank a whole jugful of regular water, and then did this long-distance spitting and sometimes it was orange and sometimes it was light green. I don't think it was a trick. I think he is an expert of regurgitation or something.

Well there you go. Now you know what the circus looks like. Tomorrow is the last day they are in Yelahanka but if you wait a few days they are moving to somewhere in JP Nagar. And you can go see them there. Please be a good audience and clap loudly and often. It makes them smile more.

P.S. You must click on the picture if you want to see the fine details in a bigger size.

Back from the circus!

Yes! Hot and sweaty and belching samosas. It was a lovely day. I got to meet three clowns: their names are Khayoom, Suraj and Nissar. Khayoon is Suraj's Daddy and guess what, Suraj gets to give his daddy a great fat slap on the face during their act. But Khayoom gets to spank him a lot too, so I guess it's even.

It was really hot in the circus and all the snacks were priced DOUBLE! Gosh. But I had to eat them, so I had to buy them anyway. I went with a little pixie friend of mine and the Mirinda turned our teeth orange for a while. That was interesting. If I had my wig on, my teeth would have matched it!

There were lots of interesting acts. A lot of them were similar to the Jumbo Circus that I saw last year. I think some things are standard in all the circuses - like the men going around in circles on motorbikes inside a dome, and elephants doing puja, and even Russian ladies with nice bums. Yes. These things are all a must at a circus, I believe.

There was a Russian juggler there, he was nice and he had a lovely jester's hat I'm so jealous. He also did some horrible things with fire and eating a lightbulb and lying on glass. I didn't like that so much, I don't like the dangerous things at circuses, I get scared. I like the things that make me laugh or go Ooh!

Ooh! There was a group of big strapping Kenyan gentlemen with wonderful muscles and six-packs. They did all sorts of tumbling and balancing and climbing thingies. They were good too.

I didn't like seeing the animals much though. They weren't ill-treated or anything like that, they all looked fine and healthy, but they just didn't seem to be having much fun and when I looked into the elephants' and horse's eyes, they looked back and I felt sad.

Anyway guess what? I am going back to the circus soon! I am going to hold a small workshop for the clowns! I'm so excited so so excited. I may not get to perform in the ring (ooh I wish they would let me!) but maybe I can have my workshop in the ring. But they said I must come at 8 o'clock in the morning, oh dear, I'll have to sacrifice my cutie sleep.

Okay, so now I'm off to think of lovely ideas for my workshop and best of all, I now have an excuse to go back for more shopping at Chikpet so that I can buy the clowns some nice presents! It's going to be so much FUN!!!!! I can't wait.

P.S. Sorry I don't have any pictures cos you can't take pictures during the circus. I wish I could, cos they would have been such LOVELY pictures. Oh well. Maybe I'll draw something for you instead.

There's a circus in town!

Unfortunately, it's not in this town, it's in some place called Yelahanka New Town. I have no idea how to get there, but I will. It's called the Rajmahal African Circus and tomorrow morning I'm going to meet the clowns! I'm so excited. And then after I meet them, I might drink a Coca-Cola or something cos it's probably going to be very hot and I wouldn't like to get dehydrated, and then at 1 p.m. the circus show starts and I'm going to watch it. Then I'm going to go home very hungry and have a late lunch. Unless I pack myself some tomato sandwiches or something.

I can't wait to meet the clowns. Last year I met the clowns from another circus, Jumbo Russian Circus. One day I am going to meet all the clowns of all the circuses in India. Yes.

Ooh la la.

I finally got to wear my new high fashion clown dress. It is truly beautiful and most comfortable too. AND I also got to wear one of my new wigs. I think I looked extra special today at St Philomena's hospital because I got a lot of LOOKS if you know what I mean. But I'm not that type of girl. I just focussed on my work and did lots of good clowning with my friend Brush-Buddha. It was a really busy day because there were lots of children and also lots of parents. There were also lots of student nurses with mysterious signs hanging around their necks "I will speak only in English". I tried to tempt them into talking in other languages but they could not be swayed. They said that would be against their principal, who is the person who put the signs around their necks in the first place.

My new dress has very deep pockets. And they're deep pink too. And I can put a flute in them, and the flute doesn't stick out the top. That's how deep they are.

I took some pictures tonight but I had to stand in front of a mirror to get a full-length shot, so that you can see my beautiful new dress.

Clown shopping.

I have been so very busy. Busy busy busy. I been training clowns for Dr. Clown! That's why I hardly get any time to write in my blog. But today I managed to get some time to myself and I went to a most magical and dirty place called Chikpet. It was WONDERFUL. I had to walk through some sewage and dodge a lot of men with huge bundles on their heads, but it was worth it.

I had to go past Chikpet to a place called Mamulpet. From there, I was told to go to another place called Kumbarpet. Down dirty little lanes filled with magical shops oh it was almost like being on Diagon Alley except there were no owls and it was only the shops that were magical, I'm pretty sure most of the people there were Muggles.

Anyway finally I found it! I had to go up a tiny flight of stairs and there it was, this thrilling little room filled with wigs and costumes and hats and feathers and walking sticks and masks and make-up and shields and helmets and oh all sorts of things. It was a most theatrical shop and I had a wonderful time there and made friends with the people there and they even gave me a cup of tea and didn't get upset when I tried on all the wigs.

I bought 4 wigs. I bought a lot of funny noses and a thing that makes you look as if you have a pencil stuck in your head. And I bought make-up nice pancake WHITE makeup! I think that's all. Oh I bought a walking stick.

I can't wait to go back and get some more wigs but once again I'm busy busy busy and so I have to wait.

Clown laundry.

Oh I am a good clean clown I am.

I am a clown geek!

Yes. I am a computer wizard. I would rather be a real wizard but I haven't received my Hogwarts letter yet. I don't know what's keeping that owl. Fortunately I'm still seven years old and expect to be seven for a few more hundred years at least. So I won't be the oldest kid in the class when I finally do get there.

Oh, that reminds me! This post is about something else. I forgot! I got distracted by Hogwarts. Today I made a new e-group! It's for people who want to know what's happening at Dr Clown, where I work. So whenever we clowns have a show or a workshop, I can post the information there, and everyone who's on the group will get the news. I'm so efficient! AND I even added a special box here on the blog, so that anyone who wants to join that group can just sign up ever so easily. I'm feeling very clever because I had to cut and paste html code to do it. One day maybe I'll be an even better geek and write my own html code. But probably not, because I'm too busy being a clown.

I also made a new email address, specially for Dr Clown. It's called drclown@ymail.cm. But I keep forgetting to use it.

Please join my group! It's at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/clowNews. You can click on this, or you can click on the posh box on the left side of this screen. That's more fun, I think. Do that.