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.

NEWS: The Healing Clown - The Hindu

Here's something from The Hindu newspaper's children's supplement, Young World.




By the way, we don't actually pick up the children in our arms because we're not supposed to do that. Also, the children never expect us, we're always a surprise! That's my favourite part. Except sometimes, we're more of a shock than a surprise .. once in a while a little toddler gets a bit scared when they first see us. But those are the ones who usually end up following us all around the wards.

Dipping my toe into the ocean of high fashion.

Yes, today my big toe, accompanied by force of habit by the other nine, stepped into the world of high fashion. Of course I already have many lovely clothes, but they're all ready-made, and tend to be thick and cosy. I think it would be hard to leap about skinnamarinking in them.

You see, summer is upon us, and quite heavily. So I decided to consult a young princess of luxury fashion, to find out which types of fabric are best for clowns, and how best to use them, and also how many metres I would need to buy (because apparently in the fabric shops, they always recommend more than you need).

Tomorrow I'm off to Commercial Street, and we are going to spend the morning looking at lovely fabric (hopefully not just looking, but buying too). I can't wait! Watch out world! Gladys will be stepping out in style, big toe and all!

A free music lesson.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to meet a musical expert who has come down all the way from San Jose (oh that rhymes! I love it when that happens) and she very kindly shared her musical knowledge with me, so that I may in turn, share it with the kids in hospital.

Her name is Minnoli, and she has FIVE YEARS of experience on this planet, the last year of which she has devoted largely to a specialised system of training known as Kindergarten, where she has been fine-tuning these musical skills of her. Thanks to her tutoring, I now know the words AND actions of an intricate ballad that goes by the name, "Skinnamarink".

I think it's wonderful when the Universe conspires to bring these people into my life so that I may learn and grow. I shall be eternally grateful to Ms. Minnoli for this wonderful gift, and I have been skinnamarinking all over the place, ever since. I can't wait for Friday, so I can skinnamarink my way around St Phil's wards.

Aah, music.

Here is a picture of Ms. Minnoli, Skinnamarinker Par Excellence (that's French for "Extraordinaire") >

Post-script: Ms. Minnoli has very kindly had her secretary email over the lyrics, which are as follows:

Skinnamarink
Skinnamarink e-dink e-dink
Skinnamarink e-doo
I love you.
I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon.
I love you in the evening
underneath the moon.
Skinnamarink e-dink e-dink
Skinnamarink e-doo
I love you.
I do.

An incubation of clowns.

In today's workshop session, we focused on finding and developing clown characters. A lot of people think that being a clown is just putting on a red nose and doing funny things. That's not it at all. You don't "DO" clown. You BE it. And being a clown is all about being a clown in your heart. It's being a clown on the inside, not just on the outside. Anyone can dress up and go hoo-hah! but that's not a clown. I've seen some scary people standing outside Kids Kemp who look like clowns, but I'm pretty sure they're not.

So today, I explained this to the trainees, and helped them work on ways to find their clowns. Given them some homework too. Now they've gone home to incubate, and any day now, they will start hatching into little fledgling clowns. I can't wait to meet them! The trainees are all very nice people, and so I'm sure their clowns will be really nice too. I've got to wait, though, cos the next workshop session will only be around the end of the month.

Clean clowns.

This evening was the second session of the Training Workshop. It was all about hygiene and hospital protocol, and impressive-sounding words like "nosocomial" and "micro-organisms" and the like, were much used.

The trainees did yawn a bit here and there during this session. It's mostly discussion and lecture type stuff. But it's Very Important. Therapeutic clowns, especially those who, like us, go to hospitals, have to be very very particular about the hygiene rules for hospital work.

Well, I figure that if any of those trainees aren't really serious about joining Dr Clown, then after this Hygiene session, we probably won't see them again. So at least it would have served as a good yardstick! And if nothing else, they all know how and when to wash their hands very thoroughly.

My first workshop.

Today was most exciting, because I got to meet five people who might have clowns hidden inside them. This is the first time it's ME organising the Dr Clown workshop. I think it's very nicely done, but of course I'm biased.

It went well! Lots of clowny exercises, lectures, games, discussions, all sorts of things. Everyone got to have a nice cheesy lunch at the new French cafe at the Alliance Francaise, too.

The trainees liked it so much (the training I mean, although they might have enjoyed the lunch too) that they don't want to wait too long for the next session. So we're meeting them again in just a few days for Session #2.

I held a newborn baby today.

That is a very fine experience, let me tell you. Especially when he's screaming his head off cos he's just had a drip inserted in his arm, and then you talk to him and sing to him, and he stops crying.

Yes, I was back at St Phil's today, clowning with my friend Brush-buddha. We had a lovely time, as always. There weren't many patients, just about seven kiddies in the wards. So we got to spend more time with each child. That was nice. But for me, the best part was when the nurses from Neo-Natal put this little preemie baby in my hands. He's not exactly newborn, to tell you the truth. He's a whole forty days old baby! Today was his fortieth birthday, I suppose.

No rest for the wicked.

Or for me. You'd think, after all that excitement and work with the Clown Show, that I would have a break. But no. Now there's a Training Workshop to get ready for. You see, we're suffering from clown shortage here in Bangalore. Mamu left us in January, and now some of the French clowns have finished with their time in Bangalore and are heading back to France. Meanwhile, most of the trainees from earlier workshops have turned out to be more like magicians than clowns - they've just plum vanished into thin air! I do wish they'd left their noses behind, though. We could use a few extra noses for people who really want to be clowns.

Never mind. There's a new batch waiting to start with the workshop on April 4th, and I have lots of work lined up, preparing for all the sessions, researching and trying out ideas for exercises.