The Clown

The master of the ring pompously ushered in the trapeze swinger who had performed a minute ago and uninvited, the clown made his entry, leaping and frolicking about, with a smile painted to his face, imitating the cheerful carefree nature of a child and a fool. The ring master turned back to chase him off, but in an agile maneuver, possible only for a two and a half feet tall dwarf, he eluded the tall man and weaved through his legs, waving at the joyous crowd who cheered and waved back and applauded him.

The ring master decided to avoid him and called forth Ranjit, the lion tamer. The lion tamer and his lion courteously ambled in, with a majestic air about them. The crowd stared in awe at how daring Ranjit seemed and how tame a lion could be. For a fleeting moment, no one recalled the Clown. But his act was not yet over and he lingered on, waiting for the moment he could act foolish again and incite the wrath of one of his circus members and the laughter of the audience. So, when the lion was forced to open its jaws so that Leela, Ranjit’s wife could insert her head between them, risking her head to be chewed off, the clown saw the perfect opportunity to act bold and courageous enough to stop her and risk his head instead. The mere reappearance of the clown in the tense and gripping presence of a dangerous wild beast brought a wave of relief and joy amongst the crowd. And they hooted and laughed, forgetting all they had feared and all that reality held in wait for them in their lives.

Juggling, swinging, singing and grinning, the clown saw the crowd through the circus acts, ensuring that they smile and forget their worries for a while. In the end, he allowed himself to be shot as a cannonball alongside Sheena the cannon girl, swearing to bear the same fate as the pretty lady would, for he would rather die than live on after failing to dissuade her from taking such a drastic action. But as planned, nothing went wrong and they both survived.

One of the clown’s favorite acts was pulling the ring master’s leg. People loved to see the man in charge being made a fool by the rebellious clown; someone who went against authority. The crowd loved the clown as long as he made his presence known by his random mischief, stupidity and vain bold attempt to act valiantly in face of threats and dangers. The clown did all that a principled chivalrous man would do. It was not funny. But the audience laughed mindlessly anyway.

When the show ended, the crowd dispersed with smiles glued to their lips and children happily imitating their heroes of the day. The clown retired to the changing room, the smile still painted to his face. Behind the mask of paint, was a man of about thirty two. Bereft of a family, he did not have many responsibilities towards anyone but himself. Making people laugh was about all he could do and it came easily to him. People loved to make fun of him anyway due to his short stature. All he needed to do was act foolish and become the butt of their jokes and obscure his feelings and disfigurement behind the smiling mask. Sometimes, he slept without washing it off. There was not much life for him without it anyway.