Residents of Sectors I and II have discovered a new place to hang out. They are beginning their days by heading to Baisakhi Park with bananas, spending their afternoons by the “time kol” behind the same park and evenings are again spent at the park next to AMP Vaisaakkhi mall.

A mini-circus, named Sonali Circus, has come to Baisakhi Park as part of the Rabindra Jayanti celebrations organised by Baisakhi Abasan Puja Committee. The shows are in the evening but there is something, or rather someone, who is drawing visitors even when the circus is not on: Champa. 

A meal for Jumbo 

Champa is the elephant that has come from Burdwan with Sonali Circus. She is kept under a shade next to the big circus tent, behind a collapsible gate, but is in full view of the public and people are coming from all over to watch her. 

“I didn’t know there was an elephant here. I’ll bring my kids next time. This is a much better view than in the zoo,” said Manik Biswas, who works in a CF Block gym and had come to the mall on Tuesday for purchases. He clicked pictures of the elephant on his phone to take home.

On Monday noon, students of AG Block’s Bidhannagar Bishwakobi Vidyayatan discovered Champa at lunch. And there was no stopping the braver ones among them from tearing leaves and branches of nearby trees and offering them to her. A hurrah went up every time she accepted a treat. For most, it was a maiden encounter with a live elephant. “She doesn’t have teeth,” noted Ankush Haldar, giving rise to speculation how she was managing to chew the leaves.

The circus arrived last weekend and since then Champa’s caretaker Raju Singh has been taking her for morning walks around the block. “It is also a chance for Champa to take me towards the leaves she feels like munching that day. Her favourites are Bot, Ashwath and Banana. I let her break some branches and eat them on the spot and carry back more to offer her the rest of the day,” says Raju, adding that an elephant never gets full. 
Which is a good thing because residents, and even shopkeepers, are not getting tired of feeding her. 

“Out of the way!” shouted a vegetable vendor at onlookers on Tuesday morning, running towards Champa with a basket of cauliflower leaves and dropping a few potols on the way. He had sneaked in through the collapsible gate and, resting the basket on the ground, he took out half a pumpkin and rolled it towards Champa, whose rear foot was chained. 

Champa gracefully picked it up with her trunk, put it into her mouth and that was the last of it. “I’m bringing her whatever I can offer — leftovers as well as fresh vegetables that I can spare,” smiled vendor Chiranjib Mridha, as Champa turned to him for more and he rolled over some tomatoes. 

The secretary of Baisakhi puja committee, Manojit Mandal, had taken a bel for Champa. “I had heard that elephants eat the pulp of the bel without scratching the surface and wanted to see it for myself. It worked,” he says amazed.
Rakesh Singh, the manager of the circus, says Champa is their biggest star, especially since the government banned lions and tigers from being featured in circuses. “I don’t know how old Champa is but she has been with us for more than 25 years now. She has never thrown a tantrum,” says Rakesh. 
Bath-time fun 

The next high point is at 5 o’clock, when Champa goes for a shower. Raju unchains her and Champa knows what to do. She walks towards the gate, that is tiny in comparison, bends down, squeezes out and then walks casually across Baisakhi Park to the municipal tap. 

And boy, is Champa a show-stopper! Children drop their cricket bats and run behind. Cows grazing in the park stare confused for a moment and then run at speeds not associated with the bovine species. Street dogs have long disappeared but a pet dog can be heard barking from a high-rise balcony. And everyone who is home has come to their windows to watch. 

Raju fills water in a bucket and splashes Champa with it and she obeys when he asks her to turn to a side or to offer her leg to scrub off mud. She drinks water from the bucket and occasionally sprays herself with it, giving rise to collective gasps from the huge crowd.

Soham Das, a five-year-old, had got bananas from his house and almost danced with glee when Champa accepted them from him. Women too said they had shifted the venue of their afternoon adda to the community tap. “The elephant is the biggest topic of discussion these days anyway,” laughed Beauty Hazra as her friends nodded. 
But a male voice from the first floor flat behind the tap breaks the bonhomie. “Take the elephant to some other tap! It took a dump here yesterday while bathing and it was stinking the whole evening.” But public support ensured that the objection got overruled. 

Let the games begin 

Sonali Circus has more than just an elephant. They have a joker, a jugglar, gymnasts and more. 
Some of the most daredevil stunts are performed by Bapi Singh. He grips two strips of cloth hanging from the roof and uses them like “rings” in gymnastics to rise up several feet. He uses the lasso, juggles and even throws daggers blindfolded at a board without grazing the girl standing before it. 

“My father was the stuntman in this circus and he taught me everything I know,” says Bapi, who is 37 but who has been performing since he was five. He has an 11-year-old son, Sathi, who he has trained to be a contortionist. One of Sathi’s tricks is to bend over backwards and touch his ankles when standing atop a five-storey-high monument of glass bottles, tools and planks.

The circus’ entire cast and crew comprises 14 people and suddenly you realise that the boy selling peanuts in the crowd was hanging upside down from the sky a few minutes ago. 

“I do a lot of things in this circus,” smiles Bishu Singh, the shy 17-year-old who sells nuts, dances on stilts and spins from a height hanging from his mouth without so much as a safety net spread underneath. “My kaka (Bapi) teaches me and I’ve been performing since I was eight. I quit school after Class IV. We’ve done these stunts so many times that we neither feel nervous nor scared. But I like it when people applaud.”
There is also a goat who walks a thin metal strip and Champa performs the final act by playing the priest. She bows before a Shiva linga, garlands it, rings a bell and sprays water on it. 

“My phone!” yelped a man sitting in the front row as Champa’s generous spray of water showered him too. But his children doubled over with laughter. “I loved it,” said nine-year old Kshitiz Upadhayay of AJ Block, who had begged his grandfather to bring him to the first circus of his life. “The stuntmen were brilliant and the elephant was awesome.”
Last word

Mandal says they invited a circus as Salt Lake has never hosted one before. “We knew it would draw children and we are trying to organise some Tagore-oriented cultural programmes alongside the circus so kids will learn something about the bard too,” he said. “While response has been good, we shall take feedback from all quarters after the circus ends and if it is positive, we may make this an annual event.”

The performers are happy. “We know that people here are expecting a show of the scale of Mera Naam Joker but we are a mini circus that does not have the budget to match the decor, costumes or lights as shown in the film. All we have is talent and we are happy to see that people of Salt Lake are appreciating that,” says Bapi. 
Indeed, some of the gymnasts wear socks with holes in them. The circus’s tent is barely held together by  patchwork and the colour scheme ranges from faded white to loud gold and purple. But the children in the audience look beyond all that. They laugh at the joker, gape at the acrobat and clap for the elephant. 

The circus timings are at 7pm and 8.30pm till around May 25. The exact date will be decided later. The tickets cost Rs 50 and 30.

saltlake@abpmail.com