F-CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN[PART VI]

PART - VI

THE ANNAUL CULTURAL PROGRAMME OF
SONARPUR

The Indian summer was getting hotter and hotter. The meteorological
office of Sonarpur showed the temperature chart as-----

Maximum Temperature--------- 42.5 Degree Celsius

Minimum Temperature--------- 36.0 Degree Celsius

Humidity-------------------------- 84\\\%

Life seemed to come to a halt during the daytime. Laziness crept into
the people and daytime activities diminished to its lowest level.

Kumar and his friends, had by now, seen the circus-----some once,
others twice, while a handful had been chancy and lucky enough to see
the circus the third time also. But the interest of these boys on the
circus was ebbing out Children are always interested in a thing as long
as they enjoy it and soon this circus did not interest them much for
they had already seen it. Kumar no longer visited the circus regularly
in the morning with his father. He used to have late mornings because
of his vacations, and kept himself busy with other activities. But time
and again the circus topic did find a place in their
conversation.

Every summer, during their long summer vacation, these children had
busied themselves with their Annual Cultural Programme. This cultural
programme used to be full of song, dance, drama, comic, mimicry and
other ways of displaying their talent. Janaki had been the leader and
organiser of this annual cultural programme for the last four years.
Janki was a bit senior to these children. She was doing her final year
of the Bachelors Degree and was capable of carrying out some
responsible work. One day the peon of Sonarpur Children's Cultural
Society was found going around the houses of the Society members,
getting his registered signed by the members after going through the
notice, which said-

Dear Members,

You are hereby requested to assemble at the Sonarpur Children's
Cultural Society meeting hall on Saturday, the 16th.of this month at
5p.m.to discuss and chalk out plans for getting geared up to put up our
Annual Cultural Programme.

Please contribute a small amount of Rs.10.00 for making arrangements
for snacks for the assembled members. Don't disappoint me. Be
punctual.

Thanking You,

Secretary,

Sonarpur Children's Cultural Society.

Janaki

The meeting was conducted at the specified time. The programme was
drawn up. The boy's were going to enact a scene from Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar------The murder of Julius Caesar by the conspirators and
that famous speech by Mark Antony.Kumar was given the role of Brutus,
Deepak would play the role of Caesar, Sumit was to play the role of
Antony and accordingly other roles were distributed. Kumar and his
friends were now busy mugging up their dialogues and speeches and there
was no room for them to divert their minds elsewhere.

'THE GREAT INDIAN CIRCUS' was of course running its full house for the
regular three shows. Their advertisement and propaganda had also come
down. But business at the Circus Maidan was at full swing. There were
many afternoons when there was the Kalbaisakhi's and even there were a
few days when there was hailstorm also. All these things did not stop
the people from going to the circus. At times when there were short
period heavy downpours, the rainwater would find its way into the
circus tent through the small holes in it. But the people managed
themselves by moving away from the leaking portions and making
themselves comfortable at a drier place. So the Kalbaishakhi's, the
hailstorms or the heavy downpours were never a problem for the people
who visited the Circus Maidan.

Here, at the other end, the children of the Sonarpur Children's
Cultural Society were getting ready for their grand finale. During the
rehearsal hours, at times, the circus topic would spring up. They would
laugh and jest by speaking about the clowns, talk about the animals and
also about the performances of the others, but very soon this topic
would dry out. The children, by now were enjoying themselves. Quite a
number of days of their vacation had slipped past so calmly and quietly
that they were not also aware of it. Now thoughts of the re-opening of
their schools traversed their minds.

At last the day came for their annual function to be staged. Everything
was staged perfectly and was all praise for those participating
children and for Janaki also. The helm of activity now fell to its
lowest ebb. Only a few days remained for their schools to re-open.
Suddenly, one day, words went round that the next week, would be the
last week of
'THE GREAT INDIAN CIRCUS' at Sonarpur.

One evening, the boys gathered at Kumar's house. As their annual
function had ended again these boys were left without engagement. They
sat down and discussed as to what to do until the re-opening of their
schools. Kumar said, " You see, now we have another ten days for our
school to re-open. The circus is also going to leave Sonarpur within a
week, so, I will again go with Dad to the circus and meet my friends
Raju and Rani".

" O, that will be so nice. You can also try to take us for one day at
least. Please try to get permission from Mr. Raman and please??? take
us at least once", said Ravi.

Kumar sat gravely for a minute or two and then said, " what fun we all
can have if we go together. I will try my best _____ no I will get the
permission from Mr. Raman".

It was getting dark, so all the boys got up to go back to their houses.
Their meeting was dispersed for the day with Kumar's promise to get the
permission, and, to re assemble again later on for chats, laughs and
what not.

To be continued????????.