Circus

Probably, children today cannot scream: The circus comes to town!; at least, not children in Malaysia. It would not be surprising if many do not know what a circus is too considering that the circus never comes to town these day and whatever circus one probably sees is just from the idiot box. A circus, by the way, is a travelling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, jugglers, tightrope walkers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists. Their acts are often performed in a big tent called the big top, more specically in a circular arena called a ring which has tiered sitting around it.Foreign circuses had come to perform in Malaysia before, more notably The Royal Circus of India which had in fact made its way toTaiping a long time ago. Foreign acts are actually a rarity. In the 60s and early 70s, there was actually a local Chinese circus that toured the whole country called Tai Thean Kiu which probably translates into the Great Circus of the World. I remember getting very excited to see a group of elephants marching into the little town of Batu Kurau in either 1969 or 1972. The circus had really come to town! The circus was to be held in Padang Astaka, a field near the local secondary school, SMK Dato Kamaruddin. A merry carnival atmosphere soon overtook the quiet place and villagers thronged the area to watch a rather polished act which had all the ingredients of an actual circus. Students even got to see the circus on concession tickets in the afternoon. The local Chinese circus toured other places after that and then no news was heard of it. Besides the idiot box, nowadays, stunts like those in the circus perhaps could only be seen on the streets...

Care for some circus?