The show must go on

It's a lost battle, but they refuse to take it lying down. For, when Kohinoor Circus opened its first show this year, the Russian family of four artistes put up their best performances. So what if they had the lone audience of a mother-child duo in the otherwise empty stands.

International artistes from the split USSR: from Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine are part of the artiste troupe in the Kohinoor Circus that has pitched its tent at Sion on the Eastern Express Highway.

But the vacant seats on the first day first show only proved to be disheartening for father Rustom, mother Olga, daughter Alyona and twins Valeriy and Timur. This, despite the Kohinoor advertisements boasting of the presence of several international performers.

Rustom, who has been performing ever since he was a child, said he will continue to perform even if the stands are empty. “We may die, but the art will live. The show must go on,” said another performer on conditions of anonymity.

Cities, Mumbai included, have long stopped opening their doors to circus. But even as the ring of life goes around in pithy circles, its artistes refuse to give up the continual struggle they must face to survive. Most people in the vicinity of the circus preferred going to a nearby multiplex, supermarket or mall, instead of wasting time on a 'dying art'.