Sujit Dilip from Maharashtra knows the game of survival in the circus industry. After all, his father managed their Rambo Circus company in the UAE, competing for audiences alongside Russian and Italian troupes—until infighting among sponsors forced them to shift base to India in the 1990s. On the phone from Mumbai, sounding a little tired and disconsolate just a week before the debut of Rambo Circus’s ‘digital show’ on September 25, Dilip rues the slings and arrows suffered by the
Indian circus industry. First the government banned the use of wild animals with no compensation to fill the gap. Then they disallowed employing individuals below 18 years—14- to 18-year-olds are most flexible for training as acrobats and trapeze artistes, says Dilip. Also, international circus performers could only visit India on an employment visa, when most overseas circus companies send their artistes on cultural visa, as they operate under their respective culture ministries.
“We are worse than farmers. We do not get any kind of loans because we are not stable; we are travelling all the time,” says Dilip. “There are just 15 to 16 circus companies left in India now, but why is the government not helping us? There are so many permissions required just to perform in the capital. No wonder I do not ever see an Indian flag in the performing arenas of international circus festivals.”
Denne historien er fra October 18, 2020-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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Denne historien er fra October 18, 2020-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
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RECRUITERS SPEAK
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MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI