We have arrived in India, all of us, more or less intact and now enjoying the peace of our bootcamp location and haven of Kudle beach, Gokarna. We have begun our tour preparations away from the continuous honks of Mumbai traffic, the persistant calls of the various wallahs and the distinct smells that are unique to the big cities of this vibrant land.

Our show is steadily coming together: complete with silly magicians, monkeys and cheesy dances. We are also learning to become expert teachers, learned travellers and masters of the ever so helpful (and unhelpful!) Indian head wobble.

Our days are really full with so much to learn and plan. The continuous (but very welcome!) sun makes it quite full on for us too! Our sunset swims in the sea and juggling on the beach are certainly hugely enjoyable at the end of a long day.

Next week we will perform our show here on Kudle beach, before making the 2 days train journey north eastwards to the oldest recorded city in the world, Varanasi. We will there begin our teaching and performing tour – surrounded by excited children, sacred cows and the holy Ganges river.

Until then we are enjoying this time getting to know each other, our strengths, our maybe-not-strengths-quite-yet (!) and as it is impossible to hide in India living so closely together, the ever changing patterns of our bowel movements.

We have a great group and are all massively excited to be taking part in this project – so thank you again to all of you who have supported us to help us be here.

Photos and videos and more updates will follow soon.

Much love from the PWB team of 2012.

xxxx

The clown once lived in freedom
He traveled all alone
Across the land and round the world
Deep inside there was his home

Being happy almost all the time
His life was bright and colourful
He gave laughter to the people
To be a clown was wonderful

But something always got him down
Something took his happiness
‘Twas the farewell from his new friends
The reason for his sadness

When their paths went separate ways
The clown would stop his game
Real tears rolled down his face
And his heart it felt the pain

But luckily one autumn day
An old man came with good advice
Be sad, he said, but not for long
‘Cause friends are here for life

And believe me, after every end
A new beginning will always come
And you say goodbye, and meet again
One day, for sure, consider it done

- Claus Mikosch

This show was in Kalimpong, a 2 and a bit hour journey on a bumpy, twisty, windy, wobbly road in a jeep. The show throughout the tour has always been a great unifier. It began with ideas sketched out on a giant piece of paper in a cold garage in London, followed by two weeks of rehearsing and training in the paradise of Kudle beach in Gokarna. A mass combination of energy, ideas and fun simmered in the Indian sun and matured over time to become something really special which we all feel immensely proud to have been involved with. Witnessing from its very inception how it’s evolved over time as we have become more comfortable with our characters, our skills and ourselves and really opening up to the crowd. I think we will all miss doing shows together as a team, bringing us all together with members being unwell, tired, hungry or not feeling it, and still digging in and releasing so much energy, joy and fun in such a short amount of time.

The Nuns last night (yes, Nuns) put it perfectly in a speech after the show “It is clear to us all that you’re full of life, love life and the joy of living. We are so pleased you have come here and volunteered your energy, time and skill for us.”

The school and boarding house we went to was called ST JOSEPH’s, a similar set up to EWSCT. After arriving in Kalimpong from our bumpy roller coaster ride up and down and round and round and losing and recovering our colour, we headed straight to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Some members went for a quick shave at the barbers while some others did some speed shopping on the bustling streets. Then back in the jeep (once we found it). Kalimpong has a crazy one way type system and is absolutely heaving with jeeps of various kinds. The town itself seems to consist mainly of two busy roads with jeeps continually streaming through.

We make it to the centre and are welcomed by a young Nun who takes us to the new building built in 2009. We sit down and enjoy a nice cup of tea in china cups and saucers that would make your auntie proud. The majority of the team are acting their best Grandmother afternoon tea behaviour, along with nice accents and correct names: Andrew, David, Matthew.

Watered and fed and so to work. Around 100 children ranging from 6 to 16 are arranged in our standard PWB circle: “Gola Ba Now!” (“Circle to make!”).

Quick intro of people and props and onto an hour of intense circus fun!! Tough job, huh.

Throughout the tour we have been called many things by the children, “Brother”, “Sister”, “Daddy”, “Mummy”, “Didi”, “Uncle”, “Aunty”, “Hey hey”, “Mister”, here it was “Sir, Sir” and “Miss, Miss”. The children were a lot of fun and quick learners. My prop was diabolo and one boy in particular, Raja, was throwing and catching smoothly, managing two tricks all within an hour. A lot of potential here.

“Gola Ba Now”. Time’s up. Show time.

The football pitch is swept up, glass and stones removed. The ever resourceful Dave ties a tarpaulin off the goalpost and we have our backdrop. 100 kids and 4 Nuns and  a few other workers and teachers! What a crowd!! Very enthusiastic, clapping and cheering and laughing. I have a distinct memory of seeing a young girl, maybe nine years old, watching the hoop routine with her mouth wide open and her hands stuck mid clap. Later that same girl blew Elma a kiss. The show was a lot of fun. With the cheers I think our skill levels go up. All went smoothly right up to the finale of the fire skipping rope. The last time we will ever jump this!! Quick hugs beforehand and Go!

Matt gets a whack on the head, “Oooh!” Minus a few hairs! “AHH”. The cheering is immense. The kids all start singing three cheers. Packing up usually involves surrounding the kit with ourselves and trying to make sure the kids don’t touch the fire equipment, especially the hot fire pots at the front. I chose selfishly to go and shake lots of hands, often several at the same time, as this would be our last show and I really wanted to milk it.

So into the “Green Room” (the office). We are all buzzing and comparing each other´s injuries: Livi, a cut on her toe, me a cut on my palm, Matt minus a few hairs and Eluned a swollen eye from a stray club. Singing and prayers issue from the canteen, a very calming sound.

We go up and have dinner with the Nuns, all vegetarians and no wine. Simple and satisfying. It is clear the Nuns are immensely pleased with us, the youngest is positively beaming. Another says she screamed at the head Nun when she saw us playing with fire. “Nobody is burnt, no?” “No, we are professionals”. I do love being described as a professional. A circus professional! A fire professional!!

After the meal we get taken down to the main hall canteen where all the children have finished their prayers and food and are now doing homework. We get escorted to the front thinking we are just waving goodbye and picking up our equipment. Seven empty chairs are waiting at the front. We are asked to sit and a lovely speech is given by the young Nun. A thank you song is also sung to us, and another speech about the joy of life given by the head Nun. Then we are presented with a traditional Nepalese scarf each and Matt says a thank you.

I am close to tears. Not only was it a great show, a great crowd, not only is it our last show with a fantastic group of people, but also this experience of being sung to by 100 children all so amazed and happy to see us, what an experience. I feel so privileged to have been involved with this adventure. I am close to tears.

- Andy

Colourful concrete houses dot the slopes and bushy green trees column out between them. Mornings can be sunny and cold or just drizzly, and we are constantly reminded by the locals and friends we have made here that “the weather isn’t supposed to be like this now”. But it’s still wonderfully clean in comparison to Varanasi. There seems to be a rudimentary rubbish collection system: concrete boxes on every road side where rubbish is thrown and can be sorted through by the rag pickers before being dumped somewhere else.

We have met and been befriended by the owners of a local cafe “Petrichor”, which feels like a second living room with movies and board games, tasty muffins and herbal teas. Also one of our neighbours has a small cake business. These really are the tastiest cakes around (making up for the downgrade in quality of the sweets after moving further north). “Cake Lady”,  as she is commonly known, has baked us some nice birthday treats and desserts. Then there is Emma and Roshan; Emma is the Acting Director of Edith Wilkins Street Children Trust (EWSCT), where all our circus fun happens, while Roshan works with small farmers, forest villages and organic/fairtrade tea gardens in the area.  They have been very welcoming, providing us with cups of tea after workshops and letting us do our washing at their house.

PWB has been provided with a 3 bedroom, 1 kitchen, 1 toilet flat for our stay here by EWSCT. The flat is a 30 minute work-out walk from the centre – up and down, down and up. Luckily the carnivores among us are able to keep our energy levels up with all the butchers around offering great quality bacon, cutlets and sausages!  My first bacon sandwich in 3 months! (Sorry Dave, our third generation Vegi). As in Varanasi there are still lots of dogs around which bark at night but mostly they only give the unicyclists hassle. (Andy got an unlucky surprise when cycling along and a dog bit him on the leg: he is getting rabies jabs now!)

We are settling into a routine here of working three week days with the drop in centre kids and the weekend mornings with the residential children. In our first few days at the EWSCT centre we ran introductions to the props and started writing new names down. As it’s our third project I think I am getting better at names – mainly because they aren’t so unfamiliar any more. I have met at least three Pujas, several Laxshmis and countless Manishes. Success! I’m remembering their names before they even get mine; perhaps it’s the lack of pressure because the children here aren’t as demanding for our attention or shouting “my name, my name!” all the time.

Despite Darjeeling being different in colour, weather, noise, and people from the rest of India – cows and rickshaws have been replaced by lots of jeeps – public performance is still a big thing and on our third day the PWB team settle down to watch a 2-3 hour show. The EWSCT performance has all the trimmings: a colourful backdrop with candy coloured supporting for the roof, a sound system and lots of enthusiastic kids.

It starts off well on a sunny morning outside with some partner work dancing then – suddenly – big drops of rain start falling and everyone bundles inside. After an hour of re-shuffling, nearly everyone has a seat in the big classroom and we continue. Choreography to some traditional and some modern dance music are followed by an award certificates ceremony.The children are applauded for everything from 50 metre races to improved behaviour.

The favourite act seems to be the Euro pop song “Gasolina” which two older boys dance along to. Everyone starts screaming and bouncing up and down – threatening the stability of the building. Teachers drag us to the front to dance and older ones stand on chairs to clap along. The whistling is intense and before the song can finish “again, again” is demanded. Repeat above scene with no less enthusiasm!

While we were here state elections were held on 18^th April. A little bit of context: Darjeeling is part of West Bengal but there seems to be large support for the formation of a separate state “Ghorkaland” because of the large differences in culture and language. Practically every shop and restaurant/hotel have Ghorkaland written on their facades and this issue is playing a major part in voter allegiance regarding parties. The Indian government established an independent hill council in the 1980’s to placate the hill people which is now in turmoil because it didn´t hold democratic elections for 20 odd years. In 2007 the ruling party’s leader was overthrown. Since then the demand for state independence has been renewed.

Results of the recent election will be announced on 13th May and we await the outcome excitedly. As for the EWSCT centre, we are thrilled to be working with such a responsive and friendly group of children – and no doubt due in part to our improved teaching skills – this may prove to be the best project yet.

- Elma

Preparations for the show started early that day (not mentioning the paperwork for permissions and equipment hire) with practice and a walk through to remind the team of the new show format.  As we went through the group pyramid the sun burst through the heavy mountain clouds drenching us in hot beams.  However, just as quickly as it came, it went again bringing on very sad potential of cancellation.

Then it was time to prepare the stage for the event.  With a show that revels in intimacy with the crowd, the raised stage was dismissed in preference for a street level show.  However this meant that some work was needed to make it shipshape; horse and dog waste needed to be cleaned away with water and brush, seating needed to be arranged and a large sound system hired.  With everything in place it was surprising how much of the square our event was taking up.  As we got closer to showtime the light rain cleared and a sunset broke through the heavy cloud.  It’s really going to happen!

Ten minutes before the commencement of my fire safety speech I decided I had enough time to dash to the nearest toilet to ensure no anxiety during the show.  Running through the early evening tourist crowd I bump into our friend Roshan.  “Hi Matt, here’s the journalists!”  Did I have time for an interview?  Glancing at my watch: “Sure but we’ll have to make it quick…”  Business cards passed out, hands shaken, questions answered… I finally manage to relieve myself and start dashing to back stage when I’m intercepted by a camera crew.  “Time for an interview?”  Er, um, yeah sure, why not…  Clowning on stage is already underway by the time I manage to get back to my point by the sound system to cut the sound and run out “…don’t try this at home folks…”.  Before we know it the policeman (Olly) is whistling from the back of the audience “Namaste!  Namaste!”.  It’s showtime!

As dance turns to juggling, juggling to ribbons, ribbons to theatre and theatre to hoops we notice more and more faces appearing on buildings around the square.  By the time the fire is being spun, hooped and juggled, everywhere you look there are faces of people thoroughly enjoying a show that will last in our memories for a very long time.  Definitely a performing highlight of my career and very special feeling to give something to the wonderful people of Darjeeling.

Matt

ps. Read the local press: http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/main-news/general/2696-the-pwb-team-in-darjeeling.html

Sue Do Neem

March on Varanasi 2011

I have just managed to creep away from bag-watching, after overseeing the ribbon act, to watch the show with the swelling, yet patient, crowd (the street sellers are making big bucks tonight.) Although we have our own back stage area cordoned off with sheets, there is no security and the street kids are very enquisitive.  The stage has been very well prepared, set against a white sheet backdrop with a glittering red border, the children of Asha Deep entertain the predominantly Indian crowd with a Masala of dancing, singing, drama, traditional and modern music as well as 6 circus and dance acts which PWB have overseen. A three hour epic!

Behind the stage religious life continues as the evening Puja (purifying ceremony) contends with our sound system. The tech crew seem unable to play one song all the way through and in one particularly memorable act, couples dressed in jeans and flashy jackets flip between the ever changing tempos of at least 10 songs, they are all popular however as the group of lads at the front seem intent on expressing – a mega mix of Indian Pop.

The circus acts are peppered in between: Uni-cycling, Juggling, Ribbons dancing, Hoop, Diablo and Ensemble dance. We have worked closely with the children at the after school club and its fantastic to see it all come together.  Diabolos are passed, ribbons tangled, hoops contend with Saris, frills and heavy colourful cotton, as we realize too late that a dress rehearsal could have been useful. We are all more nervous than before our own shows! We give the kids prep talks and last minute reminders of routines they have worked so hard on. Working so closely with these kids has allowed me a glimpse into their lives; I hope that has broadened their horizons too. Especially, thanks to Asha Deep  Vidayashram for allowing us to teach here.

The children who have put the most amount of practice time in really shine now, especially in the fire shows! A first for PWB in this project: a 5 person fire staff routine as well as poi, fire devil stick, juggling and fire hoop are proudly performed back to us, its very exciting to see and has been a big motivational factor for the kids! Unicycles are shared out to three kids, new to this prop at the beginning of the 4 weeks, now they are showing off their skills at the start of the show and during the interval. We all pack up together and enjoy Aloo- Chat snacks with the children, the last time we will see them. Goodbye and until next time!

- Elma

“It’s not coming out! I’ve been rubbing for ages!” hollers Dave from the shower.

“You’ve got to rub pretty hard, but it will come out eventually”, Olly laughs reassuringly. Dave enters the room, at first glance he appears to be clean, as one would expect having just come out of the shower, however upon closer inspection the colour of his face resembles that of a beetroot salad. This is due to the fact that the team have been prematurely celebrating the festival of colour and attacking one another with brightly coloured dyes (some of which seem to be more permanent than others), on the rooftop of the guest house.

Ordinarily there is very little that will get the whole team up and exerting that amount of energy so early in the morning, but the prospect of being on National television appeals to the majority of the team. After their previous night’s performance on the banks of the river Ganges, the exhausted team members were informed by Kailash, the guest house owner, that television reporters would be round first thing in the morning to film them all engaging in ‘colour play’. Holi represents yet another curiosity of Indian culture, a time of year to celebrate merriment by throwing powdered dye into peoples faces, ensuring the efficiency of the dye is maximised by then having a water fight; the end result being a multi coloured pigmentation to the skin, which becomes semi-permanent.

No sooner had the metal trays of colour been laid out, hands were darting towards the neatly arranged piles of bright powders, all eager to ‘get amongst it’. Fueled by the uncertainty of where the next blow was coming from, the frenzy commenced furiously until there was no more colour left, so the colour play turned into general silliness involving unicycles, clown noses and wrestling between team members. Hopefully this provided the television reporters with sufficient footage to show PWB in a playful and positive light…

(The following day)

The attempt to dissuade women from getting involved in the fun during the morning of Holi proves to be ineffective and some of the team have decided to brave it, armed with multi coloured powders, water pistols and much courage. Valiantly, a small gang leave the guest house, returning after some time covered form head to toe in multi coloured camouflage and most of their dignity seemingly intact. Those of us who have chosen to keep clean on this morning of craziness tentatively step out onto the balcony of the guest house to witness the battle field on the street below, knowing that an attack could come from any angle.

By noon, the craziness seems to have subsided and apart from the odd solo, multicoloured straggler, all that remains are bright puddles and vibrant stains which now decorate the street. The prospect of safely walking the streets without getting attacked begins to lure the less brave of us and we cautiously wander into the desolate town in search of a meal (hopefully free of any colourants).

- Olly xxx