Applause resonates in the Bombay Circus tent when Seethu Chong juggles batons while balancing on a rolling board.
The middle-aged Chinese woman gently bows to the audience and walks out, all composed amid the cheering.
When the curtains fall and spectators walk away happy, she stretches her leg in her cabin to soothe the ache from performing these acts. She doesn’t complain much though. For, it is the circus act that enables her to make a living and educate her children.
“My eldest son, Karan, is in his first year of engineering in Thiruvananthapuram, and my second son, Hrithik, is in school,” says Seethu in fluent Malayalam.
She has been in India since her birth, she says.
“My parents came from China, a long time ago, and we settled in Thalassery,” she says.
Seethu married Rajesh Kumar Payanadan, also a circus artiste. She began her career at the Great Oriental Circus and performed most of the acts there.
“I have been a trapeze artist too, but of late, I have been doing just the balancing act and juggling,” she says.
Despite all the risks involved in her job, she is happy because the circus company takes care of her.
“It is two years since I saw my children. I speak to them over the phone. My husband quit his job to take care of our children. He visits me sometimes,” says Seethu.
Though her children are first-generation learners, there has been no help from the government, she says. “We entertain people, so the government could help us in some way. The circus company helped me with my son’s college fees, because he studies well,” she says.
Seethu has no desire to visit China.
“I came to the circus to earn a livelihood. I will continue to perform till my health permits me,” she says, rushing off to the next show.
