Photo Feature

A Fading Tradition

Once the most popular form of entertainment among the old and young alike, especially in the villages, the travelling circus like The New Komla Circus Party is becoming an extinct species. With little or no patronage the few circus groups left, have fallen into great financial hardship with the performers earning a pittance for the life-threatening acts they must attract the crowds with. Behind the cheap makeup and raunchy dance numbers, the frightening falls, jumps and contortions are sadder tales of people on the fringes, trying their best to earn a living. The acts have lost their lustre, the crowds are thinning, but for these struggling performers, the show must go on.

Photos: Zahedul I. Khan

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