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ShareRight in the centre of the gorgeous open space, a bunch of performers line up to play their hearts out every Sunday morning starting at 6. The show lasts almost two hours, after which a mix of the cybercity's joggers cheer them, their claps reverberating through the serene ambience of the green space.
But each time, before the audience can come out of the musical trance, they are intercepted by a gaggle of beggars and tramps beseeching them for alms. That, my friends, is like the fly in the ointment for all visitors to Cubbon Park.
The untimely interception often makes me wonder if it is possible to gainfully employ mendicants and help them earn a livelihood? In Mumbai, near the airport, vagrants are not allowed to beg and if someone breaches this rule, he is at the mercy of a police constable's cane.
Why can't we identify such drifters, training them on the basis of their strengths and making them street performers? Heritage experts and town planners the world over have been successful in training homeless individuals in busking. This is especially true in cities that have many heritage monuments. The practice of busking -- performing in public precincts for meagre tips -- can also restore their dignity. Busking acts can be anything that tourists find entertaining.
They can be trained in theatre, gymnastics, animal performances, card tricks, clowning, mime, dance, juggling and magic tricks. Other art forms like musical performances, puppeteering, snake charming, storytelling, poetry recitals, sketching and painting could be sponsored by corporate groups.
Near the Charles Bridge in Prague or near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the imaginative use of common instruments has been deployed to telling effect. A simple i-Pod attached to an amplifier, on which the performer can play a single musical instrument, can give the audience an impression of orchestra-jamming.
In the US, buskers can be spotted at various locations frequented by travellers and tourists. Subway stations and gardens like the Central Park are their favourite haunts.
India's IT hub Bangalore can take this up as a case study and introduce street performers to a new livelihood and more essentially, self-respect. If not all over Bangalore, maybe at least at Cubbon Park and Lalbagh!
