It's not just the fuzzy hairdo and colourful clothes that transform Josef Bogenfuers to 'Jockel the Clown' — it's the sense of calmness that he brings to his face and the subtle humour which can make any frown turn upside down.
Trained from one of the best clown schools in the world, Josef has been a professional clown for over eight years. But this German expat says that he knew he wanted to be a clown ever since he was a child.
He still remembers standing in front of the mirror and making funny faces at himself. "That's the thing about clowns, the joke is always on us. So, one must first learn to joke about one's self," says Josef, who was recently in the City for the 'Indo-German Urban Mela'.
But it's not like Josef became a clown overnight. After dabbling with theatre and puppetry, Josef felt that there was something missing. "I did a lot of puppetry. As much as I liked it and enjoyed listening to the children laugh, Ireally wanted to see their expressions and the joy they get from interacting with a clown. And that pushed me to take this up as a career," says Josef.
During the 'mela', Josef was often seen around the pavilions making people laugh, creating balloon toys and even treating some of them to a few magic tricks. But his job isn't as easy as it looks. Getting into character may be an easy task for him because of his theatre background. But what happens when he has a bad day?
"That's when the real challenge arises. People often forget that clowns are human too. How does one keep smiling when inside, you really don't want to? When I have a bad day, I just push myself to put on that make-up and go out there and interact with the children because listening to them laugh makes me forget everything," he says.
Josef was so overwhelmed with the surroundings and the people in Bangalore that he decided to stay back and work for a longer time. Being a special arts teacher, Josef believes that the art of clowning can prove to be therapeutic for children with special needs.
"I do plan to stay back this time and volunteer a lot. It was the people that I met in this country who made me feel sure of coming here and I always wanted to work in a country like India," he adds. Indian food is another thing that Josef enjoys.
"People here really like their food. Also, this is the only place which has a lot of options for breakfast, which is so unlike Germany. But that's what I really like about this country — it is unique in its own way and I'm looking forward to living here and exploring the culture," he signs off.