One of the most unexpected things that happened to us in Kerala was our visit to a flower show in the town outside the wildlife park. Becky and Sarah (from the Kolkata team) had both headed back to our house thing after a large dinner, but the rest of us had our attention grabbed by the bright lights and exciting noises of the flower show, and at 10RS each (13p) what could possibly go wrong- however after wandering past rows of flowers, shrubs and large vegetable carved as the taj mahal, the novelty wore off. It seemed India had let as down.
But no! As we rounded the corner (after the taj mahal melons), a huge structure came into view with a large poster on its side- stating it was a circus . The noise coming from it was insane- it was a large “wall of death” made of what looked like scaffolding and old planks, and the whold structure vibrated and swayed as the motorbikes roared along the walls. We bought our tickets for 15RS each and headed up the stairs, slightly worried to see that parts had sheared off with all the vibrations.
We stood around the top of the top of the wall of death and watched with goosebumps as four motor bikes and two cars roared vertically around the wooden walls (with planks missing and broken). Only in India. The guy next to Jamie and me told us it was the most dangerous circus in India (no kidding), and showed us how to hold out money for the bike riders to snatch as they went past. we held out our 10Rs notes and had our arms nearly torn of by the guy grabbing it. There were no pads, no helmets, no barriers. It was the most insane place ever. It would have been absolutely awesome if it wasn’t for the three year old kid they put in one of the cars- Anna and Naomi left in disgust-it was horrible that they put a kid through such danger just for shock value.
David
