The Joker is a group of volunteers who dress up as Jokers to visit hospitals.
A typical work day for Sheetal Agarwal includes donning a colorful wig and a red nose to cheer up children recovering in hospitals. Ms. Agarwal is the founder of Clownsellers – a medical clown group in which volunteers dress up as clowns to visit hospitals with the aim of providing emotional relief to patients. “Clownselling or medical clowning is a therapy used to reduce pain, anxiety, and stress using humor,” she explained in a blog post.
Ms. Agarwal, who lives in Delhi, recently sat down with Humans of Bombay and talked about her unique job, the people her group has helped and more. Ms. Agarwal is a social anthropologist by training and a lecturer by profession, but she describes herself as a big clown at heart.
“I was at a retreat in 2016 when I met a ‘medical clown’,” she told Humans of Bombay. Inspired by the woman who described her job as “visiting hospitals and making people smile,” Ms. Agarwal began reading about the medical clown. She was also inspired by Patch Adams, a film about a doctor who treats patients using humor.
“I wanted to give Medical Joker a shot. But it was still a new concept in Delhi,” she said. So Ms. Agarwal sought permission from the health ministry and, once she got it, she began preparing for her first hospital visit.
She put up a post asking for volunteers, and although 33 people signed up, only five showed up on the day of the hospital visit. Though she was terrified, Ms. Agarwal and other volunteers put on their make-up and costumes and went to the pediatric ward.
“I remember walking into the pediatric ward, making a train with my volunteers and singing for the kids. The atmosphere changed! The brows turned into smiles and the crying turned into laughter,” she said.
“I will never forget to get the most optimistic smile from a patient who hadn’t smiled all week! The kids started eating their food and taking their medicines instead of balloons!”
With the success of her first performance, Ms. Agarwal along with the rest of the volunteers started performing at hospitals in Delhi on weekends. “Doctors treated patients with drugs, but we treated them with laughter,” he said, adding that hospitals often called him back, which gave him further encouragement.
“That’s when we started performing more often while still managing the work,” she said. “While I enjoyed what I did, I was told by relatives, ‘You studied to be a clown? What a waste!’ I dismissed them,” Ms Agarwal explained.
Ms. Agarwal’s volunteer group soon grew through oral publicity. Seeing more people join inspired her to start Klosseller, which she describes as “a volunteer group that does stress management activities and spread smiles in hospitals!”
Speaking about the work she had done over the years, Ms Agarwal recalled two incidents that stuck in her mind. “I remember once, a girl was on a ventilator,” she said. I performed for him when he saw it. And would you believe it? She smiled and tried to get up!”
It was the first time the girl was gone in eight days.
In another example, a specially-abled child raised her hand and threw a balloon back at Ms. Agarwal. “Her father was overjoyed!” Medi-Joker remembered.
Ms. Aggarwal says her job is to distract children from pain while in hospital, and it’s a role she’s found very satisfying – so much so that five years later, she worked full-time as a medical clown. To quit his job.
Today, he and the prankster perform in hospitals, orphanages, slums and old age homes. “My parents proudly say, ‘Our daughter saves lives’,” says Ms. Agarwal. “Every day, I tell my volunteers what Patch Adams taught me, ‘When you cure a disease, you may win, you may lose, but when you cure a person, Then you will win, no matter what the outcome!'”
The clownsellers story has racked up thousands of ‘likes’ and comments with social media users on Facebook and Instagram.
Many appreciated the group for their selfless work. One person wrote, “What a heartwarming and inspiring story! Tears are pouring down my eyes! You are doing the most noble cause.”
“Thank you for what you chose to do,” said another.
One Facebook user commented, “It’s a great way to spread happiness among those who need it most.”
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