Do you remember the first time you went to the circus? I do. I must have been about four or five years old and I remember being so excited! To finally see a circus live! The animals, all those mysterious characters that I had only seen on TV! And then, the parents were indulgent as well as they allowed us candyfloss and everything else! It was the most beautiful day of my young life. I came out of the show with stars in my eyes. I fell asleep dreaming I had joined the circus.

Since then, every time I have been to those kinds of shows, I have come back with the same kind of magic; I think every child at least once in their lives should be given the opportunity to enter this mysterious universe where everything is make belief and everything is possible. Which is why I couldn?t be any happier that the Lanzac circus is visiting. I wish I were still a child.

You see, I do not go to the circus anymore. Silly, aren?t I? But a few years ago, on May Day, there was a circus next to where I used to live. Still a child at heart, I was so excited and I ran to my housemates to tell them about it, convinced we were all going. When, one after the other, they told me they refused to go to the circus, I stopped short. ?Why the hell not? Are you guys crazy?? I remember asking them. Do you know what they told me? ?You think it?s OK to keep wild animals in captivity, vehicle them around and tame them just so to please bored people?? I froze. And thought hard. I later learnt that the same went for zoos; my meat-eating friends somehow could not bring themselves to condone what they called an act of barbarism and boycotted all such activities.

I thought they were silly and off I went to enjoy my mysterious friends and their world of dream. But a seed had been sown whether I liked it or not. It took me a while. Today, I absolutely refuse to go to the circus because the way I think has changed.

So, as glad as I might be that the Lanzac people have come to sell dreams to our young ones and entertain our bored population - in bad need of ?harmless? activities - by the way, let?s have a thought for those beautiful creatures made to wander in jungles but who now happen to live in captivity and according to their ?masters?? whims and caprices. Let us thank our lucky stars we are not in their place.

Human beings should know what it?s like to live in captivity. Reading up on history would help. Goodness me, our ancestors were slaves once, let us not forget that! But this attitude is typical of human beings- we never seem to learn and arrogance will be our downfall. Just watch our politicians if you don?t believe me.

Having said that, companies like Lanzac are only responding to a demand. And the world is short of dreams and of magic these days. So maybe we should say welcome and thank you. For the magic? that is not really magic.