A Clowning Glory: An Alternative Healing Method

A few doctors are bringing an alternative healing method to town.

- Stuti Aggarwal

A Midst the flurry of white-coated doctors and purposefully striding nurses on a busy morning at the Aravind Eye Hospital in Pondicherry, two red noses stand out. But it’s not a peculiar medical affliction that has brought Fif Fernandes and Hamish Boyd—them with the colourful nasal appendages—to hospital this morning. They too are here as healers and the red noses are part of the uniform, their own clinical props, much like the stethoscopes that dangle around doctors’ necks. Soon, Fernandes and Boyd will begin their rounds and do their juggling acts to the accompaniment of delighted squeals from young and old patients. On occasion, a doctor will even endure a jocular spank from them—if that’s what a patient wants!

The curious goings­on at Aravind Eye Hospital are all part of a pioneering pro­gramme under which trained “medical clowns” or “therapeutic clowns” assist in a holistic medical treatment process by channelling that old piece of wisdom about laughter being the best medicine. The practice, which has become popular in Canada, Italy, Israel and parts of the US, is still in its infa­ncy in India, but slowly gaining traction.  “Hamish and I are professionally trained medical and therapeutic clowns,” says Fernandes, a Tanzanian-born person of Indian origin who worked as a therapeutic clown (and a theatre professi­onal) in Canada before returning to India. Both come from medical families and have been trained in Israel, which has emerged as a centre for training; they now run the Komali MeDi Clown Academy in Auroville.