The Joker

He had been staring at the mirror since the past 20 minutes. Every day at 7.30p.m, his act would begin. People loved him. He was a joker, you see. It was 6.45p.m. Time to put on his make-up. He had been doing this since the past 10 years with a large smile painted on his face. He sighed. Did anyone ever care whether he was actually happy doing this? He had faced a lot of problems in life, but he had to lock them up in a box and keep it in his dressing room for two hours. No matter how he felt, people wanted him to laugh, crack jokes and put up a good show. He was tired of this entire sham. He hated giving that fake smile. He fell into deep thought.

A mother doesn’t want to tell her children that the three jobs she is balancing aren’t enough to buy them food. She decides to sell herself.

A daughter doesn’t want to tell her parents that she is pregnant. So she laughs and smiles a lot until she gets the abortion done.

A husband doesn’t want to tell his wife that he has been fired. So he leaves every morning at office hours to look for a new job and comes home at the appropriate time.

Parents don’t want to tell their children about the death of their pet. So they lie about sending it to a beautiful farm.


He sighed and carefully painted the large smile on his face. As he walked out of his room and entered the ring, he saw his audience ------ mothers, daughters, husbands, parents, families. He realized, at some point of time, everyone lives a life of a clown. He was not different from anyone. He smiled at them and this time, it was genuine!