Gloria and Raja the Chimp, Gemini Circus, Perintalmanna, India, 1989
(catalog number 401S-477-025)

EVER SINCE my first trip to India, I had wanted to photograph the Indian circus. Over the years, whenever I visited an Indian city, I would check to see if there was a circus in town. If there was, I would go there to see the show and take pictures.

I first met Raja in Bombay in the early 1970s. He was a young chimp working with a circus. His act was wheeling a 2-year-old child in her pram around the circus ring. His job was humiliating, and I sensed that it embarrassed him.

Many years later, in 1989, Ray DeMoulin arranged for me to get a grant from Kodak to produce a book on the Indian circus. I met Raja again. He was now part of the Gemini Circus, which was performing in Perintalmanna. He immediately made eye contact with me. This may seem strange, but I felt he remembered me. This time he had a better job: his act was to ride a big motorcycle around the ring. I still felt that he had reservations about being a performer. Everyone was afraid of Raja because he was so large, but he was afraid of nothing, except the elephant. His trainer knew this, and whenever Raja was bad or escaped from his cage, his trainer would bring the elephant around to confront Raja, and Raja would cower.

I spent a week at the Gemini Circus. Raja and I became friends. Every morning I would come by to greet him in his cage. Whenever I was nearby, he would clap his hands as a command for me to come and see him. I would scratch his head, and he would give me a kiss.

The day I was leaving, Raja's trainer was angry with him. He had purposely turned over his motorcycle in the middle of a performance and glared ferociously at the audience. They even had to bring in the elephant to control him. I wanted to see him and say good-bye, but his trainer said no. I think Raja knew that I was leaving. He started to cry and clap his hands. I went to his cage, scratched his head, and kissed him good-bye.

A week later, I heard that Raja had died of stomach complications. He was 22 years old. Chimpanzees in captivity do not live very long. The owner of the circus was beside himself with grief.

This photograph is of Raja with Gloria. She was a bird trainer who also loved Raja, almost as much as I did.