31 July,2026 10:45 AM IST | Mumbai | Bhumika Israni
Sheetal Agarwal
Ten years ago, Sheetal Agarwal had stumbled upon a profession that she had never heard of. During a retreat in Ahmedabad, she met someone who was a medical clown. Curious, Agarwal searched online, watched Patch Adams, and discovered that laughter could become a tool for healing. That moment changed the course of her life. "I was fascinated by the idea that you could walk into a hospital and make someone smile," she recalls. "I always smiled as a defence mechanism because I was shy; this suddenly felt like my smile had a purpose."
Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, Agarwal grew up visiting old-age homes and children's shelters every weekend. Those experiences planted the seeds of service, but she never imagined they would lead her to hospitals wearing a red clown nose. At the time, she considered herself an introvert and was working as a lecturer after studying Sociology and Social Anthropology. Determined to introduce medical clowning in India, she put out a Facebook post looking for volunteers. Thirty-three people responded. She approached the Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi for permission, researched the science behind medical clowning and entered a government children's hospital with just five volunteers. "I always say dinosaurs were running in my stomach that day," she recalls. "I was terrified. When we came out after five hours though, we could not stop smiling."
That volunteer initiative eventually became Clownselors Foundation, now a registered non-profit that has spent the past decade bringing therapeutic clowning to hospitals, old-age homes, orphanages, schools, refugee communities, prisons and Indian Army camps. More than 900 volunteers have joined the movement, collectively touching over nine lakh lives. Unlike circus performers, medical clowns do not entertain from a distance. They interact one-on-one with patients, observing their emotional state before building trust through spontaneous play, conversation, movement or humour. The objective is not merely laughter but emotional connection. Agarwal moved to Mumbai in 2023, a city she now represents on national and international platforms. It offer her fresh momentum. "Mumbai has been special because people value this work," she says. "It has helped spread awareness and opened opportunities to collaborate across different spaces."
The Foundation now trains hospital staff in therapeutic clowning at healthcare institutions in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other cities, encouraging doctors and nurses to use empathy, play and communication. International collaborations have further shaped her practice. Learning from medical clowns in Australia, Spain and Israel has reinforced the importance of infection control, body language and culturally sensitive engagement.
India has a long way to go in recognising medical clowning as a legitimate healthcare intervention.
Her long-term vision is to ensure that "doses of laughter receive equal importance as doses of medicine". To achieve that, Clownselors plans to develop structured training modules for nursing and medical colleges, expand hospital partnerships in Mumbai, launch a Pune chapter and introduce therapeutic clowning to more government healthcare institutions.
Even after a decade, Agarwal admits she still feels nervous before entering every hospital.
Yet each smile, conversation or quiet moment of connection reminds her why she continues. "Life is precious. Sometimes, our role is not to cure someone but simply to make a difficult journey a shade lighter."
Log on to @clownselors
Clownselors' work expands beyond hospitals. Since 2022, they have conducted sessions with communities in Kashmir, including soldiers stationed near Pangong Lake. An elderly villager told her he had not laughed heartily in 12 years, while a soldier in his forties confessed it was the first time since his school days that he played games just for fun.
