Real Magic

As the magician waved his wand and brought out a pigeon from his hat my friend Deepak gave out a big yawn. “My God! This show is so boring. Whatever made you bring me to this show Man!” he complained. This was his usual habit. It was very difficult to impress Deepak. He was a born critic. In a 700 Rs ticket magic show, he was expecting to watch some David Blaine magic. “Stop cribbing dude!” I said “The show has just started. This magician has great tricks up his sleeve. Just wait and watch.” “Ya, Ya let’s see,” he said in his usual bored tone. I didn’t know if this magician knew any better tricks but I didn’t want to hear Deepak cribbing throughout the show. “Jai! Pass me the popcorn Man!” he told me and I obliged by handing him the popcorn tub. Deepak and I were roommates. We studied at the same Engineering college “Rashtriya Shiksha Kendra” or RSK for short. Deepak was from Haryana and I was from Karnataka. Our college was in Delhi. We heard that the great Indian magician Jadugar Ali was performing at FICCI Auditorium this Saturday and decided to attend his show. The auditorium was packed with people and we were sitting on the ground floor just a few rows away from the stage. Jadugar Ali brought out a pigeon from his hat and drew a thunderous applause from the audience. The children seated near our chairs were excited and were clapping loudly.

Jadugar Ali called some volunteers from the audience for his next act. A few enthusiastic people went to the stage. They were asked to line up in an arc. The magician then folded a hand kerchief and asked all the volunteers if they could see through it. None of them could see through the hand kerchief. The magician then blindfolded himself with the kerchief and asked the volunteers to write some numbers on the black board which was kept at the center of the stage. He could guess the numbers accurately. Next, he asked them to write some complex Algebraic equations and could solve them all instantly which again drew thunderous applause from the audience. But, again Deepak was unmoved. “Dude! I definitely think he has a hidden micro earphone and someone is guiding him from behind the stage using a hidden camera” he explained his theory behind the trick. I nodded my head. After all, magic has some hidden tricks and his theory did seem plausible. “I wish this guy would show us some cool stuff! All this is so boring and childish” he again started complaining. “Let’s wait and see. I have heard that his rope trick is world class”. “Hmm!” was the only response Deepak could muster.

The next trick was indeed the world-famous rope trick. Two side artists brought a huge rope in the center of the stage. The magician was handed over a Pungi or Been which is flute like wind instrument used to charm snakes in India. He started playing the pungi and to everyone’s astonishment, the rope started swaying like a snake and started rising. The head of the rope was looking like the fangs of a king cobra. This made everyone sit up in their seats. I saw that even Deepak had an astonished look on his face and he said “Awesome man! How the hell is he doing this trick!” and started clapping. The audience joined him in the applause and everyone gave the magician a standing ovation. Finally, something could excite my friend. “What an amazing trick dude! Unbelievable!” my friend was getting lost for superlatives. “Yes! It was quite amazing!” I agreed.
The final act was a new trick. Ali called it “The Super Man” trick. Once again he called out for volunteers. To my utter amazement, Deepak ran to the stage in a blink of an eye and volunteered. The magician whispered something into his ears and he nodded. The magician made him wear a superman cape and asked him to say “Up! Up! And Away!”. Deepak raised his right hand in Superman style and said the magical words. To everyone’s utter astonishment he was flying. He went as high as 10 feet in the air and I could hear him shouting like a little girl. “Get me down! Get me down! Please” he was begging the magician as the audience looked on in amazement. The magician obliged and he came down. Someone helped him to take the cape out and looked quite faint. With shaking legs, he came back to his seat and just sat there without saying a word. I did not bother to ask him what had happened till the show was over.

After the show was over and we had boarded the metro to get back to our hostel I asked him “Dude! Are you alright? What happened out there!”. He kept quiet for a moment and answered in a low voice “It was real! It was not a trick!”. “Dude! Common, he just must have used some kind of invisible rope!” I said trying to get some sense into his head. “No Dude! It was all real” he said closing his eyes. “What did the magician whisper into your ears? Has he hypnotized you?” For the first time since he had returned to his seat, he looked me in the eye and said “He told me Deepak you wanted to see some real magic, right? So, I’ll show it to you!”. “How the hell did he know your name?” I asked curiously. “I think maybe someone might have told him from your seat number by whispering in his micro earphones!” I tried to reason with my friend based on his earlier theory. “No dude! That cape was real. When I said the Super Man words I immediately felt someone holding me tightly. I could even hear the voice whisper in my ears as it carried me in the air”. “Well! What did the voice say?” He looked at me meaningfully for a moment and answered “It was my dad’s voice. He asked me Deepak beta Kaise ho (Deepak my son! How are you?)” I stood transfixed. Deepak’s dad had died last month in a car accident. The magician had somehow invoked the spirit of his dad and put it in the cape. We both returned to our hostel room without speaking a word to each other and trying to make sense of what had happened.

The End