Mesmerising Indian Magic...

The Magic Academy, Trivandrum organised Mazma - the street magicians convention on December 10 & 11, 2005. Well attended by nearly 30 itinerant magicians from all over India, Mazma was a welcome change from the trade-of-the-mill magic conventions.

Many traditional magic tricks, historically acnowledged to be India's contribution to the world of magic, were performed, mostly with the same devastating effect.

Legendary effects like the Indian Mango Trick, open air Levitation, Indian Basket Trick, were as good as they come.

The gory, and thereby scary, effects included the knife through neck and decapitation of the tongue.

The most amazing performance was without doubt the magic of 83 year old Vadi from Gujarat.

How he transforms a brick to a live slithering king cobra inside of a second, and in the heat of the moment, is nothing less than a miracle. Jadugar Vadi has to be simply the best magician in the world, one that David Copperfield would be proud to take lessons in misdirection.

Personally I would have liked to see Vadiji to receive the Jadu Rathna award, as there was no one (nor do I think there will be anyone) worthy of conjuring up snakes and scorpions from thin air as he does.

I stick to and reiterate my opinion that it was an injustice to his greatness, and wizardry, that he was compared to the other performers.

This is not to take away anything from the prowess of the other performers, nor is this in any way criticising the organisers. This is simply a solemn acknowledgement that Vadi has to be one of the very best performers in the field of magic -- one that the masters of magic would take credit in learning the nuances of real misdirection.

It was an honour for me to be associated with this historic event, even more so as a jury member. I thank Magician Muthukad for organising such a august event, and moreso for giving me an opportunity to be a part of it.

I would fail in my journalistic duties if I do not mention Magician Ramana (Wouter Bijdendijk) from Holland. Getting to know and exchange views on magic and mentalism, especially Indian magic with Wouter was great fun, and saw the blossoming of what I hope will be a good friendship.