Tricks and treats galore

PRESTO! NOW you see bits of colourful cloth. Now you see it all together, as a whole. A young girl is shut tight in a box, and ``attacked'' with sharp weapons, pierced from all sides. A part of the box is taken out. Lo and behold, the door opens and she emerges cheerful and unscathed.

In a world of predictable realities, Magician P. M. Mithra works magic to create the impossible. At hand were mediapersons to see members of his `Mayajal' troupe. The show will be on till mid- February. Is magic a science? ``A half-filled glass of water, covered with a piece of paper is inverted, the water does not fall. This is science. Remove the paper, the water does not fall, that is magic. Shake the tumbler, the water falls - it is logic'', says Mithra profoundly.

There is nothing supernatural about magic, says Mr. Mithra, to those who are nonplussed. ``It all requires speed and practice employing geometry, tricks and illusion''.

The magician pulled out some 20 steel tumblers out of a seemingly empty small closet. He demonstrated the speed with which in just one fling, he made all the tumblers fall in place.

Trick is also only one part as there is a scientific knowledge behind magic which includes an understanding of the psychology of the audience.

There was evidence of knowledge and skill in lifting a heavy steel ball in a little finger or covering it with a black shroud and making it fly like an aeroplane. As it was the 73rd death anniversary of Harry Houdini, the international magician, he performed the Houdini Box illusion where he got into a cloth bag, was tied up, put in an empty box which was also closed by the audience.

When the audience was searching for him, pronto he appeared from behind the auditorium walking into the ranks of amazed watchers.

His speciality is the woman who goes up in levitation and the bamboo suspension where three women simply stand in mid air and even attempt a dance.

``India is the best in the art of magic'', he says lamenting that though the Kerala Government is extending good support to cultivate the art, the Central Government is not providing much encouragement.

By Akila Dinakar

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Section  : Southern States
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