Traditional Indian magic show at Thiruvanamthapuram

THIRUVANAMTHAPURAM: Residents of the capital city are in for an experience of a different kind. Street magicians from all over the country will assemble at the Keltron junction at Vellayambalam on Sunday to perform traditional numbers in Indian magic. The show named “Mazma” is staged under the auspices of Magic Academy here.

“These magicians are the real masters. We have to learn a lot from them. For these magicians, this art form is not just a livelihood. They live for the propagation of these techniques,” said  Gopinath Muthukad, India’s leading magician and chairman of the Magic Academy. This is the first time in the history of Kerala that the street magicians from all over the country assemble at a common venue to perform tricks of different kind.   

Muthukad, who rose to fame through the Magic Yatra he held from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, came across these magicians at places like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and  Uttar Pradesh. “I feel I have to learn a lot of tricks from the repertoire under their command,” said Gopinath. More than the magic tricks, Mazma is the richest tributes to the Indian heritage which has a history dating back to tens of thousands of years.

“Indian street magic has been a fascination for me since early childhood. My grandfather made several visits to India in the 70s and came back home with wonderful stories and books about Indian magic,” says Wouter Bijdendik, a magician from Netherlands who has given Mazma an international touch. Wouter took the city of Thiruvananthapuram by surprise when he performed the Indian bamboo suspension show at Vellayambalam. He is expected top perform some more surprising numbers on Sunday.            

The street performers are always on the move. They lead the life of Gypsies. More than two-square meals a day, they do not have much demands in life. The Christian churches are the only organization who have succeeded in mobilizing people of this kind till now. The beggars are caught hold at the Christian missionaries, label them as the birds of the sky (Aakashathile Paravakal) and convert them to Christianity only to later dump them back in the streets.

The attempt by the Magic Academy is to help the street magicians to perform their art with dignity.