So children where is the rabbit?? *We wait anxiously, biting our lips, eyes filled with sheer awe and amazement.* and then Voila! He produces the fluffy, soft and naive creature with those red magical eyes from that hat. How the hell can he do that?! Amazed and perplexed, we encounter magic at its apogee.
Magic. Sorcery. Conjury. These words don’t define magic but they charm us in their own way. Pulling a rabbit out of a hat, making a coin disappear, cutting a man in half, are all the pieces of jigsaw which make magic an art, a hotshot. Magic was a sensation when it was first performed, attracting hoards of crowd, making people believe in what their minds digress. The sheer sense of excitement and shock is what made magic capture hearts of a gazillion people. Children loved it, adults loved it, and aged found it soothing and magic had found the Golden Egg.
But then came its archenemy. The Industrial Revolution. Renaissance. Rationality and scientific yardstick. That slow moving knife cutting deep through the flesh of magical world. Magic became the subject of scoffing and derision. It only became a simple eye illusion and some sort of deception. But magic was never supposed to play with our tactical mind and logic. It was always supposed to enchant us. But thanks to these door to door services of science pies and so called “Bournvitas, Horlicks “smarter, faster, taller kids could now mock and rationalize this art. Magic is not we think. It’s about what we feel. It might be all too silly for people who are as advanced and “super intelligent” but that’s where we are wrong. Magic is about the way the necromancer plays out his act and does it with such ease and elegance. Whoever has ever seen a live magic show has experienced that aura and thrill that his so called “silly tricks” create. The way he moves his hands like a snake meandering through sand, his eyes with a fixed gaze, his body posture as solid as a rock and his persona, making us hypnotize. The way he seduces his volunteers to do things which are simply impossible for us to even imagine. The initiation part, the process and then the climax which is simply breathtaking and occult. This is magic. The spell caster has made us see where we he wants us to. Magic is simply the art of not seeing where we have to. Now you will have to agree that this is magic and not some sort of trickery.
For those kids who think they are smart and too intelligent, this is one hostile warning-“Tread carefully.” YOU ARE NOT A GENIUS. We all know what’s happening in those black hats, behind those black cloaks, inside those weird looking boxes but we aren’t hell bent on exposing it. Exposing an art is a crime and it’s to equivalent to killing a tradition. The rapid degeneration and dwindling of magic shows around the globe is a clear sign of people becoming foolish and not advanced. Give your clever minds some rest and enjoy this beautiful art. Relax your muscles, stop your logic and infuse your heart with the conjurer’s grace and take a splash into the Pensive to relive the beauty of life which eyes cannot fathom.
The magic of drama is infinitely more powerful than the magic of trickery. Magic is the art and science of changing states of mind at will. So whenever you watch a magic show, sit there like a 5 year old, unknowing, innocent, hearts filled with excitement, eyes filled with curiosity and a mind ready to get confused. The black hat will always amaze you!
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
karanvankani 