Do you have a magic trick up your sleeve?

Everyone needs a little magic in their lives. Though this may sound clichéd or melodramatic, the fact is that magic has been a very integral part of our lives right from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. I still remember those days when a few stalls were set up during village and town fairs where those wonder men or yesteryear magicians used to weave their magic around us using the simplest of tricks. The world was full of imagination and ideas and limitless were the possibilities of magic in the mind of all those youngsters, sitting around, their eyes filled with awe. As magic started growing more popular, it became a highly lucrative and profitable venture commercially.

Magic trick kits were manufactured with the usual paraphernalia of disappearing and suddenly reappearing coins, play cards with select number games and card-choosing tricks, ropes that could be twisted and then straightened per the young magician’s orders, the age-old egg in the bowl trick, etc. If we take a closer look, science has played such an important role in our daily lives, even acting as a source of thorough entertainment. Television shows aired today have absolute laymen acting like professionals. They can placing burning matchsticks on their tongue without getting hurt, juggling small fireballs in the palms of their completely bare hands, making soda bottles pop of their own accord, getting the rabbit out of the hat, etc. The list is endless and these performers pull it off really well. But, many magic tricks has reached an all-new level today and scaled great heights. This is clearly seen in the high TRPs’ of shows based purely on street magic like David Blaine’s show aired on the channel Star World and the box office collections of good Hollywood blockbusters like ‘The Prestige’ and ‘The Illusionist’ based on the theme of magic. India is the land of magic and illusionists like P.C Sorcar made India magic international. But, for now, you can make than can of cola sizzle by adding a pinch of salt and giving a gentle shake.