For the unconditional love of magic!!

For the Unconditional Love of Magic!

Picture this: An artiste getting dressed in front of a miniature mirror; in a makeshift make-up room set up behind the stage with the help of some tattered curtains.

Sweltering heat makes it difficult for the make-up artiste to get the shades of foundation right on the cheeks even as a crumbling cooler pumps the air hard but fails to beat the summer heat. Gods and Goddesses stare at the hero getting dressed from behind the colourful frames.

Behind the man, are the troupe members, separated by an old fading curtain, donning their make-up and robes just ahead of their performance.

Normally, one would think the scene is typical behind-the stage hullabaloo of a small-time play or drama or perhaps local Ram Lila.

As hard to believe as it may be, the scene is the backstage happenings ahead of a magic show by internationally-acclaimed magician Samrat Shankar. The man who has won countless accolades and honours across the globe for his diligent efforts to revive the dying art form of magic; unfortunately continues to work in humble conditions on his own motherland.

Travelling across India, living in small-time hotels, performing in old worn out public buildings, in front of a small audience, mainly comprising the lower classes; has somehow become a part of the life of a man who has been instrumental in taking the native art of magic overseas.

"Being a magician in a cricket-crazy, Bollywood loving nation is difficult. Also difficult, is to survive on simple tricks in the tech-age. For, wooing audiences away from their computers, i-phones, PS2s and multiplexes into watching magic tricks is becoming increasingly difficult," reveals magician Shankar.

Shankar was recently on a Ludhiana-tour along with his 70-member team to perform a series of magic shows. As expected, the world-renowned artiste is performing at a dilapidated, out-of-business cinema theatre on the outskirts of the city. He, along with his troupe members, is staying at a "cheap" suburban hotel, sans the luxury that surrounds an international "star".

Shankar has been doing so since 1974 but has never got his due in the true sense.  For, in a country where cricketers and actors are worshipped with millions being spent on their "welfare"; an international artiste of Shankar's stature has to fight each day to make his presence felt.

Shankar has won many awards and honours for his excellent performances in India as well as abroad, but fame and status which he is so worthy of an as international artiste, are still missing.

With bare minimum infrastructure and almost nil government support, Shankar has been running a one-man show since the nearly four decades, paying for the travel, boarding and lodging expenses of his 70-member strong team.

Despite the odds, Shankar and his team walk around with genuine, broad smiles on their ‘magical’ faces, holding show after show with an amazingly undefeatable spirit and enthusiasm, that too, sans a word of resentment against the powers-that-be on their ever-smiling lips.

And while the government has continued to blissfully ignore this great son of the soil who has brought countless global honours to his motherland; I feel ashamed to have elected these good-for-nothing, selfish, spineless creatures to power with my precious vote.

I sincerely wish and pray to the Almighty that the government wakes out of its deep slumber to recognise the extraordinary contribution of this undisputed king of the magic world towards the country’s global image!