Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Making of a magician

Kerala's rich tradition in magic has won praise from all round, but for Kerala, magic performance is a one-off event, performed one evening and forgotten a few days later. One person who had tried to change all that way back in the 1970s was P. C. Sorcar Jr., who toured Kerala with his troupe performing in major towns. Following on his footprints and marching ahead is Jadugar Anand, currently in the Kerala capital, but soon moving into the rest of the State with his split-second magical wizardry.

Jadugar Anand, a post-graduate in English, hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, the city that gave birth to Osho who, Anand recalls, used to be like a kin to him. It was from Rajnish that he learnt hypnotism. He tried to repay the debt by trying to give Osho, lecturer of philosophy at the Jabalpur University at the time, a lesson or two in magic. Anand learnt his first tricks at the age of seven from the street magicians who used to produce `laddus' and `jalebis' out of nowhere. "I decided to learn magic so that I can make my own laddus," says 53-year-old magician. Jadugar Anand hails from a family noted for erudition. His brother Rajendra Awasthi, currently with him in the State capital, is a noted Hindi writer and a veteran journalist. "From childhood, I decided that magic is my destiny," says Anand. He would be on view in Kottayam from November 4 and the rest of Kerala till the end of January.

C. Gouridasan Nair

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