Funds don’t come easy as their tricks

Inshamuddin showed the spectators a coiled rope in a basket, laid the basket on the ground in full sight of everyone present. He then `instructed’ the rope to rise. And the rope obediently rose to become a stiff `pillar’. A child clambered up the rope in no time and after he climbed down, the `pillar’ slowly came down to coil up as a rope again.

Insamuddin was awarded a special prize for displaying this trick. The competition for street magicians at the convention, showed what miracles these enterprising artistes can perform without any hi-tech equipment or props whatsoever. It also focussed attention on the sad plight of some of India’s traditional street magicians who have remained loyal to their art despite little encouragement from the media and government.

Street magician Chand Baha, regretted the lack of patronage for street magicians. The convention was arranged by the Shankar’s World of Magic, and the entire Shankar family, including Shankar’s wife Laxmi and kids slogged to make it a success.

Small Scale Industries Minister B A Mohideen who inaugurated the convention, rued that magic has not received much encouragement. He admitted that even for this convention, the Govt had not contributed sufficiently. However, he promised to urge the State to extend financial aid for the organisers.