Kerala magician wows Chandigarh audience with interactive show promoting social integration for differently abled

Renowned magician Gopinath Muthukad left the audience spellbound through his tricks in Chandigarh on Thursday evening as the wizard enabled the participation of differently abled persons and highlighted the need to integrate them with the mainstream.

Particularly striking was an item where youngsters, called randomly on to the stage and made to tear newspapers on the table, found the shreds rolling back to their original form with merely a swipe of their hands.

Muthukad’s two-hour show at Bharati Bhawan in Chandigarh was part of his two-month cross-country ‘Inclusive India’ tour, which has 10 more days left for the finale in New Delhi.

“We have been presenting more of those tricks where the onlookers get a hands-on role,” said the 60-year-old from Kerala, highlighting his mantra of ‘magic for social reform’.

Pointing out that the all-India campaign sought to support persons with intellectual disabilities in ways that facilitated their integration with the mainstream, Muthukad began his presentation by inviting a young spectator and asking him to put his wristwatch in a box on the dais. To everyone’s amazement, the watch vanished, but reappeared in another chest kept by someone else in the crowd.

In another item, Muthukad came up with a glass-cube. On his urging the audience for a joined gaze, the container cracked, leading to the springing up of the roses inside it. “These flowers symbolise the innocent soul of any newborn,” the magician told the crowd.

Equally impressive was another item where those with impairments in eyesight, hearing and speech got their right accessories invariably. For instance, when asked to touch on their option, those with different degrees of blindness always got the white cane meant to scan their surroundings for obstacles.

The illusionist heads an NGO named ‘Different Art Centre’, running with governmental support, in Thiruvananthapuram. “Physical limitations often let people suffer socially and emotionally,” said Muthukad, a recipient of the coveted Merlin Award, considered as the Oscar for magicians.

Among other tricks were those based on ‘mind reading’, ‘time travel’ and ‘transportation’ in magic parlance. The presentation concluded with the national anthem featuring Amitabh Bachchan on the screen with the sign language of the lines.

The magician began his campaign from Kanyakumari on October 6 (World Cerebral Palsy Day). ‘Inclusive India’ has stopovers in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Northeast and Rajasthan before it culminates in Delhi on December 3 (International Day for Persons with Disabilities).

The finale in New Delhi will see the participation of ministers and other MPs, besides top government officials. This is Muthukad’s fifth such cross-country venture using magic to spread social messages.