Conjurers, who always have some tricks up their sleeves or in their hats, now wish they could make disappear the plight that Covid-19 pandemic has brought forth in their lives. Magicians are left in the lurch due to unavailability of shows and cancellations of scheduled ones due to the prevailing lockdown. On a normal day, as the evening show reaches its crescendo, pairs of speculative eyes remain fixed on the magician, dressed in a multicoloured robe.

The hypnotic words, “Abracadabra” and “Hocus Pocus”, breaks the gripping silence in the hall, and in the blink of an eye, the conjurer disappears from the stage and reappears in the audience. With a royal gait, he walks down the aisle, returning to the stage while swinging his wand amidst a roaring applause. Bowing before the spellbound viewers, he takes off his hat in gratitude, and out flies a pigeon flapping its wings.

Suspended jaws and murmuring voices in the theatre stand witness to the bewilderment. One is left to decipher how the impossible feat was pulled off with great ease.Mahajati Sadan, often termed as the magic haven of the city, has time and again hosted these wizards. City based magician, Subrata Kumar Mukherjee, has been in the profession for over 35 years and prefers introducing himself as an “illusionist”.

Using virtual medium and magic to create social awareness about the pandemic, he writes “novel Coronavirus” on a piece of paper and slips it into a box. When re-opens it, the paper has vanished. Drawing a metaphor, he says “One needs to stay indoors to ward off the disease.”

The illusionist recalls to The Statesman that magic caught his fancy at the age of six. Mukherjee admits, “ Times are difficult now. I had a scheduled tour in June to perform at Canada, Japan and Nepal, but now it stands cancelled due to the pandemic. Our earnings depend on our performances.”

The dwindling number of magic stage-shows has anyway compelled magicians to perform at private events but due to the lockdown, these opportunities, too, have faded into oblivion. Paying assistants and team members now, has become a great concern for well established wizards.

The plight is even a shade darker for small-scale magicians who are uncertain as to when the situation will normalise and, if it does, what will be the “new normal” for mankind? Will we again take part in social gatherings to witness a performing art such as magic? These questions have put them in a quandary.

The Magic Artistes Society of which Mukherjee is a founding member and secretary, has decided to write to the state government for certain relief measures for supporting these artistes. Magician A. Sarkar, president of ‘Magic World’ ~ a government registered trust of magicians ~ based out of Kolkata, highlighted, in India, 75 per cent of magicians are small timers.

“We have around 550 members who perform in private events every day to earn their daily living. We are now providing them with temporary relief from the limited fund of our trust and have decided to approach the state government for aid.”

The woes don’t seem to end here. Budding magician, ‘Koko’, an eight-year-old boy, held a ring in his left palm and a stick in the other. He banged both his wrists against each other and Presto! the ring hangs from the stick. How and when the stick went through the ring, is best left to our fertile imaginations.

Magician Kaushik Bose alias “Sand Kaushik”, secretary of Federation of Indian Magic Associates (FIMA), says, “Koko is one of our youngest and talented member magician. He is suffering from thalassemia and because of lockdown, arranging for blood has turned out to be a herculean task.” FIMA, which has more than 4000 member magicians in India and abroad, combined, also hosts the Kolkata Magic Fair.

The magicians are now staring at a bleak future. The pandemic, thus far, has managed to deceive us with a Houdini-like-expertise and might continue with its adventures till we come out with the magic pill. Till then, each day, the human race is incurring irredeemable losses.