ramadocblog

“Say it once and then again 

Make sure it’s not a chain

All you have to gain 

Is to simply ascertain!”

Do you remember the song ‘wake me up before you go go!’?

Makes you  wonder why we say some words twice! 

It is all because of Lexical Cloning!

Read on!

First understand what is Lexical cloning; it is the process of creating a new word or phrase by modifying an existing one, often by adding a prefix, suffix, or combining it with another word!

This can involve Affixation like adding a prefix or suffix to a word, like “unhappy” or “happiness” or Compounding which is combining two words to create a new one, like “classroom” or “chairman” or Blending which is simply the merging parts of two words to create a new one, like “smog” (smoke + fog) or “brunch” (breakfast + lunch) or like Chandler did with male nanny or “manny!” and there is also a type of cloning where you simply double the words! 

There are other places where we use Lexical cloning by repeating the same word twice one after another. 

For example, when someone uses the expression, “I’m dead,” we know that it doesn’t literally mean that they’ve physically died. So when we hear someone described as “dead,” we may want to clarify, “Do you mean dead dead?” to refer to the physical act of actually passing away instead of just the expression to mean that someone is in trouble!

Another common way is when you ask your kid or anyone before exams if he or she has studied? and he or she says, “I have studied but did not study study!” Which means that he or she has read it once or twice as a glance but has not read it more deeply! 

Another example is BYE BYE! Not only the NSync song which has been made famous by the new DeadPool movie but also the word as such!

Have you ever wondered why we say ‘bye’ twice!?  or the dead twice or study twice!?

The ’emphasis’ on the second time is to create more EMPHASIS!

When you need a quick, informal way to bid your friend adieu, you’ll probably say, “Bye!” It’s shorthand for “goodbye,” and when adults speak to babies and children, there’s a tendency to double it: “Bye bye!”

This is to reassert that they are leaving for sure! 

I guess when it comes to babies and kids you need to do this! Like No no or yes yes! No no is more common though! Yes usually comes alone though since it does not need much emphasis!

In our medical school I always used to wonder why we used to say AGAR AGAR! Initially I thought that the teacher is just repeating for clarity and I just wrote AGAR once! But that was apparently wrong!

So as you know an agar plate is a Petri dish that contains a growth medium solidified with agar, used to culture microorganisms.

But how the AGAR got another one is because of a Malaysian custom! 

In the 19th century, Chinese migrants brought the Japanese product to Malaysia, and adopted the local name of ‘agar’, which means ‘jelly’ or ‘gelatin’. 

In this country it is customary to repeat the word twice to give it more emphasis, the literal translation being ‘gelatin-gelatin’ so the product was called Agar Agar! It still is called that to this day! You can try writing only Agar once at your own risk risk! Risk also was playing a villain in a cool movie like Makhi or ee or eega but birthday celebrity Sudeepa or Kichcha Sudeep did it and how HOW! See what I did there there!

Ok now enough! Night night! I mean Shubh ratri!

“He was flying but had no wings!

He used to dance, he even sings!

He used to be the best of em all!

The king in grandma stories stood very tall!”

Grand mother and her stories! The summer vacations or the time when your grandparents come to live with you are the time of stories! 

From imaginative stories from Ithihasa to their own stories of childhood, it was always fun to listen to them!

read on!

My dad’s mother loved to talk! We only had to listen!

Ask her about her village and the memories and stories would flow like water from a cracked dam! After several sessions the stories would overlap and seem the same but then they remain interesting all the same!

By default Grand father would not have many stories to tell though there were several stories about him which were narrated by my uncles and everyone else!

One story of how she used to sing in her class and when one great personality had come for a school function and was mighty impressed by her singing was her favorite! He toothless grin would be so big and her old eyes would still twinkle when she used to narrate this story! Many times the personality and her class may change but the theme was the same! 

The famous story of Nala and Damayanthi she used to tell with so much emotions that it used to give wings to our imaginations! 

The best story she used to tell which we later read even in our books and Ithihasa was the story of the sage and the fish! How a sage found a small fish while taking bath and he put it in a bowl! Then how the fish kept on growing and the sage kept on increasing the size of the bowl! When finally even the lake or the river was not enough and he had to shift the ‘Fish’ to the sea! At this moment she would declare with a sense of devotion and respect that the fish was none other than Bhagwan Vishnu! We would listen with rapt attention even though we knew this! 

The story telling in the night was a custom in many households! During vacations and holidays it was the norm! There were great storytellers who were the favourite uncle and aunts! Unfortunately now they have been replaced by the screen! The stories now need more special effects to hold attention and must not be repetitive!

The thrill of your own imagination taking over the story is no longer there! When my grandmother used to tell about how the fish grew, I used to imagine a big whale growing slowly but steadily! 

By the way if you find a fun fact, our relative the mammal ‘whale’ is actually one of the largest living thing in the world! To add to the thrill it is also the one which makes the loudest sounds! 

The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus ssp. Intermedia) is the biggest animal on the planet, weighing up to 400,000 pounds (approximately 33 elephants) and reaching up to 98 feet in length! The blue whale is so giant that its heart weighs as much as a small car and the arteries of its heart are so large that the average person could swim through them.

A blue whale’s brain can weigh up to 6.8kg! It can make sounds upto 160 decibels! The jet engine reaches around 140 decibels for comparison! Blogging about stories and big reminds me of the celebrity of the day Ram Kapoor! 

Now ask Alexa to tell you a story and sleep! Or better yet listen to some instrumental music like say, Kenny G and sleep! 

Shubh ratri!

“The lips are moving can’t hear what you say!

From the time the flight landed been this way!

To travel you are not that old! 

Still should avoid when you have the cold!”

The most irritating thing when you drive is of course traffic jam! Specially when you have a shortcut to go somewhere and that bridge or tunnel is blocked! 

That nagging blocked sensation and pain you feel when you are in a flight specially if you have a mild cold is chiefly because of a similar reason!

Read on!

So the middle ear is a structure which has your bones of hearing with its muscles and apparatus including the smallest bone in the body! Smallest bone!? Well, that is a blog for another day! 

So while the middle ear is seated inside a cavity in a bone called the temporal bone, it still needs to know what is the news outside! 

Which means that the ear is disconnected from the environment like some people living in an underground bunker or down a submarine! When this happens there occurs a difference of the pressure in the atmosphere and the ear!

Unlike Human Beings, air pressure believe in equality!

So the air always flows from a high pressure area to a low pressure one! This keeps on happening till both the areas are almost equal pressure! 

The way for the air to go from high or low pressure area is this small tube which connects the ear to the environment! This is one of the most vital structures buried deep within with two openings! 

So when the opening gets blocked or gets altered, the air in the middle ear goes crazy and the drum starts to act! Which is why you get the pain or block! The suction effect can even cause water to enter the ear instead of air by compensation! 

This is why this little tube is so important! 

The tube is named after a remarkable person who also discovered the valve of the veins which also bears his name! 

The person was Bartolomeo Eustachio (writing under the Latin surname Eustacius) who wrote a remarkable series of scientific works on the anatomy of the kidney, the hearing apparatus, the teeth and their structure, and the circulatory system, including the lower vena cava and its valves (now known as the Eustachian valve!)

Eustachio extended knowledge of the internal ear by rediscovering and describing correctly the very important Eustachian tube! 

He was the first to describe the internal and anterior muscles of the malleus and the stapedius, and the complicated figure of the cochlea!

So next time your ears get blocked you can think of Bartolomeo Eustachio! To unblock it though you must ask another called Antonio Maria Valsalva! Then again that is a blog for another day! 

Another great personality closer home is the celebrity of the day; After becoming a doctor this person he returned to Calcutta to start his practice. Initially, he would see poor patients for free. His practice became established and people started coming from villages and far flung areas to get treated by him!

He observation of language issues prompted him to translate and write medical books in Bengali language!

His friends, patients and fraternity requested him to start a college where he could share his knowledge and treat patients. The fight for freedom from the British Raj was getting intensified in those days. There were more and more reasons to start a medical school in Calcutta, that was not associated with the Raj. He gained conviction that the idea to build a school with modern outlook was the need of the hour!

The hospital started by him with great difficulty and struggles is now a well known hospital in the news. 

Hoping for justice and saluting the legend who made this hospital. He is Radha Gobinda Kar. 

Now take warm water so that you do not get ear block and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“It’s a race againts time for submit!

You have to do it cannot omit!

Thank God we just did it, phew!

So when is the project due!?”

School projects! The pain or…!

Some school projects were so much fun especially if they were group projects!

Read on! 

The main issue with the school projects is the deadline and the specifications! 

Once we had the project on penguins and everyone got eggs and started carefully cracking them on the top and then emptying it slowly and then sealing that with an eye dropper and voila you have a penguin! 

So everyone had the same idea and the only thing different was the side black colour coating which indicated the black fins! Some would draw the eyes nicely!

The moment a project was announced a time bomb or alarm used to start in my mind! Till the project is done I would not rest easy! My daughter also has the same problem! She will finish the project as soon as possible and not rest until it is done!

Another most popular project was the village scene! Of course the field was easy since we all used to play with mud! The best seed were the mustard seeds! They used to come in a couple of days but they used to dry off in a week or so! Which is why we had to show the project before that!

Once we wanted to demonstrate the volcano so we had the whole village scene ready with a water bed and a big mountain! For the volcano we needed a flower pot!

Now getting a flower pot during deepawali was not a big issue but other times it was almost impossible to find!

My friend Ashu and me then took on our trusty old cycle and started our quest on a sunday! With some money in hand we searched all the small stores called Fancy stores of Lal Bazaar in Secunderabad! Fancy stores or Stationary stores were the best when it came to projects! You would get everything and you can do anything!

I have bought countless chart papers in my life and even last month I had to rush in the late evening to get a chart paper of a particular colour for my daughter! The last moment rush does not change!

So after going to every other Fancy store we, went to the stage two which was to go to the stores in the side roads! Then one old shop in the corner had an uninterested dude sitting with no care for business of anything else! 

At first he did not understand or (pretended not to!) as to what we want and later on he slowly nodded that he might have a couple of old stock! 

We were delighted at first but then thought what would happen if it did not burst! Anyway since we beggars had no choice we got two and rushed home!

The next day we proudly showed our project to our Yadav madam who was like a terror for some and a great fun for others! When we were putting the flower pot on the hole of the big mountain made of mud, she snatched it immediately and left in a rage!

She categorically told us to change the project! Which is when the other team member Arjun stepped in and we made a safer project of matching! You match the tables and the light comes on! Fun but routine!

We used to show many of these projects in the school exhibition but then that is the blog or blogs for another day!

Anyway we did take the project home and in Ashu’s house we thought that Madam was simply overreacting! So we placed the remaining flower pot and lit it! It did not make any eruption though! Just a whiss and a sudden blast! The whole mountain was in pieces with a big sound which drew Ashu’s mother who gave us a surprised look! Apparently if you keep the flower pot in closed spaces it may not flower but it may burst like a bomb! Ok then! Lesson learnt the hard way! Guess the matching project was safer! Although if you think about it, the volcano was more accurate! Now like our madam found risk in our project the birthday celebrity of today Shailendra used to find divinity in humanity with his lyrics!

Now keeo stuff ready for your kid’s school projects and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“The light comes on and then the sleep does not come!
The phone makes you insomniac and then some!
Put it down, there’s a whole lot to see and hear!
Just talk to family and friends far and near!”

A great entertainment when you had no entertainment in your computer was this programme which was actually made to save the screen!

yes! You got it!

read on!

There was a scene in the series Office where the whole gang was actually staring at the screen of the monitor and looking at the square box jumping up and down!

When it used to hit the corner it used to change colour! Then you would think it would hit the perfect corner which is what the office staff watching with interest and not the talk from the boss!

The amazing screen saver!

The standard moving box screensaver was also very popular! It used to look like a ping pong ball hitting the net! Everytime it used to hit the colour used to change! For folks who did not have reels or shorts; that was a great time pass!

There was a time when screen saver was like the status in your whatsapp or FB! It showed your interest or passion!

People used to take a great deal of time to decide on the perfect screensaver! There were so many apps and programs and one of the great deals of new movies or books were its screensavers!

Some cool screensavers also came with music and songs! One of this was my brother’s favourite! The moment you were away from the computer for even five minutes the song would blaze over the speakers! Even now I cannot listen to that particular song though I love music!

In fact many inbuilt music players like the windows media player had these amazing screensavers like audio waves! They were just simple waves which used to move with the intensity of the sound!



Later on even smaller mobile devices started adding a modification of the screen saver which is now called the lock screen! Wallpapers though shifted without any change! Another craze were the icons! Of course all these were part of a broad classification called the Theme!

But did you know that for all the fame and name, they were actually just a passing invention to prevent screen burn out!?

In 1983, a computer programmer named John Socha created a program, called SCRNSAVE which was barely a program at all—after three minutes of inactivity, it turned the screen into a blank, black square!

At the time, Socha developed SCRNSAVE for a mostly a specific practical purpose. Before that you must also know that Socha was the creator of Norton Commander, a file management program that gave computer users a way to interact with their files on early disk operating systems more easily!

In the 1980s, some of the high-contrast computer screens that Norton Commander ran on were susceptible to “burn-in,” a phenomenon where overuse of certain pixels could leave a ghost-like imprint on the screen.
Even we have heard stories of pixel burning on the screen! It was a horror story in the IT world!

So the original purpose of SCRNSAVE was exactly as practical as its name suggests—its darkened image saved screens from permanent damage!

When Socha first wrote the program, he couldn’t have known that his algorithmic experiment would create an entirely new genre of graphics software built primarily for pure entertainment! Soon, other software engineers would follow his lead and go on to develop some of the most iconic visuals associated with early computing!

Of course the screen saver was not one of the greatest invention but still it was fun! But if at all you need to know the greatest Indian Hockey player then without doubt it would be birthday celebrity Major Dhyan Chand! He was so good that there are legendary stories about his abilities and they are all true!

Now turn off your non screen saved computers and phone and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!

“Is this deja vu or something new!?
The places I’ve been to are quite a few!
The memory takes so much space!
Then again da special ones always get a place!”

Whenever you go back to the place you were before you would fondly remember how the street or the house or the area was before! The outer aspect may change beyond recognition but the foundation though remains the same!

It is the same with your brain!

read on!

It is like how even though my old school looks now more old and less scary and the benches look and feel very small indeed; the feeling is the same!

The other day we were in my ancestral village in a remote part of Palakkad in a place called Chittur!

The roads have been modified and developed and there were some new buildings but more or less according to my dad many things were the same!

The most important was the the old Banyan tree!

He still remember how elders used to warn the kids that the Banyan tree is haunted and they must never go near it in the night!

That may be scientific but then no one would ever know!

His old house in a small corner of the village is still there albeit now painted and plastered to make it more stable! This time we could not go inside but I remember going inside the last time and dad fondly showed us where they used to eat sleep and use the open toilet in the night! The actual other toilet was outside and a hole in the ground!

Just like the Banyan tree which remains the same the brain also has a central part which is the first to develop and remains more or less the same! Like the Banyan tree it is is the oldest and innermost region of the brain. It’s designed to control the most basic functions of life, including breathing, attention, and motor responses!
This innermost oldest core of the brain which is the chief processing unit is called the Brain stem!

The brain stem begins where the spinal cord enters the skull and forms the medulla which is the area of the brainstem that controls heart rate and breathing!

In many cases the medulla alone is sufficient to maintain life — animals that have the remainder of their brains above the medulla severed are still able to eat, breathe, and even move!

Like an unplanned or a village like above the new structure like the cerebral cortex and cerebellum are formed over the old foundation of brain stem! While the modern brain is for evolution and progress the Old Brain parts are simply Wired for Survival!

So while the whole world around progresses and evolves, the central root or the basic nature remains the same! It is vital, it is your identity and you may change the external appearance as much as you can, but the core does not change! Like Metallica say; But the Memory remains! Fond memories of birthday celebrity Ananth Narayan Mahadevan in his old serials also remain!

Now let the brain stem rest!
Shubh ratri!

“He looked at the noose and gave a smile
The blood of the hangman froze a while
They can cage a man with lock and chain
But his revolutionary thoughts will definitely rain!”

What do you want to be when you grow old?! or What is your plan or what do you want to do?

even when you were in your 20s or 30s many elders may ask you this much to your annoyance!

Do you know there were young revolutionaries who had done so much for the country at the young age of 22?!

read on!

Most kids start with astronaut! or a rocket scientist! After they grow up and realise that they cannot be king or queen when they grow up no matter what their parents had told them that is!

My “I want to be a doctor” phase started when I was in the 7th class after a visit to my village in Kerala! There I saw the real respect my uncle who was a doctor used to get from all over!

Then again most kids keep all options open! Many may not even think what they want and just follow the ‘crowd’! So when a young kid in those times decided to be a freedom fighter then that is a mighty big achievement indeed!

The other day during an online tuition session my kids were asked to name some freedom fighters! Of course after the select few names that everyone knows and in spite of the freedom fighters from all over India special I had done last year; it was still difficult to remember many names.

Just for that will have a refresher sketch series soon!

We are Indians very easily forget so many young revolutionaries who gave up their lives for the very freedom which we enjoy!

The movie Rang De Basanthi was a testament for just this sentiment! When the Producer suggests the lead actress that she must make a movie about the “famous or more recognisable” freedom fighters. She replies with desperation that these revolutionaries were so young when they did what they did! Meaning they deserve more recognition!

At the age when majority of population do not even know what they are going to do with their lives, you have young fighters who were ready to give up their life for freedom!

Just think about the mind of Bhagat singh when he collected the blood soaked sand from the Jalianwala Bagh after the cruel massacre?

That jar was a constant reminder of the Homicide which should have immediately shaken the system! Instead the officers of the British army were busy collecting donations for the pension for the ‘inconvenient’ early retirement of the perpetrator of the massacre.

What prompted them to shun the western attire and be proud of their own dress and culture?

Or the fact that these young Indians were staring at their deaths and just bravely smiled and accepted it.

It is just their love for their country and nothing else! The love for your motherland is a pious one indeed!

A humble sketch dedication to the birthday celebrity who was just 22 years when he became Shaheed. Sri Shivaram Hari Rajguru. Hopefully that is one more name my kids remember forever.

A sketch made with pride and it shows!

Shubh ratri…

Jai Hind…

“Lots of pomp loads of laughter
House is clean no thereafter!
It’s a blessed time that’s clear!
The festival time is here!”

Different ways to celebrate but the feeling is the same!
Every mother wants a son like him! Naughty but innocent!
and then you have the Cheedai!

read on!

In the North I remember celebrating Sri Krishna Janmashtami with pomp!
It used to be a big affair and almost all the ladies of the area would come and make little cradles as a mark of devotion to Krishna!

Those who were newly married would earnestly ask for a child like Krishna and those with kids would lovingly make their kids dress up like the characters of Brindavan! You would find little Krishna’s running everywhere with a flute and golden dress!

Surprisingly, little girls used to make the best looking and cute Krishna! A big tikka on the forehead and a band on the head and yellow dhoti with lots of small chains! And finally the peacock feather!

The ladies would then join together and a big cradle would be built and they would lovingly decorate a baby Krishna idol or photo in the cradle and would rock the cradle gently all night long! They would sing Krishna bhajans all night long and give prasad to everyone! We used to love being awake in the night and running around since Krishna was born late in the night, the festivities also were usually in the night!
In south though we used to celebrate everything in the morning! We got to know about the Dahi handi and the breaking only after watching hindi movies!

Mom used to fast the whole day all the while making some amazing dishes which was the main deal for us! The chief were this small salty concoction which used to be so cute! They were called the Cheedai! My mother also used to make a flat rice based snack called the thattai and a sweet version of the cheedai!

The making of cheedai was an art in itself!
If it is too soft then it would not hold the shape and break the moment we lift it! And it is too hard then no one would take more than one! The perfect one was which was a little hard and crispy on the outside and soft in the centre! Put in the mouth and crack it open! Then repeat! After around 5 to 6 salty ones we would pop in one sweet Cheedai which was always soft! She also used to make another jaggery based sweet called the adhirasam which actually means lots of flavour! And it had nothing to do with rasam! It was a flat soft oily and greasy cousin of chapatti which the kids would not like that much but the elders used to relish it! I guess since most of the oldies do not have strong teeth to handle the Cheedai, the adhirasam was a good substitute!
Making cheedai and these dishes at home was the final certification you needed to be called a great south indian cook!
And eating a hard Cheedai was the final certification you needed that your teeth are healthy!

Other sweets which we were given were Laddoos if the aunty was from North! Peda if they were from UP and Kodbale from Karnataka! Kodbale is literally like small bangles made out of flour! They tasted like Cheedai but they had more varieties and were made all year long! I still remember going to Mathura and seeing the temple and the amazing places there with so many stories including the place where Ma Devaki and Vasudev were kept in a prison! Then after the darshan we had to try the Mathura ka peda! Every other shop we saw had a board saying that this was the original peda! We decided any shop would do! Since none of us were foodies we tried one each and liked it!

The year she passed away also Mom had made some very tasty dishes and we had dressed my kids as little Krishna and Yashoda! They were looking divine and my mom was so happy! Imagine on a Krishna Janmanthami day during COVID time and suddenly there is a ring and lo! Little Krishna and Yashoda greet you! The memories and photos of that day still are one of my most favourite and beautiful snaps!

Happy Krishna Janmasthami

Jai Shri Krishna!

“The big metal box with wheels is here!
Eagerly waiting for your cheer!
Hop on and don’t act like a fool!
You are not on a picnic but going to school!”

School buses nowadays have a GPS tracking, a maid or caretaker, a teacher in charge and sometimes ac with reclining seats!

Even with so much luxury kids still do not like to go to school sometimes!

reminds me of our school buses!

read on!

Now KV was more or less exclusive to the defense personnels and so it was understood that even the school buses would be a defence vehicle with seats!

We used to have different sections or classes of vehicles as I remember! So the Jeep and the Jonga were for officers who had individual vehicles. The one ton was like the van of today which was a little bigger than the jeep and had some good seats in the back if needed! Then you had the 3 tons! Now I do not know whether it actually weighed three tons but this was a big vehicle like a lorry!

The average army school bus was a Three ton vehicle with makeup!

Yes! That was the right description!

The back would have seats welded onto the floor and a door and a step welded out! The front would have a school bus number and painted like that. Since one particular school was controlled by a particular unit or division, the school bus also would be from that unit.

There will of course be no maids or caretakers! or even a teacher! You may not get seats most of the time and you still did not care!

We used to rush to the bus stop which was a center spot of the colony and not like how it comes to the door now! We would take our bottles and tiffin boxes and start chatting! Only during the days of the tests would the scene be mellow and silent! Other times it would be full blown noise! Some would be sitting in a corner and eating their toast! I have never had breakfast for the first twenty years of my life except for a glass of milk so food was only lunch!

Since I also do not like to get up early in the morning I would rush when the bus would come to get a seat in the corner and sleep! Only while coming back would I be awake! My brother would wake me up when we used to reach the school which would take at least half an hour of good sleep!

Now since the school did not have school bus of their own, the buses used to come to the school at pick up time since they had other work to do! So when the school gets over we used to walk all the way to the play ground or bus stop and wait for our bus! It was understood that the bus would not wait for us! If you are late it is assumed that you have not come! I have missed the bus couple of times and the walk was not easy! The issue is when you rush to the bus and forget to get your bag!

If you are injured or have a plaster or got some trophy, then you get the special privilege to sit in the front with the driver bhaiyya! It used to be cool but hot and noisy! Plus you would be away from friends and gossip which is why it was not much in demand! Those were not the days of AC and if it was hot, it was always better that the bus keeps moving! The moment the bus used to stop we used to feel hot! And when it used to start, the sudden gust of air over our sweaty body was heavenly!

Once the whole army unit decided to go to a picnic for a change! Since the whole family was to go with so many families we were eagerly waiting on a fine sunday morning for some cool vehicle to come and take us! Imagine our surprise when the vehicle turned out to be! Yes! Our school bus! Of course sitting on the bus with your family and friends in civil dress on a sunday with the destination not the school was still fun!

Without whatsapp or GPS or even a proper monitoring system I now sit and wonder how we used to get back home safe and sound! While now with all these tech available including the name and number of the bus driver! I still worry! Of course when you have Captain Vijayaraj Alagarswami Vijayakanth then you do not have to worry!

Now get your kids ready for the school bus or drop!
Shubh ratri!

“He was flying in the air!

Smile on his face, no despair!

Then he cut her in half! Not tragic!

Just your regular town fair magic!”

Did you know that one of the greatest acts of magic was to make the Statue of Liberty disappear on live TV!?

read on!

In our schools magic shows was the old uncle with great dressing sense! It was great because very rarely out of our army parties have we seen uncles with a coat!

Our KV teachers were usually very modestly dressed and coat was never a choice! The only exception was our English sir in 11th and 12th who used to come wearing a coat even in peak summer! 

Exceptions are never examples so to see someone in a coat was really unique!

These magicians would perform cool tricks like cutting a person in half or making the bottle of milk disappear or the amazing card tricks!

We used to be amazed at their talents and it was magical! At the end of the show they would most definitely sell us a box or bag of magic tricks set! These would have those trick cards and some other stuffs like the trick glass with the milk or water which could be poured only one side or had holes on the side to control!

Some kits also had false fingers and some cards with strings attached!

The kits used to come with instructions and some were easy! Most of them were not! The kits also were of two types; basic with some simple tricks and advanced with more tricks and complicated instructions!

The coming days after the show, kids would be showing each other tricks which they practised! Some would do it really well while some others would fail miserably!

They magicians would have also given address and phone numbers for aspiring magicians and some would have actually joined for a couple of months!

But I have always been marvelled by the elaborate showmanship and those fit people who were part of the show! 

Once I remember a famous show in which a well known magician finally revealed how many of the famous magic tricks were done! It was a big revelation at the time and once you know how it is done then the whole thrill is gone! I am sure even if you know the trick the whole charade takes lots of practice and skill. 

Now coming to the greatest act! This was by the world most famous Magician David Copperfield. His best known illusion was making the Statue of Liberty disappear (and then reappear!). During a live TV event in April 1983, the illusion features an audience sitting on Liberty Island, facing the Statue of Liberty. After Copperfield raises a sheet to obscure the statue, the statue appears to be gone. To prove to the audience that the statue isn’t there, a helicopter flies above and searchlights move through the space. Copperfield remarked that the point of the illusion was to emphasize the importance of freedom and “how precious liberty is and how easily it can be lost. I can show with magic how we take our freedom for granted.”!

After the magic show when I used to go home and tell my mother about the acts, she would dismiss it instantly! Saying, “The best magician in the whole world is PC SORKAR and no one else!”

PC Sorkar and his son; Junior Sorcar, were legendary magicians and probably one of the most famous magicians in the country! At the peak of the popularity of magic in the country was also when Amitabh Bachan movies like Toofan and Jadugar came! Both these movies had Amitabh playing a magician. I was told that both the movies bombed! So I am guessing magic as a profession was not that lucrative at that time! And of course PC was a well known magician! Which reminds me of this famous quote by Jack Sparrow when told by a captain that he was the worst pirate he had ever heard! To this John Christopher Depp as Jack Sparrow in his style says, “Yes, but you have HEARD about me!” 

Another sketch of my Son’s choice! 

Now close your eyes and magically transform yourself to the dream world!

Shubh Ratri!