U - FRIDAY 18 OCTOBER 2002

FRIDAY - 18 OCTOBER 2002

The office of a private financial company was just next door to our
buildingIts board that was placed outside this office read as:

FAVOURITE SMALL INVESTMENT Ltd.

TARPUR BRANCH OFFICE

2/6 KAILASH NAGAR

TARPUR (Tel: 304050)

Head Office: Park Street, Calcutta.

Although this company made good business in this branch, the number of
office staff was limited to ten excluding the peon and the security
guard, Bahadur (a Nepali boy). This office was housed in a four- roomed
building, one room was the Branch Manager's chamber and the other rooms
accommodated one Deputy Manager, two typists and the rest of the
clerical staff. But on all the working days, from Monday to Saturday,
the field workers or the agents of this company came to deposit the
amount they collected. Each and every policy holder of Favourite Small
Investment Ltd.was given a free insurance policy of Rs 15000/- . Their
business was centered mainly in the rural areas for they depended
mostly on small investors.

The Branch Manager, Mr. Bose, was an elderly gentleman, who was very
friendly with our family. He was our neighbour for his was an
office-cum-residence. He stayed alone for his family lived in his
previous place of posting, which was a neighbouring town. His children
were into their colleges and thus had to stay back to complete their
course.

Mr. Bose was so friendly with us that most of the days, he had dinner
with us. Although I was not involved with his institution yet he sought
my help whenever he needed and I was always ready to help him
out.

One afternoon, at around 1 p.m., the door-bell rang. When I opened the
door, the smiling face of Mr. Bose was in front of me. He was a
gentleman, nearing sixty, not very tall, thin, with partial grey hair,
but he always blackened his eyebrows with a thick line, with the help
of an eyebrow pencil. This was no doubt a secret which was revealed to
me by my son who had caught Mr. Bose unaware one day while he was
carrying on with his make-up. His shoes were always polished and gave
out its shine.

I gave him a welcome smile and stepped aside for him to come in. He
said, "I am very busy now so I won't be going in. I have come to tell
you tell you that, today, at 5 p.m. we will be having a magic show in
our office premises. So you should be present there with your son at 5
O' clock sharp". So saying he gave another smile and went back to his
office.

My son, who was five years old was back from his school at 3 p.m. When
I told him about the magic show he was very thrilled. That evening he
did not go to the nearby playfield to play with his friends although
they came knocking at the door several times asking him to join
them.

At 5 p.m. both of us mother and son got ourselves seated on the front
row of the sitting arrangement made in the huge room where the magician
would give his show.

The magician entered and took his place in front of the private
gathering. He was in a mauve coloured coat, specially designed for him.
The coat was colourfully embroidered at the neck, sleeve ends and at
the front opening. He had a cap on his head which was adorned with a
peacock feather and there was make-up on his face as found in a
magician at work. He wore white trousers and black shoes. As he
entered, he welcomed his audience with a 'namaste'. He was accompanied
by an assistant who carried the personal belongings for the show.

The show started with the changing of a stick into a bunch of colourful
flowers. Hankies, no you can call them scarf's, began coming out from
his coats sleeve ends like a manufacturing machine when he started
pulling them out with his hand one after the other. In one corner of
the room he had placed a small water container and after each item he
would go and drain out the water into a bucket close by. It was really
strange how water used to come into the container after total drainage
with no one even touching it.

He showed magic with cards and also took out paper money out of empty
closed palms. For us, the elders, we knew this to be the tricks and the
clean hand work of a magician but some people were astounded with his
magic work. My son simply stared blankly and watched the magician at
work very carefully. Next, a pigeon came out of an empty box, eggs
started coming out of a hollow pipe and so many other items. After
giving his show for more than an hour he said, "This is my last item. I
want the small child to come up to me". This was a call for my son as
he was the only child in the room. He was very excited and got up from
his seat and moved forward without even looking at me for my
permission.

This was something very funny. The magician told my son to face
sideways. He took a funnel which he turned upside down to confirm that
it was empty. Then he brought it close to front opening of his half
pant and placed a bucket just below the funnel. Now he said, "You see,
this boy's urine is going to flow out through this funnel into the
empty bucket". Everyone looked at him attentively and also funnily to
see what he was going to do.

We were looking at him when some water started falling through the
funnel and collected into the bucket making a noise. This little boy
stood quietly without moving and looked at what was happening. After a
minute or so the liquid stopped falling. He tapped the child on his
shoulder and told him to get back to his place. It was then that my son
moved his hand on that part of his half pant to see if he had really
wetted his pants. He came running to his seat saying, "I did not piss
in my pants. I don't know what happened. Mom you see my pant is dry".
All of us burst into laughter on hearing his words. Mr. Bose then told
him, "this is magic my son. How did you like it?" The child hid his
face on my lap out of shame.

The magic show ended and we were back home. My son did enjoy the show a
lot but for me having seen magic performed by the famous magician
P.C.Sorcar Senior, this show was just an ordinary magic show for
recreation only.

This magic show was imprinted in my son's mind for many days and he
spent time with his friends to share his experience he had with the
magician.