Magic Moment 2006

Magic Moments 2006 the 20th annual magic festival was hosted by the Howrah Magic Circle on the 9th and 10th of December 2006.
Howrah is a district of West Bengal, India.

The Chief Guest was Mr. Ron Chatburn from England. A total of 284 magicians and magic enthusiasts attented this two day long
festival. The proceedings began late on the first day but we did not care much. While awaiting my turn to recieve the ID cards I started showing off my coin skills. Sometime after that it was breakfast time ( read brunch time ).
Any ways the program started with traditional Indian dance to welcome the attendees. P.C. Sorcar Jr. arrived very late, because his mother was admitted to a hospital. Although late, we were grateful that he could find the time to grace the occasion. His speech was a mix of welcome address and recounting of some fond memories of his father P.C. Sorcar Sr. and his mother Basanti Devi.
The show opened by lady magician Avantika and from then on it was magic and more magic. After lunch it was the dealer demonstration where dealers demonstrated the latest line of products they had to offer.
Day 1 saw the lady magician competition and junior competition followed by a gala show.
The auditorium where the competition was held was not a good one and the band was blasting away much to the discomfort of the audience. The chairs etc were in a pathetic state and the venue was not something to write home about. Fellows I am not complaining about the poor standards but am trying to send the message that lots of improvement is still needed in this field. Perhaps some professional event management team should have been hired.
Day 2 saw the senior competition and this was a good day for magic enthusiasts. The senior competition was breathtaking with some stellar performances from the current biggies of India at the moment. It was lecture time now. Mr. Srinivas from Andhra Pradesh and Mr. Goutam Guha from Kolkata presented some excellent lectures and demonstrations. Mr. Goutam Guha is a really big name in the magic circles here. Though he is a not a practising magician but he is a teacher par excellence. He has trained many magicians including your truly.
The venue for the grand gala show was Sarat Sadan, Howrah. This was a much better auditorium than the last one. First it was the prize distribution ceremony and felications of the various invited guests, then it was onto the grand gala show. The winners in various categories came out once again with their winning acts and mesmerized the audiences with great quality magic.
Two days spent immersed in magic and in the company of fellow magicians, what else can one ask for.

Results of the various competitions are as follows:-

Day 1 ::

Lady Magicians' Competition
First Prize -- Soumita Bag
Second Prize -- Sneha

Junior Competition
First Prize -- A. Mohanty
Second Prize -- Sagar

Day 2 ::

Senior Competition
First Prize -- M. Yona
Second Prize -- S. Kundu


Mr. Yona's performance deserved the first prize. Onstage he portrays Charlie Chaplin in a magician's avatar. Very confident and smooth performance. Clearly the experience shows in his act. He used the whole stage and made his presence felt. Magic, I feel is really about personality and entertainment and not so much in mere secrets or clever gizmos and contraptions. Mr. Nayan deserves a worthy mention of his performance in the senior category. I liked his act where he portrays a heart broken
fellow trying to rediscover his lost love. He performed to the tune of classic Raj Kapoor songs and he did a jolly good job at it. The first prize winner in the lady magician's category Soumita is a charming young girl with lots of skills. She is so small in stature, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this young gifted first amaze the audience with skillful card manipulation. Bravo !!!

The best part of the convention for me was the offstage sessions with enthusiastic magic nuts from all over India. Mr. Sandeep Golani is very skillful with this hands and amazed the onlookers with his skill with cards and coins. His artful deciet as he bends spoons in the spectator's hands is praiseworthy. It was like swarms of bees looking for honey. All over the place one could see cards, coins and sponge balls wowing the onlookers. It just did not stop and thank God that it continued.
Mr. Arun Bonerjee does the best rendition of the spirit key. His presentation is a thing to watch. Cardician Shekhar was at it again when he graced us with some wonderful card magic. Mr. Sarang and Prince S. Lal were trying to one up each other with sponge ball magic and coins. It was a great opportunity to watch some great magic and learn from the biggies.

I could go on and on but my limited journalistic abilities won't allow me to go far. So its good bye for now and I hope to see you all again later.