Dynamo

On a Sunday morning the whole Ahmedabad gets up very late. One can be very certain about this, at least, in the Western part of the city. If you happen to be on any road in the morning you wonder whether Curfew Orders had been imposed by the Police in that area.

On 11th January 2015, on the last Sunday morning, however, I experienced a traffic jam on Ashram Road in the area from where one could enter the Sabarmati River Front. I had decided to walk down to my destination from my house to witness two highly advertised events on the Sabarmati River Front . One was the Flower Show and the other was International kite Festival. For the last few days Ahmedabad was flooded with visitors from all over the world to attend various events like the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (7th to 9th January) followed by Vibrant Gujarat Summit (11th to 13th January) in addition to the International kite festival (10th to 14th January) and the Flower Show (6th to 13th January). No wonder the Sabarmati River Front proved to be a common destination for most of the out-station guests on a cool and pleasant Sunday morning.  

Somehow, I managed to reach the Flower Show Area on the River Front behind NID. It was a huge show and a sheer delight to witness it. Spread over 65,000 square meters it had everything for nature lovers of all ages containing 3.5 lakh plants and a number of plant sculptures. The plants included bonsai, cactus, palm, roses and so many others in all the shades and hues of all possible colors a flower could have in that exhibition. I read later in a news paper that Ahmedabadis purchased flowers worth Rs. Two Crores during the week long show. When it comes to competitive buying nobody can beat Ahmedabadis.

Not being a great Botany enthusiast myself (the main reason for my opting to engineering side), very quickly I left the Flower Show and entered the Kite Festival Area on the East side of the River Front.  
The International Kite Festival India 2015 was going on in full swing. Amazing collections of simple and fancy kites in all shapes and sizes was on display. A few kites were so big that they almost resembled parachutes and required a number of people to handle and manoeuvre them. Everywhere the sky was filled with bright colors on the River Front right from Gandhi Bridge to Nehru Bridge.

The kite festival becomes more interesting when ace kite fliers of national and international grade participate in it. Visitors came from all the parts of India for witnessing the festival. The visitors and participants had come from countless countries, including Japan, Italy, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, the USA, Malaysia, Singapore, France, China, and many more. It was truly an international event.

The outstation teams from abroad looking for  proper temperature and wind conditions were busy manoeuvring their huge kites swiftly which made me awe stuck as I could never learn flying even a small kite after shifting to Ahmedabad forty years ago.

To my satisfaction, however, there were many in the crowd from my category and I was not the only one enjoying others flying their kites high in the sky. I just continued to watch and enjoy the entire scene till suddenly a lean White man of about five and half feet with a moustache and trimmed thin beard with thick combed hair suddenly attracted my attention. The colour of his hair was brown and the eyes were possibly blue. He was moving all alone.

I thought that I had met him before. Why was he looking so familiar? Did I meet him or see him before? Did he come to PRL where I worked before? Scientists from abroad always visit PRL for attending conferences or meetings. Was he one of them? I frantically tried my best to but could not recollect where I met him. May be he was a look-alike of somebody whom I met or saw in PRL.

Was he a British, American or Australian? At times we cannot easily guess unless we come in a close contact with them and talk to them. I continued to trail him wherever he went taking care that he did not notice me. He was wearing a Navy Blue formal suit and was occasionally covering his face with a handkerchief. I developed a strong desire to meet him and talk to him, but not before I could recognise him. His face looked extremely familiar. Was he a TV personality?

And almost like a flash, it just struck to me that he was none other than the Dynamo, the Magician Impossible who appears on History TV 18 channel of the Indian cable network. I am always a great fan of him and never miss his TV episodes. It was, however, very unlikely that Dynamo was roaming in Ahmedabad without any media attention. But who knows? I decided to take a chance and went straight to him and stood in front of him.

"Good morning Mr. Dynamo, right?"

He looked stunned. For a moment he looked at me with some apprehension.

"You are Dynamo -The Magician Impossible! I am a great fan of yours. I watch all your episodes on History TV 18 channel. You are just unbelievable! I just want to talk to you if you like." I pushed myself, almost shamelessly.

He did not say anything for some time but looked at the crowd around probably making sure that no one else listened to what I was saying. Then after giving me a faint smile he said, "Oh, Good Morning" and then after a small pause he asked me whether we could shift to a less crowded area so that we could peacefully talk to each other for a while.

I readily agreed and both of us walked to a quieter area of the River Front.

He then asked me, "How could you recognise me. My compliments to you for that. I thought nobody would do that in this huge International crowd."

"Well I had my difficulties. You were not in your usual casual wears. Instead of mingling with the groups of people in the crowd and entertaining them with your magic tricks you were moving all alone. Moreover, there was no news in the media here about your tour to India at this time. The typical smile on your face gave me the first clue. But I must frankly admit that I took a chance and it worked. But what brings you here by the way?" I was feeling really great and wanted to talk to him as much he allowed me to do so.

"Do you belong to this city?" He suddenly asked me.

"Well, yes and no. I have been here for the last four decades but came from some other place. Why?"

"Nothing. I just asked." Then he continued, "Actually I needed a break from my magic shows. Hence I decided to roam around the world as an ordinary tourist. That's why none of my travel papers this time mentioned about Dynamo or magic. I had read about International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad. I decided to attend it and so here I am! Media also does not know about it as I kept a very low profile of myself in this tour. Will be going to Singapore day after tomorrow by a direct Ahmedabad-Singapore flight. Please do me a favour and don't spread it anymore. Will you?"
 
"Yes, of course." I assured him. Then I continued, "We all your fans in India know very well that Steven Frayne, born on 17th December 1982, better known as Dynamo, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is one of the greatest illusionists of today. Effortlessly combines his amazing sleight-of-hand skills with mind-blowing magic. We have seen an episode where  you were seen walking on the River Thames and in some other you traveled alongside a Double Decker bus with only the palm of your right hand placed on the roof of the bus and remained hung in mid-air with your other arm outstretched.

"In March 2014 you visited India. Your episode in Varanasi where just with the gestures of your hands you created and lighted hundreds of lamps on the river Ganges is unforgettable for we Indians. Worshiping Ganga with offering lamps to her has a special place in our culture.

"In the same trip, in Mumbai, you turned a handkerchief-sized piece of cloth in to a full beautiful saree just in front of the eyes of a group of girls. That act just impressed all the Indian women and men who definitely wished it to be true..."

At this point Dynamo looked visibly upset and stopped me by saying,"On No! Not again!"

"What happened? Did I say anything wrong? I am really sorry." I said apologetically.

"Nothing wrong with you. I got upset because precisely these two episodes you mentioned just now have put me in a great trouble the moment I landed in a hotel in Ahmedabad. A few bad guys from your city are after me right from my arrival here and I don't know how to get rid of them."

"Have you reported the matter to City Police? If not, I will help you to reach Police. These days they can be approached even on line.."

"No no. The guys are really not bad people.They are, in fact, respectable business people. They want me to collaborate with them and they have a plan that will enable all of us make a very fast buck if I co-operated."

"Strange! What do they want you to do?"

"They want me to produce one or two million sarees with my magic for which they will provide small cloth pieces as and when I required. They also want me to produce millions of CFL or LED lamps instead of oil lamps I produced in Varanasi on the river Ganges. Their only condition is that I must do this production sitting in India. They also assured me that my name will not appear anywhere and my whereabouts in India will not be disclosed to anybody."

"This is absurd. Don't they understand how stupid they were? What did you say?"

"I tried to convince them that I was only a magician. I was not a God Almighty. If I could produce things out of nothing, I will be directly producing currency notes and will be buying an island for myself and stay there in a luxurious house and move in branded high end cars or private air crafts forever. But they did not get the point. They assured me that they were not interested in knowing my technique of producing things. I could keep it to myself. They also assured me that in ancient India our ancestors knew the art of producing things from nowhere which is confirmed by a few scientists during the recently concluded Indian Science Congress in Mumbai. Even a few cabinet ministers in the Central Govt tell us repeatedly about our glorious past and the supernatural capabilities acquired by our ancestors. These group of businessmen have absolutely no doubts that it was a feasible commercial proposal."

I could not speak a word and stood there with a face with I don't know what expressions on it.

Dynamo then continued, "You know, they have a very big and a clever plan for marketing these millions of items after I magically produce them. They told me that vibrant Gujarat is a very business friendly state and is waiting for an investment from anybody who was ready to come here and do it. They have powerful financiers to invest in this project. They will get a land at cheaper rate on which they will construct a dummy factory building. Import some machinery from abroad for packaging these items attractively. The items produced will be sold cheaper than the Chinese goods available in the Indian market. That will bring a big money. Since the investment in the project will be negligible compared to our total turnover we will have a huge profit. Moreover the items will be packaged and sold under the "Made in India" label which is the buzzword these days."

"And then? How long will it continue? I could not stop asking this.

"Once the first lot is finished and they (me included) made a fortune, they will wind up the business. Demolish the factory and sale the land at a premium price."

"What's the idea?"

"They say in India if anything, a business in particular, flourishes very fast, the whispers start in the media that leads to notices, raids and enquires and many other troubles. That's where one should stop. It's not difficult to wind up a business house in India. Even domestic airlines are closed overnight. That's not difficult. The Account Books can always be prepared to show heavy losses due to low selling prices of our items and closing down the venture will look  as a very natural end of the show."

I had no words to say. I felt proud(!) of my own countrymen who could think that big and could meticulously plan their (miss)adventure.

"What will you do now?"

"I will ask from them for some more time to think over and will return to my country after spending a couple of days in Singapore  and then a few days in Australia. I will never visit your great country again! No offence intended." Dynamo commented with a mischievous smile on his face.

I hurriedly wound up the meeting with Dynamo after thanking him for the wonderful morning I had with him and took his leave. The next moment I rushed to the first  chai galla on the Asram Road for a cutting. I  Actually I wanted to apologise to Dynamo for what he went through because of a few of my own fellow Ahmedabadis. But I could not muster any courage for that. I wanted to run away from him as early as possible. I request you also to please spare him if you see him in Ahmedabad for the next couple of days.