These mind readers in Hyderabad will leave you in awe

Two mentalists, who performed in the city recently, describe the method on how they guess your ATM pin.
Suhani Shah (L) and Jayasimha. (Photo| EPS)
Suhani Shah (L) and Jayasimha. (Photo| EPS)

HYDERABAD :  From the pages of Harry Potter books, magic is taking over stages in Hyderabad and how! However, this magic does not involve people making pigeons appear out of handkerchiefs, or cutting someone into two.

It’s sophisticated and involves the most powerful organ of our body — the brain.In the past one week, two mentalists left the city gaping in awe as they successfully ‘read minds’ and extricated information which no one else could have known.

While Suhani Shah correctly guessed the time of birth of a participant, Jayasimha, with a blindfold on his eyes, correctly guessed which participant had a cheque concealed in his hand.We talk to the mind readers to understand what lies beneath their seemingly supernatural powers of deciphering the brain.

The method:

Suhani Shah, who has been performing magic acts on stage since she was seven, says: "Mentalism is a genre of magic. Just like you have dance as a parent category and various dance forms like Kuchipudi, Salsa etc., in magic too, you have genres like table magic, street magic, mentalism, illusions, escapology and others. Each genre has its root pattern of performing. Mentalism works on psychology. There are no props like boxes, ribbons or ropes. We give an illusion of reading minds and guess ATM pins and a range of other thoughts. We do it by understanding your body language, eye movements and linguistic deception with the help of concepts like Neuro-linguistic Programming and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. But the biggest part of mentalism is showmanship and confidence. We will make people think what we want them to think, but then make them feel like it’s their free choice."

Jayasimha, who was a squadron leader in the Indian Air Force and then spent eight years in helping children strengthen their memory, says that anyone can be a mind reader.

"We often read minds by noticing body language, voice modulation, facial expressions etc. A salesman is a mind reader. When a couple enters a showroom, he quickly deduces who the decision maker is. I am not doing something new. Political leaders and babas/fakirs in our country have been doing this since ages. I decided to  learn this art to entertain people. For example, in one of my acts, I am blindfolded and I have to correctly identify a person who has a cheque. The persons who tell the truth say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without any hesitation, but the ones lying stop for a fraction of a second before replying. We are trained to spot these inflections, which might escape the notice of an untrained person. There are ways you can create an illusion to trick the mind. The sub-conscious mind does not understand what is real or unreal. Advertising companies take advantage of this fact to feed us subliminal messages," he says.

Their early days:

Talking about how magic became a part of her life, Suhani says: "I had my first stage show in Gujarat when I was seven years old. I have never attended formal school, and was taught at home. From a young age, I wanted to be unique. I used to watch magic shows on TV  and told my father that I wanted to be a magician. Though he did not take me seriously initially, he later realised that I was serious, and that’s how my journey began. It took me a couple of years to learn the nitty-gritty. I had my first show in 1997, and there was no looking back. I have written five books on psychology and human behaviour. I am also a clinical hypnotherapist and have clinics in Goa and Mumbai."

Jayasimha,  who is the president of World Memory Sports Council for India, says: "Due to my association with memory-strengthening exercises, I have a good understanding of the human brain. I came across the concept of mentalism in Israel an year ago, and decided to give it a try. These mind manipulation tricks have been there for a long time. Even the Mahabharatha mentions them. But today, Israel is practising it."

(The writer can be contacted at kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com)

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