INDIAN ROPE TRICK

I grew up in the Indian state of Gujarat not very far away from Gandhinagar. Once when I was 12, my father took me to a theater to see someone perform the rope trick. As I remember, there were other performers there too, but the rope trick was what everyone came to see.
“If you have heard of the Indian Rope Trick before you probably have been told it is a hoax or a myth. Of course it is a trick, but some people in India do not believe such a trick really exists. And in America, the same.
“So I took a little camera with me and hid it under my shirt. We were not supposed to bring cameras to the performance but I did not know that and probably I would have tried to bring it in anyway.
“It was a long time before the curtain finally opened and the fakir came out. Everyone clapped as if he was famous but I had never heard of him. (And now I can’t even remember his name.) He wore traditional dress with a headpiece. He had a young assistant who was dressed very modestly. He was about my age at the time.
“The fakir did not explain anything or say anything besides just greeting the audience. Then he took the end of a coil of rope and threw it up into the air. The rope just stayed where he threw it. What was so amazing was the way it froze in the air as if someone had just hit a pause button.
“I started taking pictures right then.
“The boy on the stage bowed to the fakir and started climbing the rope. I remember very clearly that the rope did not swing or bend at all while he climbed it. I took more pictures while I watched. When he reached the top of the rope, the boy disappeared, as if he had gone into an upper room.
“The fakir picked up a large sword and held it in his mouth, and he climbed the rope as well. I can remember that the room was very quiet at that moment and that you could hear the sound of the fakir’s feet on the rope as he climbed. He too disappeared at the top.
“Then the body parts started falling. It was horrible. No one made a sound because of the shock. The boy’s arms and legs and other parts fell from above the stage, and there was blood. I could not believe my father would take me to something like this! I was still taking pictures but at that point I thought I was photographing a crime scene.
“The fakir climbed back down the rope with the sword in his mouth. I think you could see blood on the sword.
“He went to open the basket where the rope had been stored, and out jumped the boy! He was in one piece and unharmed. I looked but could not see any of the body parts that had fallen. They had disappeared.
“The audience clapped and stood and the fakir and the boy both smiled and bowed. And then the curtain closed.
“I went the very next day to have the film developed. (This was before the digital camera!) It took about three days, and then I got it back. I looked at every one of the pictures, unbelieving.
“And then I showed my father, and he couldn’t believe it either.
“You see, the pictures only show the fakir and the boy standing on stage. No rope in the air, no sword, no blood. Just the two of them, standing there. We had all been hypnotized.”

EL MISTERIO DE LA CUERDA INDIA

EL MISTERIO DE LA CUERDA INDIA

Quizás solo dos efectos mágicos sean los que han hecho correr más litros de tinta en libros y periódicos. Uno fue el Dado de Kohtla y el otro la Cuerda India. Los dos son una fuerte llamada a la ilusión del misterio. Hoy nos ocupamos de la extraña leyenda de la cuerda india. La India, que siempre nos ha embrujado con sus misterios, hacía que los viajeros de finales del siglo XVIII y principios XIX llegaron a Europa contando, más o menos así, esta fantástica historia:

De pie, en una gran plaza o en pleno campo, rodeado de espectadores (por lo tanto imposible de toda sospecha), un hindú sucio, harapiento y de cara desagradable, lanzaba hacia el cielo una larga y pesada cuerda quedaba suspendida milagrosamente en el aire, absolutamente rígida. Un joven ayudante del fakir sube por esta cuerda, para desaparecer finalmente entre las nubes. Entonces el fakir le llama y como aquél no baja se enfurece, y colocándose un cuchillo entre los dientes sube en busca de su ayudante. Los dos se pierden misteriosamente en las alturas. Unos instantes más tardes se oyen en el aire unos desgarradores gritos de dolor. Súbitamente, los miembros ensangrentados de un cuerpo humano caen al suelo ante los ojos aterrorizados de los espectadores. Finalmente, cae la cabeza cortada del joven dando un macabro y seco golpe en el suelo. Luego, el fakir aparece descendiendo de la cuerda y cubierto de sangre, y llevando su cuchillo –esta vez ensangrentado- ente los dientes.
Una vez en tierra, parece arrepentirse del crimen que acaba de cometer. Con respeto y emoción, junta los pedazos del muchacho y metiéndolos en una cesta murmura unas palabras incomprensibles y guturales, que acompaña con cabalísticos y misteriosos gestos.
Y de pronto, ¡el milagro!... Lentamente, la tapa del cesto se abre y el joven asesinado sale despaciosamente, entero, perfectamente recompuesto y vivo.
Seguidamente, el fakir y su ayudante pasan el platillo para recoger la recompensa de su morbosa proeza, entre el humo y el fuerte olor de extraños perfumes, que siempre estuvieron presentes en el espectáculo.
Con algunas variantes, esto era lo que contaban aquellos viajeros .Ninguna exhibición mágica ha sido tan discutida como ésta. Se dice que testigos presénciales fotografiaron o filmaron este alucinante espectáculo. La película, revelada, se presentó… virgen de toda impresión. Ciertos exploradores han pretendido demostrar que fueron victimas de una sugestión colectiva y evidentemente falsa. Toda clase de conjeturas han surgido en torno a esta misteriosa fantasmagoría, desde las esotéricas hasta las más racionales de sesudos de Oxford.Los magos modernos, entre ellos Wolfgang Kalanag, han recreado este alucinante efecto en diversos escenarios del mundo. ¿la ilusión que nos presentan los magos es la misma que la de aquella leyenda? Esta verdad racional, ¿es la solución del enigma?; ¿o éste, sigue oculto entre los misterios insondables de la India? La verdad de la fantasía es, a veces, más fuerte que la de la propia realidad