So I got invited by one of my Doctor friends for the Birthday party of his daughter recently.

A bit surprising, since, I dont get invited to too many parties, for the sheer reason of me being a wise ass to the point of being a jerk 😛

Being a 10th Birthday party, it was a big do, at a swanky place, with great decorations, a fantastic spread of food and a lot of entertainment for adults and kids.

A part of the entertainment was a magic show, where a Magician in his full garb of black tail coat with a top hat, stood on the stage, pulling fast ones on the kids.

And he was good !! I mean damn good. Not only was he funny and sweet to the kids, but the tricks were a mix of some old ones with a lot of new ones (or atleast ones that I had not seen).

I stood in the corner, a bit away from the stage, with my friend (the host) standing besides me. He was watching the show with a smirk on his face, alternating between looking at the Magician and then at me.

“He is good, isnt he?”, I asked him.

He gave me a proper know-it-all laugh, “What good?? Its all trick and sleight of hands”

And that started him giving me a complete breakdown on every trick that the magician did.

The magician would pull a rabbit out of the hat and he would go, “That hat has a false bottom”.

The magician would play a cards trick and my friend would say, “That deck of cards is marked”.

He was in the middle of explaining to me how the Magician made the balloon disappear when his wife came running to him.

“Chalo Chalo, Come quick, Maharaj ji has arrived”, she tugged at his sleeve and started pulling him towards a group of men who had just walked in, all robed in white.

My friend pulled me with him and dragged me, almost unwillingly, away from the magic show towards the White robed entourage, accompanying a big, round, bearded, extra well fed looking, middle aged guy with a little white in his long hair and beard for special effects.

I stood back as my friend and his entire family bowed before him and touched his feet as he blessed them one by one.

He looked at me with expectations. I gave him a sweet smile and shook my head.

The Maharaj, then walked up on to the stage where the birthday girl stood, as the magician was asking her to pull a card out of the deck, he had in his hand.

The little girl noticed the Maharaj and immediately went and touched his feet.

“Ayushyamaan Bhava”, the Maharaj boomed, and then waved his hand over his head and pulled out a gold chain out of thin air and placed it carefully around the little girl’s head, as almost everyone who saw that feat, started clapping.

My friend, who stood besides me, grabbed my hard in excitement and said, “See, bro, Maharaj ji has miraculous powers in him”.

And even as I tried to digest this, most of the people sitting close to the stage rushed over to the Maharaj hustling and bustling amongst themselves to get a chance to touch his feet.

The Maharaj looked at me and gave me his enigmatic smile and nodded his head almost beckoning me to come touch his feet.

Once more, I gave him a smile, shook my head and moved away to catch hold of the Magician, to try and see if I could persuade him to tell me how the hell did he pull a foot long handkerchief out of his ears !!!

Disclaimer: I hope my friend, the host, does not read this post, I really liked the cake and dont want to miss the party next year.