“He is good, is he not?”….Avantika remarked, looking towards her husband Gaurav sitting beside her.
“Naah, he is just executing the same old tricks every magician does…nothing really new!”….Gaurav replied, in a nonchalant tone.
“You are always so sarcastic. I like what I see, but you always try to find faults.”….Avantika said while frowning upon her husband.
“What can I do? I see things pragmatically, unlike you. You take things at face value.”…Gaurav said, smiling back at her gorgeous wife.
Avantika pursed her lips and nudged Gaurav’s thigh with her knuckles, in a gesture of rebuke and then turned her attention back towards the stage.
Avantika Bharadwaj was the 40 year old wife of Gaurav Bharadwaj who was 48 years old and a prominent industrialist in the city of Delhi. She was a former model and actress but had retired from her on-screen role after marrying Gaurav 4 years back. She was still insanely sexy and was in a stable relationship with her financially established husband. Money was definitely a major factor in the decision of marrying Gaurav who was 8 years older to her, but he also liked the intelligence and wit of her husband. This was her second marriage, after dumping her earlier husband for a not so significant reason. It was the second marriage for Gaurav too, and so they were even on that scale. They did not have any children of their own, though Gaurav had a son and a daughter from her previous marriage.
They were attending the wedding reception of the Police commissioner’s daughter in the large banquet hall of a 7 star hotel. The magic show was one of the key events arranged to entertain the guests, and the magician was none other than the famous Sunil Joseph, who was in his mid 30s and had attained considerable fame at a relatively young age.
“Now, for my last event of the show I would like to invite someone from the audience. Will someone be kind enough to volunteer as the subject for this event?”….The magician asked, looking expectantly at the audience.
There was a hushed silence for a minute as the people in the audience looked at each other. Finally there was one person who stood up.
“I am ready to volunteer, if you allow me.”….It was Gaurav who offered himself to be the test subject, much to the bewilderment of Avantika.
Avantika was about to say something to him, but Gaurav had walked towards the stage even before she was able to. She knew that her husband liked to show off, but she would not want him to create a scene in public considering how sceptical he was of magic tricks and considered magicians to be cheaters at large.
Soon Gaurav was standing beside the magician, hogging the spotlight and the focus of the audience.
Sunil was about to say something to Gaurav, but Gaurav cut him off, looked towards the audience and addressed them – “Ladies and gentlemen, I volunteered for this event as no one else put his hand up proactively. However, I am not someone who believes in magic or any supernatural stuff. I know very well that all these are simple tricks which impress us only because we do not concentrate and try to decipher these simple manoeuvres.
This is exactly what Avantika was afraid of. She felt uncomfortable at her husband’s show-off, and hoped that he would not come up with any other surprises to embarrass the magician and create a scene in front of everyone.
Gaurav turned towards Sunil and said….”Hey, I do not want to spoil your show. But I just said what I believe. You can try any of your magic spells on me, but please don’t take it personally if it does not work. For I know a thing or two about these tricks.
Sunil looked a bit disturbed….but he composed himself and said calmly….”So Sir, you think that everything that I exhibit are ruses which you can catch easily if you want, right?”
Gaurav smiled and said…”See, I am only saying these are tricks which will lead people to believe what they want to, but I am not one of those guys. So if any of your magic does not work on me then please do not take it personally.”
Sunil went silent for a few seconds. It was apparent to Avantika that he felt insulted and she felt bad for him. Then Sunil looked towards Gaurav and said…”Ok Sir, will you mind just staring at my eyes for 30 seconds. It will not harm you. But will you, please?”
Gaurav said…”Of course yes, why not? But don’t think it will have any effect on me.”….saying this he stood confidently and looked straight into the magician’s eyes.
After just a bit more than half a minute, Sunil turned his gaze away, looked towards the audience and said…”The gentleman in the stage was of the opinion that he cannot be tricked into doing anything which he does not want to. But he is now under my spell and will do anything which I ask him to. Don’t worry, I will break his spell after a few minutes.”
There were hushed whispers in the audience. Avantike herself was surprised now and wondered if the magician was indeed telling the truth. She waited with bated breath for what was to happen next.
“So Sir – what is your name? Can you please look at the audience and tell them” – Sunil asked Gaurav
Gaurav turned towards the audience and said – “My name is Sunil Bharadwaj”
“The lady who was sitting beside you, is she your spouse? What is her name?” – Sunil asked
“Yes, she is my wife. Her name is Avantika Bharadwaj”…Gaurav said in a clear tone.
Avantika kept looking at the two people on the stage with astonishment….she could not believe that her husband was really under the spell of the magician….but why else would he be obediently responding to whatever he was being asked to….she knew her husband and this was not his nature.
“One last question Sir. And after that I will bring you out of my spell.”…Sunil said…”Can you tell us something which your wife loves to do, something which no one else in the audience knows other than you?”
Avantika did not like where this was leading to….she knew that Gaurav had offended the magician….and maybe he was doing this to get even with him…few acquaintances in the audience turned their heads and looked towards her…she was about to stand up and object to what was about to happen, but before she could do anything she heard her husband’s voice.
Gaurav said in a solemn voice….”My wife loves to talk dirty when having sex.”
There was pin drop silence in the hall for a few seconds….Avantika’s fair cheeks had turned red with embarrassment. She could not even look at anyone else in the hall now.
Sunil took a couple of steps towards Gaurav and whispered something in his ear….The audience were shell shocked to notice anything untoward in his action now…. After that Sunil took a step back, clapped twice and said…”Mr. Bharadwaj, the spell is broken now. You can go back to your seat.”
Gaurav seemed to have got back to her normal self now, and walked confidently back towards his seat.
No one however knew what the magician had whispered to his ears before apparently breaking the spell.
To be continued.