THE GREAT INDIAN ROPE TRICK

Riddle me this: Where does the boy vanish?

The great Indian rope trick, like snake charmers and elephants walking the streets of busy, crowded markets, used to be a part of a list of stereotypes about India during colonial times (and probably even now!!)

You might see an elephant now and then, but these days there is barely a snake charmer around; and as for the rope trick, it has become extinct now (even I heard about it recently). No one seems to practice it these days, but the mystery behind the astonishing ability of men to perform this trick still lingers (Oh la la!! I love mysteries...)

The rope trick has never been documented in detail, or captured by video cameras, although several people have, over the years, claimed to have seen it being performed. The trick is as follows:-

The head magician, with some trademark incantations, sends up a rope till it hangs stiff in mid-air. He then sends his assistant, usually a boy, up the rope till the boy disappears. Screams are heard in the air ; after which the boy's dismembered body falls to the ground (WTF!!!). The magician takes a cloak and covers the boy, mutters some magic words and the boy is whole again, followed by praises and ovation (Bravo magician!! How'd you do that?)

Several explanations have been given for this magic trick. One is that the trick is performed at night with only lanterns for light, so that the dark makes the disappearing act easy, while a monkey's body and a cleverly painted wooden head is used as the grisly bits (This is animal cruelty!!!). The rope itself has got bamboo joints inside it, which make it possible to lock the rope into a stiff pole and then unlock it so that it can become a regular rope, with just a simple flick of the wrist (Now that is what I call clever).

A more fanciful explanation is that the magician uses his words to hypnotize the audience into a trance, leading them to imagine they're seeing the trick being performed (That's absurd!).

As said, no one ever documented the trick in a scientific manner, so we don't know for certain. My vote goes to the first theory though. The more fantastic a magic trick is, the more ordinary is the explanation.