Saving environment by magic
By Vimla Patil

KRUTI PAREKH, 13, and already a famous personality, claims that magic is in her blood and runs in her veins. This is because she is born of a miracle of science. She is India’s first test tube baby created by the famous man of medicine, Patrick Steptoe, who discovered the technique of fertilising an ovum in a test tube and then implanting it into the womb of the mother. Kruti’s mother and jeweller father had been desperate for a child for years when their doctor relative introduced them to Dr Steptoe. He was unwilling to go international till his own experiments were perfected. Then when he was sure, he created a test tube baby for the Parekhs and Kruti was born.

"From the age of four, I have been fascinated by magic," Kruti says, "I used to go to many Melas with my parents and watch village or roadside magicians perform tricks. I used to come home, try them out and soon, perform them with dexterity.

Once I watched a magician in Lonavala near Mumbai where we were on holiday. I prevailed upon the magician to teach me his tricks and added his work to my repertoire. My parents bought me magic equipment and slowly, I began to perform among friends and family. I could learn any trick performed by any magician within a few minutes. Over the last few years, I learnt three kinds of magic. Close up, conjuring and illusions. In the first, tricks are shown with the participation of the viewer. In the second, the magician does a few hand tricks and in the third, which is the most professionally performed in show, illusions of light, angled mirrors or partitions, fog and smoke and other techniques help to create a semblance of magic. Most magicians are known for the last variety of magic because illusions are truly spectacular. In our country, P.C. Sorcar, K. Lal, Niranjan Mathur and several others have given thousands of performances as illusionists."

Kruti, who has mastered a mind-blowing 1700 tricks, can perform magic at the flick of a finger. She produces coins, watches, vibhuti, kumkum, fragrances and other substances with the finesse of a miracle worker and uses these tricks to educate viewers to get rid of their blind faith and superstitions.

In the early years of her childhood, Kruti became the cynosure of Indian society, because she was a real child prodigy. She was a showperson par excellence. In addition, she was good in sports, cultural activities and also topped her class every year. She performed before celebrities and met world leaders like Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela among others. Seeing her at one of her shows abroad, William Zimbago, the world’s leading illusionist, was impressed with her and taught her professional magic performance. He was also the teacher of K.Lal and a colleague of P.C. Sorcar. But Kruti’s family insisted that she should complete her school education first before launching into a career as a magician. "When we were in Las Vegas, the Mecca of magicians today, I was offered a 20-minute capsule in a world-famous magician’s daily show. He offered me a million dollars per year. The costumes and equipment of his show were fabulous and probably worth millions. But my parents rightly brought me back to school to Mumbai," Kruti says.

In recent years Kruti began to give a sense of direction to her magic shows promoting environmental issues such as proper garbage disposal, fertiliser creation through vermiculture, water safety, tree planting and creating a wider awareness of air and water pollution. Her shows are aimed at removing superstitions, reaching villagers and promoting a scientific attitude to life, helping handicapped and retarded people to find skills and confidence in themselves, highlighting yoga and its infinite possibilities and spreading the message of peace through environmental cooperation.

Kruti’s work came to the notice of the United Nations Environmental Programme which had set up the Global 500 Honour Roll in 1987 to recognise the contribution of people to the conservation of nature and its treasures. This year, on World Environment Day in June, Kruti was invited to this Roll of Honour and felicitated by the UNEP, the emperor of Japan and other world celebrities. Kruti has returned from Tokyo with determination to work for Kruti’s Eco Foundation. She will now adopt the Babulnath temple in Mumbai for a vermiculture project. She will make the Charni Road station in Mumbai a zero garbage area and help school children to participate in and create such programmes everywhere. Mature beyond her years, Kruti has accomplished a great deal through her environmental work.

She wants to become a computer engineer. Already, she is a wizard at mathematics like a mini Shakuntala Devi. "Magic is not considered a serious performing art though it is dramatic and needs great skill. The equipment needed and the costumes are pricy and to do a world class show, I will need to be the best. But this art should not be lost. So I am going to start an academy for new learners and create many magicians. In the US, magicians earn fabulous money. If ever I earn such huge sums, I will launch many projects to save the environment and to bring children into the movement because they are the inheritors of this earth," Kruti says.