E-Paper
The magic CM
Abracadabra? ashok Gehlot? abracadabra? Ashok Gehlot... abracadabra: the two are synonymous. Or at least they were till politics came along.
Abracadabra… ashok Gehlot… abracadabra… Ashok Gehlot... abracadabra: the two are synonymous. Or at least they were till politics came along. In fact, even during the former Chief Minister’s initial years in politics, he used to do regular stage-shows with his father, who was a professional magician.
Ask Ashok Gehlot and he will tell you how a clap can produce a woman. Ask him to teach you to make tea by simply placing a kettle on your pate. Ask him how to multiply coins at a 1:100 ratio. And ask him how a magic stick can produce fluttering pigeons, and he will perhaps produce them instantly. Ask him to show you family heirlooms and chances are he will pull out a black cloak, a top hat and a magician’s wand, in addition to hundreds of boxes, cubes and whistles gathering dust.
Consequently, when Ashok Gehlot talks about his sojourns abroad, top of his mind is the trip to Hong Kong for stage shows with his father. It was here that he mastered the art of pulling out yards and yards of thread from his stomach or the “sar par chai banane wala” (tea on pate) trick.
After his father’s death, Ashok not only ran the family-founded Adarsh Chamatkar Kendra (wonder institute) in Jodhpur, but decided to honour his father’s memory by publishing the tricks catalogue that he had designed during his lifetime.
Ask brother Agrasen and he will tell you that ‘Bauji’ (their father, Babu Lakshmi Singh Gehlot) would often be in the company of jugglers and spend hours developing new tricks. It is, therefore, natural that among the first things that Ashok did after taking over as Rajasthan Chief Minister was to address the problems of magicians and grant several concessions to the tribe.
That apart, many recall how as CM, Ashok had organised the much-talked about reunion of his primary school friends. Getting everyone together was not easy since it meant going back a few decades to track down people. But once it happened, it was memorable. There were teachers proud of ‘apna Ashok’ (their own Ashok) becoming CM, but also fellow students nursing bleeding hearts at the sight of erstwhile girlfriends married to strangers.
Such situations were alien to Ashok, who, between magic and politics, had no time. He was among the few who contested a school election when in Class VIII and missed classes to assist his father. His marriage to Sunita was at the behest of his family: a simple affair with a “seedhiladki” (simple girl) from a “normal family”, says Agrasen, who chose Sunita for Ashok and merely informed him. There were less than a dozen people, who were packed off in a Maruti van for the bride’s house. At the ‘reception’ that followed, coffee was all that the guests were offered.
“Shimplicity” (simplicity), he quips. No invitation cards printed for his daughter’s wedding, following ‘Shoniaji’s’ directive of austerity, Gehlot claims, tripping, as always, over his ‘s’es.
