See Mentalist Suhani Shah perform one of her most popular tricks

Suhani Shah, 35, fell in love with magic at six, and began touring with a show of her own at seven. With the support of her parents, she switched to home-schooling to pursue magic more seriously. Seven years ago, she switched from illusions to mentalism. “I am fascinated by human behaviour and I realised I could explore it more deeply as a mentalist,” she says. Her tricks are extraordinary, and recently won her a Magic Creator award at the World Championship of Magic, conducted every three years by the Switzerland-based International Federation of Magic Societies. See her guess a name and a number, in a conversation with HT’s Sukanya Datta.