Indian Magician Chancal Lahiri who went by the stage name Jadugar Mandrake apparently died during an escape attempt in West Bengal, India on Sunday.
We never met or corresponded with Mr. Lahiri but as John Donne wrote, “any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”
We know there are deaths occurring around the world every second and our focus on this particular tragedy must seem strangely specific – especially for someone with whom we had no relationship other than the love of our wonderful art.
More likely we are moved to bring this to these pages because of the incredibly cruel and wicked response we saw on Twitter and other social media outlets. Perhaps there has always been a subset of our population that could see the death of someone as fodder for entertainment or their own self-aggrandizement. Before social media, however, we never met them or had to read their vitriol against someone they also likely never met.
Those that did meet Mr. Lahiri, however, feel his absence in their lives at this moment. There is no joy or entertainment in the event for them. He will be forever gone to them. A part of their lives on which they doubt relied, taken from them in a public way. Our prayers are with those who mourn his departure from their life, their days, and their shared enjoyment of this world.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
Related Posts
No Show and It was Great!
We have a new act and look for any opportunity to try it out. We need to get in some…
Inside Magic Review: Bob White’s Torn and Restored Tissue
Bob White’s Torn and Restored Tissue DVD deserves a place in your magic collection. Chances are every magician reading this…
Magic Imitation is No Good
Usually this spot is for Magic News. That’s what we do here at InsideMagic.com. We bring the fives of readers…
Kranzo’s Mene Tekel DVD – Best Buy on Web Today
This is a review of Nate Kranzo’s newest offering to the magic community, Mene Tekel Miracles DVD. His work is…
Matt Vizio – Very Honest Deceptions
We have seen great magicians at The Magic Castle but there are few better than Matt Vizio. In our humble…
Hardeen Issues Challenge in 1929
Hardeen Challenges All in 1929
Elvis and the Performance of Magic — Just One More!
We receive hundreds of emails daily asking InsideMagic.com to watch videos, print articles, pay bills, accept service of process, cease…
Kyle Littleton & Dale Sawak: Great Magic from Both Ends of the Spectrum
We’ve seen some great magicians in our time. Last week at the Magic Castle we saw two fantastic magicians that…
Where You Been Magic Man?
We have been off-line for more than a week as we tried to magically make our new phone work. It…
No April Fools’ Day Here
As reader or readers of this august news source for all things magic know, we intensely dislike April Fools’ Day.…
Inside Magic Review: David Copperfield’s History of Magic
We have been a fan of David Copperfield since his early days. We anticipated his television specials with the same…
Zoom Magic Sought by Inside Magic
We have seen some wonderful Zoom magic shows recently. We realized we only knew about them because friends (we’re not…
