Pottermania sweeps PC Sorcar Jr too!

Amid enormous craze for the art of magic sweeping through India with the release of the fifth Harry Potter movie 'The Order of the Phoenix', world-renowned magician P. C. Sorcar Jr. has announced his plans to start a master degree in "Dramagic", which will help pupils learn the closely guarded secrets of his 2,000-year-old craft.

The 61-year-old magician's version of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be an affiliate of the government-run Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal. The course is expected to begin next year. Sorcar will teach students the tricks perfected by his family over eight generations-such as pulling a horse out of an empty bag, vanishing after being sealed in a box crushed by a road-roller, and cycling through London and San Francisco with his eyes bandaged and plastered.

He insists on the need to mop up the prevailing misunderstanding about the Indian magic among people.

"Harry Potter has made magic popular in the world. A magic school will be able to attract many people. Indian magic is a misunderstood art. People think it's a rabbit out of a hat. I want to prove that wrong," Times Online quoted him as saying.

Sorcar is planning to employ street performers or "madaris" to teach students their trade at his institute.

"The 2,000-year-old craft of street magicians was passed on through word of mouth before. It would be a loss for Indian magic if this art was not preserved," he said.He also revealed that he was contemplating riding on Dal Lake in Kashmir for his next trick, in order to help boost tourism in the Himalayan State. Earlier, he has planned to perform the trick across the Red Sea, but changed his mind considering that it could hurt religious sentiments.