The lockdown is making mentalist Narpath Raman do things he never thought he would do: Give away the tricks of his trade.
After seven years of training in the art form of mind reading and performing in front of audiences, he has now started teaching. “I go mad if I am not creatively using my mind, body, and soul in and around mentalism,” says Narpath, adding, “Honestly, I never thought I’ll give these secrets away. This is valuable wisdom that has taken years of sleepless nights, myriad embarrassments, trial and error, and thousands of dollars. So as a whim, I thought why not coach a select few people.”
Narpath is starting with small batches of students and the curriculum is for 21 days, 90 minutes per class. It is a virtual class. “It takes 21 days to build a habit. All of the classes will be recorded and the video will be sent for later reference,” says Narpath. Perfecting the art, however, is a never-ending process. “It’ll take at least two years of constant practice and study to build a decent 30-minute act,” adds the 29-year-old.
The classes don’t straight away dive into tricks. They involve understanding the basics. “In the first session, Narpath introduces the idea of psychological force, which he says is a great tool to have. Next he asks his students to think of a number between 1 and 10. Three out of five think of 7.
“7,8,3,” he explains are numbers that people most often think of. Scripting and acting too emerge as important factors to master this art form. It also involves a bit of maths, a great amount of science and more importantly an understanding of how humans work. The process can sound a little complex at first but Narpath says, “If one has been fascinated by human science and the potential of the mind, he/she will grasp faster. Ideally, it boils down purely to how much effort one’s willing to put in.”
By the end of the 21-day session, the participants — students, actors, IT professionals, business owners, VPs of MNCs in the age group of 20 to 50 — will learn semi-professional mind-reading acts, basic NLP (Neuro-Linguistic programming), approach, confidence, scripting and presentation, and get access to professional material. “I do an interview before taking on a student,” says Narpath, adding, “The criteria is that the applicant should be genuinely interested in performing mentalism. If someone wants to attend just so he is privy to the secrets, then this is not the course for them.”
The 21-day curriculum is priced at ₹25,000. For details, email team@nextdoormindreader.com
