Sorcerer's Apprentice (travel book)

Overview

As a child in rural England, Tahir Shah learned the first secrets of illusion from an Indian magician. More than two decades later he set out in search of this conjurer, the ancestral guardian of his great grandfather’s tomb. Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the story of his quest for, and initiation into, the brotherhood of Indian godmen. Learning along the way from sadhus, sages, avatars and sorcerers – it’s a journey which took him from Kolkata to Chennai, from Bangalore to Mumbai, in search of the miraculous. A quest for the bizarre, wondrous underbelly of the subcontinent, Shah’s travels lift the veil on the East’s most puzzling miracles. Revealing confidence tricks and ingenious scams, Sorcerer’s Apprentice exposes a side of India that is often hidden from the eyes of visitors, perhaps because of the limits of their own observation.

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