The "Burning Money" Trick


Some time back, we went to this Harry Potter workshop at Jayanagar with our 8 yo. The workshop was more science than magic, but with the obligatory wand and Hogwarts style cape thrown in. Then again, as Arthur C. Clarke wrote:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

One of the tricks started with the host asking the kids:
“Which of your parents is rich?”
There was pin drop silence. Not an embarrassed silence, more like a resigned silence. Apparently, all parents have done an awesome job at convincing their kids that they are not rich.

But there’s a minimum age before this message sinks in. Because the youngest kid, wanting the show to go on, spoke up:
“My mom’s rich.”
His mom looked like she wanted the earth to open up and swallow her.

The host asked her for a 100 bucks for the trick, but she didn’t have change. So I gave the guy a 100 bucks note, upon which he promptly informed everyone that if the trick went sideways, he wouldn’t return the money. Of course, this only made the trick even better for the kids: this was no garden variety trick, there was real risk involved here.

The guy dipped the note in a bowl containing water, then into another bowl containing another liquid, and announced:
“Now I am going to see this note on fire.”

A horrified yet let’s-do-this look came on the kids’ faces. My daughter turned around with a look that seemed to say:
“Wow! He’s going to set money on fire. And you’re going to let him do that with your money?”
The trick worked out as planned: the note seemed to catch fire (you could see the flames), then the fire extinguished, and voila! The note emerged unscathed, not burnt, just a bit wet.

I guess kids understand the value of money enough to know that you’d have to be crazy (or a magician) to burn it literally. But burning money figuratively: that they have no problem with…

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarAugust 13, 2019 at 12:22 PM

    This is a very good blog. For one thing, our little one has emerged after a good gap. That apart, liked the 'hero father' too, who beat the richest mom by offering 100 bucks for the magic which she couldn't produce!

    A very likable part of the narration was the touch of humor at the expense of Indian culture that encourages even millionaires and billionaires to mindlessly utter words to the effect, "No no, I am not rich!" In that, the climax that cliched the humor-show was this: "His mom looked like she wanted the earth to open up and swallow her!" :-)

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