It’s all about the ‘Mynd’

Contemplating murder? A possible robbery? Lifting the last shrimp off the plate before your friend can get to it? Then you had better watch your thoughts around this man. Because, to all intents and purposes, Pradip Amladi can read minds. Mr. Amladi, who hails from the Indian city of Mumbai, was in Colombo last week at the behest of The Charity Committee to present “Mynd Storm”, a show of ‘interactive para-psychological mind games’ laced with suspense and humour. Did he deliver? An unqualified “yes,” must be the answer.

Warning us that his methods “may not work in real life,” Mr. Amladi launched into what is obviously a very well thought out routine. Lasting precisely an hour, it covered several forms of thought transference, sixth sense and déjà vu, culminating in a most impressive display that Mr. Amladi likes to call his “Dream Car Project.”

Over the course of the evening, Mr. Amladi proceeded to read minds – lifting thoughts, words and even emotions from the audience. Less than half way through, scepticism gave way to wonder. How did he do it? The most obvious solution, that he was in cahoots with his “volunteers,” would implicate more than half the audience, and so had to be dismissed.

Consider, for instance, his “Dream Car Project.” Here several variables in several categories, including price, colour, manufacturer and style, were presented to various members of the audience. Each volunteer made his choice – say that the car would be silver – and then pointed out a stranger sitting at another table who would serve as the next volunteer. Through this process Mr. Amladi was given a picture that included the number plate and even the name (selected randomly by opening a 20,000+ word dictionary) of his perfect car.

Moments after the last volunteer had spoken, Mr. Amladi ran a power point presentation that included precisely the same details – a US$14, 317, silver convertible, made by Volkswagen at its U.A.E manufacturing plant, initially called “complaint” renamed “cell”, with the number plate KI06 - details that were finalised only moments ago! Any suspicions of tinkering with technology are put to rest when he reclaimed his wallet, left with an audience member and produced from within it, a sealed envelope containing a printed invoice with all the same details. Utterly inexplicable!

Mr. Amladi likes to consider himself a “purveyor of mind games”. Having turned his back on his training as a chartered accountant, he now uses his skill to entertain, inspire and educate mainly corporate audiences. Having performed in many places around the globe, including the U.A.E, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Germany, Mr. Amladi says he remains fascinated by the “magic of the adult human mind”.