© Thinkworks Pvt Ltd | John Zubrzycki is an Australian journalist, diplomat and an Indophile. He’s written several books on India, most recently one on the history of Indian magic. Reaching back to the Harappan seals, a cornucopia of characters and knowledge systems emerge about Indian magicians: of jugglers, illusionists, and jaaduwalas who today are obliterated from the Indian scene. Relegated to the Shadipur depot, they are treated as beggars and criminals, while the West has adopted and celebrated their tricks. This conversation reignites our interest and knowledge about the lost arts of our past and India’s first global cosmopolitans who practiced them.