Zackary Canepari
The citizens of the Kathputli Colony slum in North Delhi live much like the other 220 million slum dwellers in modern India. Large families overcrowd one room shanties with dysfunctional electricity, non-existent plumbing and poor sanitation. But unlike the rest of the slum dwellers in India, this slum has been touched by magic.
For the past five decades, magicians, acrobats, jugglers, musicians, dancers and puppeteers have migrated from all over India to the small illegal settlement. Nearly all of the 1,500-3,000 (depending on who you ask) families in the colony are professional performing artists. Many have found success operating at 5-star hotels in India and at Cultural Festivals abroad, but they continue to return to their homes in the cramped, dirty streets of Kathputli. But these are also the streets where friends entertain each other by turning a burning piece of paper into a crisp 100 rupee note. Where the sounds of tablas and singing can always be heard in the distance. And where a daughter and father can be seen on a rooftop practicing magic…
Zackary Canepari
