A roof over their head no more an illusion

Thiruvananthapuram: Rahul, 18, stepped in to the world of street magic in 2016. The teen, who has intellectual disability and had been living with his mother and brother at a relative’s place since he was a child, is readying to move to a permanent home in Artiste Village.
Artiste Village, an initiative of city-based Academy of Magical Sciences, aims to provide a satisfactory life to the homeless and disabled street magicians and circus artists across the country. The academy has constructed 16 houses in a plot of 30 cents near Kazhakkoottam.

Finance minister T M Thomas Isaac will officially inaugurate the Artiste Village here on Wednesday in the presence of Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran and health minister K K Shailaja. Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan will preside over the function. Actor Madhu and mayor V K Prasanth will also attend.

According to magician Gopinath Muthukad, the initiative will provide proper shelter to creative artists. “Home is one necessity of every person. But artists often forget to build their house. Their creativity will take them to a peak but won’t provide a home. There are many street performers, circus artists and magicians who spend their lives in streets and tents,” he said.

“It has been built with the contributions from many private persons on a plot owned by me. The homes have sufficient living standards and adequate safety levels. Artists and their families can live here. For disabled artists we have constructed a studying area called Gurukulam,” he added.

Rahul’s mother Bindu is elated by the initiative. “Ever since his father died we are living with my sister’s family in Orambu near Poovar. Rahul who went to school till eighth standard used to do small magic shows in schools. His teachers took the initiative to give him training under Magic Academy in Poojappura. His schooling ended but Rahul did not miss any training classes. But it was difficult for us to travel such a long distance. Now, he is working under magic academy and has started earning. We are extremely happy that Academy gifted us a home with all facilities. Rahul is really happy that he can continue his studies through the gurukulam initiative of academy,” said Bindu.