The Hindu

MANGALORE, Jun 1: He believes in living on the knife’s edge. After balancing on a five-inch mutton chopper at Town Hall last year, 20-year-old Sagar, an alumnus of St. Aloysius College, is now gearing up to pull off a glass stunt on Panambur beach on Sunday. A student of animation/graphics here, Sagar, who has been inspired by the likes of David Blaine and Criss Angel, will lie on a bed of glass pieces and be covered with them.

Having already tested his capacity on the bed of glass pieces in the run-up to the event, Sagar is confident of achieving the feat in front of a large audience. He wants to lie on the glass pieces for as long as he can bear.

Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, he said that his display on Sunday would be his first public performance. The jagged edges of glass pieces may leave his body, especially his back, extremely scratched.

Having staged “street magic” in his late teens, Sagar prefers “street magic” to “stage magic”. Hours of watching world renowned illusionists and magicians, such as David Blaine and Criss Angel on television, prompted him to practice and perform such feats, said Shilpa, his elder sister. “The entire family is behind Sagar. But we cannot see him pursue his interest,” she added.

Sagar’s mother Sunitha admitted that it would be difficult to watch him attempt such a dangerous feat. “I tried my best to dissuade him but could not,” she said.

Does Sagar fancy something more dangerous, such as sleeping in a glass enclosure with venomous snakes or spiders? Although Sagar is willing to try, his family members are happy with him limiting his heroics to the glass stunt.

“My attempt on Sunday is no illusion,” he said in a lighter vein and added, “Please be there and watch it for yourselves.” Asked who would clean up the mess that the glass pieces would leave on his body, Shilpa said: “His friends will help him.”