Jadugar Akash set to perform Guillotine Escape and Train Escape

Panaji, July 15 (UNI) Playing with death is his pastime. Adventurism is his breath since childhood.

His ambition is to set world records and break the records set by others. It is his way of life indeed.

Twenty-nine year-old Akash Awasthi, son of the world famous Jadugar Anand, has high mental and physical prowess in command to perform the daredevil acts.

Not satisfied with the breathtaking feats of ''the great fire escape, the great underwater escape and the great blindfold motorcycle drive'', Akash is set to achieve other unbelievable stunts - The Great Guillotine Escape and the Great Running Train Escape.

''I plan to attempt the Guillotine escape in Pune or Mumbai this September. No one in the world had ever attempted these feats earlier,'' the smiling but bold-ever and intrepid Akash told UNI here recently.

He will be tied with chains with his head placed on the trough of a sharp deadly guillotine whose upper blade precariously hangs over his head with the support of a rope pegged to an iron rod on the ground.

The dangerous feat envisages his escape before the blade falls on his head as the supporting rope is burnt slowly under a candle fire ! So is the act of escaping from the rails of a runing train. He will be tied with chains to the rails as a train speeds from a distance. He has to unchain himself before the train moves over him.

Handcuffed, chained, boxed and then dumped into the famous Hussain Sagar lake at Tank Bund in Hyderabad, Akash emerged unscathed in a jiffy.

So did he when he was thrown in a heap of haystack on fire in Goa's capital city, Panaji, last year end. He had performed the fire escapes eight times.

Akash had set a world record in underwater escape (15 seconds) in his maiden attempt, from Hussain Sagar on May 13 in Hyderabad.

American Magician Harry Houdini had set the first record (60 seconds) in 1912 from East River, New York , followed by Akash's father Jadugar Anand (40 seconds) in 1970 from river Narmada, Jabalpur.

The daredevil, apart from being a magician,is a post-graduate in Business Administration (MBA) in Finance from Pune-based Symbiosis Institute.

He has been actively engaged in giving performances for the last five years, with the blessings and training under his father, whom he fondly calls ''my boss''.

UNI