India, Aug. 2 -- You know the stories we tell ourselves, in our search for answers, for hope, or just to get through a hard day? For mentalist Suhani Shah, true magic lies just there: in belief.

"It is belief that turns stones into gods, after all, isn't it," she says.

Shah, 35, has been a practising magician since she was seven. She began as an illusionist and is now a mentalist. Through her tricks and mind games, she says, she is always chasing the same question: What determines what we choose to believe?

Her tricks themselves are extraordinary: she appears to guess a person's crush, routinely unlocks strangers' phones. "This too, of course, is a learned skill. It is not a supernatural ability. No magic is," she says, smiling.

Shah ...