Potter-ati!

This is going to be one of those never ending posts with part 1s to God-knows-how-many. Anyone who knows me is going to tell you that I am this Harry Potter maniac and that once I get into any conversation about Harry Potter, little can divert my attention or make me talk about anything else! Indeed, I have made my friends see the 4th movie (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) TWICE... An achievement in itself! And these are the kind of people who couldnt probably spell 'Voldemort' if asked to, having never read any book!

It would have to be second year of college, when the books made great headlines, back in India having been a raving success all over Europe. Me n my friend, Harini, in fact spoke about getting our hands on the first book and seeing what all the fuss was about... Harini was one person who shared my neverending enthusiasm on books and we had a lot of common book interest. She got to it first and after the first book, she said -'Its childish n a lot of fantasy. but I'm hooked.' That was enough inspiration for me to grab the book and dive into it. My parents will tell you I develop deafness and become mentally challenged when I have a book in my hands.. Agreeably, my response time is muuuch higher and I dont hear 99% of the stuff being said around me. Indeed, if I had that amount of concentration where I should have had, I'd have a PhD degree in whatever I wanted!

Okay, not digressing too much, I read the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and it wasn't phenomenal.. it was childish... It was fantasy.. but it was also fun and page-turning. I was never bored and that for me qualifies as a decent read. In quick succession, Harini n I devoured books 2 (Chamber of Secrets) and 3 (Prizoner of Azkaban). Book 3 was the 'turning point' in my HP experience. I mean Book 2 was good... but book 3 was phenomenal and awesome and I realized that in a week's time, I had turned from Harry Potter newbie to a moderate-knowledge state... And I was addicted. Book 4 (Goblet of Fire) followed soon after. I think this was my least favorite in the series before the 6th came... By now I was a self-proclaimed Harry Potter guru (I believe I am to date!) Around this time, the movies had started coming in India and ofcourse I was there in the theatre when they released. The first movie was a cute adaptation and the characters were so cutely in adherence to the book that I ignored some subtle changes from the book. Then came movie 2, a year later and still there was no disappointment... They had done it well...except that it was sooo dark that it seemed they had saved money on lights!!

Then came Book 5(Order of the Phoenix) I remember how eagerly I awaited this book.. And I got my first copy... an illegal one.. online, the night before it released. And the maniac that I was, I sat n read the whole humongous 790 odd page book in 6 continuous hours -- glued to the computer screen - all night long. The next morning, I was soooo exhausted and had to bear the brunt of my parents screaming at me for being so 'weird' for sitting up the night and reading a 'damn book'! But I was content.. I had read it! And the world was only then arising to the book... For the first time, I was ahead in the race of the contenders for Harry Potter wisdom... How did it matter that Amma n Appa were not-too-pleased with me? It didnt... They would be fine eventually! After all, I am their daughter!! Armed with such powerful knowledge, I turned my thoughts to the book as such... There were mixed emotions.. Some will tell you it was the best of the series and some will say the exact opposite. To me, it was high up there... A definite improvement over Goblet.. maybe not as slick as Prisoner... coz it was about double the size... but a sure-shot page turner with a very few pages that were slow... All in all, to me, it was a winner.

To down my enthusiasm, came movie 3. I think the casters had not read the book or were blind or both. I mean, Sirius Black was supposed to be HANDSOME! And I almost wept when I saw that they had chosen Gary Oldman for him.. I mean Gary had his days but he looked just short of revolting as Sirius in the movie. To make things worse, Remus Lupin was a disappointment as well. David Thewlis was hardly what it was to be a Defense Against the Dar Arts teacher.. It sapped my entire spirit as I saw the movie. To make matters worse, they had deviated bigtime from the book (and I frown upon such things!!) The only thing I appreciated greatly in the movie were the sets and the way the time-turner thingie had been taken.. The hippogriff was good too I suppose... Good job..

The biggest disappointment in my Harry Potter love story was yet to come... And I waited 7 whole months since the day it was announced that the Book 6(Half-Blood Prince) was going to be released on July 16th! I think that was Harry's birthday, supposedly... Well, I had pre-ordered the book... unfortunately not from Amazon. So while people all around me read it, I had to wait for my stupid copy to arrive or my roomie to finish reading it... The latter happened first and I greatly appreciate her for not having revealed the plot to me.. But when I read it, I thought it was some kind of cruel joke that J.K.Rowling had played on the whole community... How could Dumbledore die????? And indeed, I got a spoof version (anyone who wants it, please post a comment and I'll be happy to oblige by sending it to u) But God... what happened!!! The book was soooooooooo disappointing.. Boo Hoo!!!! And now I dont even know if I wanna read the 7th one.. I mean, I would be doing myself injustice if I denied me of the book and why should I? I guess we're all going to have to brave it in style!!

Go HARRY!!!!!!!!!!!

Jaya