My favorite author and the boy who lived turn another year old today.
Jo is now 42, and Harry turns 27.
I hope Jo has a great year ahead with her family.
Keep writing with that amazing quill of yours!
Monthly Archive for July, 2007
*SPOILER WARNING*
Courtesy: Blogging Harry Potter
Many of us found the epilogue of Deathly Hallows too vague and cheesy. It’s time for those of us to rejoice.
JK Rowling has revealed bits and pieces of info on the survivors of Deathly Hallows in an interview on the TODAY show.
Click on the link above to read those; be wary that it reveals some of the plot of Deathly Hallows.
She also said that she will probably write an encyclopedia with more details about her characters and the wizarding world.
The encyclopedia would include back stories of some characters which she had originally written, but had to cut down in the final manuscript (She once said, “I’ve said before that Dean Thomas had a much more interesting history than ever appeared in the books”).
Rowling also reveals the identity of the “reprieved” character in Deathly Hallows.
I’m so excited about the book right now. Rowling said she would take a break for some time before compiling the Encyclopedia. Royalties of the book will go to Comic Relief as it did for “Quidditch through the ages” and “Fantastic Beasts and where to find them”
This time, two dames – Paro and Maneesha – have tagged me separately with the same topic, in hope that I will get around my writer’s block. But little do they understand that it is not writer’s block, it is rather a blocked writer. (Courtesy: Sanjiv)
Now to the topic of the tag. No points for guessing what the tag is about. It is the one which is doing rounds in the world of blogs of late – 8 Weird things. Now I had already written another tag with 6 weird things. It really feels weird to write about more weird things. Can’t the guys who create these tags be a bit creative, rather than giving old wine in a new bottle?
Anyway, here are the rules:
1. Write 8 random/weird/habitual/crazy facts. (Why is it 8? Shouldn’t that be random too?)
2. Tag 8 other angels, and force them to stop doing productive work and start tagging in their blogs. In short, stop them from having the devil’s workshop. (I mean “an idle mind”)
3. Bully, Coax, Plead, Cry, Whine or Beat the pulp out of them so that they take up this tag.
Without much ado, here I go.
1. I encounter nail-biting moments way too often. I bite my nails whenever my hands are idle. It’s habitual, but I think it is getting better – Now I’ve learned how to file my nails using my teeth, so they never look like bitten nails. 
On a serious note, please don’t hesitate to shake hands whenever we meet. I really don’t bite nails as much as posted above. That was just for the effect.
2. I have attempted going to gym 3 times, and stopped within 2 weeks every time. Lack of determination! I’m sure it is! First in my college. Second in my company. The third time, I paid to go to a gym outside, thinking that spending some money for this will drive some sense into my skull. But I ended up wasting my money. Now I can’t pay 8 grand and go to Fitness One. What if I waste that also?
3. I have almost photographic memory of names (and faces, if they haven’t changed drastically from the time I last met them.) That means I can recall their name when I see a familiar face.
I am decent enough in remembering numbers (Telephone numbers and so on)
I am really bad in remembering dates. I scored my least amount of marks in History in my 10th when every one else was scoring cent percent. Two weeks back, my friend told me that we had completed 3 years of employment (we joined on the same day). I asked him, “Really?”
4. I had chats in GTalk with at least 6 people on 20th Friday, which consistently started with the following conversation. (It started to freak me out after the 4th person)
Person: for?
Me: Harry Potter
Person: ok!
Person:
The reason was that I had given my status message as “One more day!”
The freak show continued on 23rd Monday, when I had my status as “Falling into a state of depression 
”
At least 4 people asked me “why depression?” (I mean the exact same phrase). I replied, “Last HP book!”
5. I and my brother used to fight a lot over silly things when we were in school. Fights meaning fist fights. We had managed to hurt each other several times. I yanked his head once during a fight, resulting in a sprain on his neck which he carried for one week.
He has stabbed my palm with a pencil once and the lead got lodged into my palm. Had to go to the doctor to take it out. My right palm still carries the relic of that. The list goes on. My mom used to cry that none of her friends’ children were as violent as we were and that we had a lot to learn from them. We used to respond that they should come to us and learn how to fight properly. Mind you, the fights were always for the silliest of the reasons.
As time went by, it became wise for me not to engage in a duel with him, because he grew twice as fat and strong as me.
6. I rarely wear shirts. I feel more comfortable in T-shirts and polo shirts. I normally wear only 2-3 shirts which I’m extremely fond of. That too will generally be on top of a T-shirt and unbuttoned. The last time I remember wearing a formal dress was 2 years back when I attended the interview for my current company.
7. I have this annoying (to the recipient) habit of correcting the pronunciation of words spoken by my friends/family at the most awkward moments. Some of my most favorite corrections are:
- tuition is pronounced “tooishun” not “tiushun”
- queen is pronounced “kween” not “kiun”
- coffee is pronounced “coffee”. The o should sound like “aw” and not like “ow” (Typical of Mallus)
- elite. It is not “elaite”..It is “eleet”
8. The proven method for me to fall asleep is read a book while lying in my bed. I will fall asleep within two pages of reading while I’m lying prone or on my back, no matter how interesting the book is. Even Harry Potter has not been able to be an exception to this.
Okay. That makes it 8. Now the tough part. Tagging 8 people.
- Upasna – I want a change for a change. Write something funny.
- Dev – He claims he doesn’t even log into Blogger for months. My attempt to break that claim.
- Kandy – Let’s see the dark side of the cool guy… my classmate in engineering.
- Sanjuz – Gathering dust now. I won’t let your irrational thoughts rest in peace so soon. GET UP!
- Max – Another one gathering dust. All wasted writing skills.
- Dharmu – Recent addition to my blogroll. Bindaas girl, from whatever little I know.
- 2 Open – All those who felt dejected that I let you down by not tagging you, grab your chance. (Pssst… I’m sure no one will take this 
)
I’m falling into a state of depression. I can’t believe the last book of the Harry Potter series is out and I have already read it. I just can’t take the idea that I won’t get the chance to wait eagerly for the next book.
Being a faithful follower of Harry Potter, I won’t spoil any of the plots of the book. I thought I’d just mention how my day went on 21st Saturday.
I pre-ordered the book in the bookstore nearest to my apartment, obviously to reach home as soon as I bought the book and start reading the book. Unfortunately, the earliest opening time anywhere in Bangalore was 6 am. And, to my dismay, Crossword Indiranagar, where I was to get my book was to open only at 7 am.
So, me and KP decided to go at 6.15 am and wait outside the store. The others were not interested in Harry Potter. We left them to their pathetic life devoid of imaginations and fantasies. (Take no offence if you are reading this, guys, but your life is really pathetic, trying to spoil the plot to us with snapshots from a traitor which came on the internet on the previous day, and jeering and calling a spell casting as a mere stick rotation)
But typical to the nature of bachelors, we started off 15 minutes late. I was wearing my favorite Harry Potter T-shirt and shorts. By the time I parked my car near the shop, it was already crowded, with a queue of 30+ people. I felt a tiny bit of guilt for not showing my fidelity. I should have reached at 6. I should have been in the front.
That feeling faded away soon when the shop was opened and the first group of about 10 customers were let in. From then, it was a feeling of longing. A part of my brain even thought about gatecrashing, throwing the receipt to the counter, taking a book and running out. We couldn’t get in for another long 30 minutes.
I got the book, took a bookmark from the counter and started reading the book on the scene(until KP collected his copy and came outside). I was engrossed wholly in the book even as I walked towards my car. I heard someone call out, “Take your time, dude. You have all day to finish the book.” I grinned at the group of people sitting near the pavement, waiting for their turn to get inside.
We drove back, I parked my car in the most lopsided manner that could be possible and rushed to my apartment. I continued from where I had stopped. By 10.30, I had finished about 100 pages. KP, being a voracious reader, was thrice as fast as me. I skipped breakfast, and went for lunch only because I was really hungry. I even considered taking the book to the restaurant to read it while having dinner. I had already lost about 4 hours because I fell asleep afternoon after having a heavy lunch. Throughout the day, I was interrupted (to my great annoyance) by a number of phone calls. I never received so many phone calls in one day. It had to be this day! Sigh!
I finished the book at around 2am, had a quick browsing of the internet and started my reread. I won’t tell anything about the story, but I’d say this is one of the best books in the series ever. I’d say third best after GoF and PoA. The book is really fast-paced, and we are in the thick of the action from the first chapter itself.
Ecstatic though I am after knowing (or living, rather) how the saga ends, I also feel strangely depressed. It is as if someone has abandoned me in the muggle world and I don’t know the way to get back. My only hope remains in the two films that are remaining. Nevertheless, I can only feel grateful that I lived in the times of Harry Potter and Joanne Rowling.
