Here's Harry!

The final Harry Potter book is about to descend upon bookshops today. The entire world is geared up for the grand finale of the boy wizard's story, books shops in India will open at 6 in the am, people will do anything to lay their hands on the book and in all this frenzy there will be one person who'd be the picture of calm- me. I confess that I've read a single Harry Potter book and in addition haven't seen a single Harry Potter film. I couldn't get myself to pick up the book and it's been ten years since Harry's existence but we have successfully avoided meeting each other.

A long time ago (the fourth book was due) I was in conversation with this freak who just wouldn't stop talking about Harry and his friends. She knew them inside out and for a moment I thought Harry was some friend from the college she attended in Virginia! She gushed over how Harry was doing something or how something was happening to him. She was looking forward to the book and promised to stay confined to her room till she finished it. A common friend, who looked like a sane person till he got a whiff of what were talking about, joined us; that was it! This dude started rambling off more vivid details about Harry. You should have seen the look on their faces when they learnt I hadn't read Harry Potter. I argued my case by mentioning that it's children's literature but that got me no brownie points. They told me that Harry may be a boy but the writing is very not children's book types. They went on and on about the basic theme- good fighting evil yada yada yada.

It's been some time since that conversation; I haven't read any Potter book still and more over I've stopped talking to those two freaks of nature. Don't get me wrong it's not that my not reading means anything to JKR and I agree that it's my loss but I'll still pass. I tried to figure out why this Harry guy and I don't gel and I think no matter how interesting his story is, I find J.K. Rowling's tale more fascinating. Almost everyone on this planet knows that JKR survived on dole for nearly a year while she finished the first Harry Potter book. Her apartment was unheated and that’s why she wrote most of the first book in a cafe! Also that she got the basic idea of Harry Potter on a train ride, now isn't that more fascinating (comfortable for sure) than a darn broomstick. From those days to earning $30 million in 1999...that’s some journey. Now if J.K. Rowling were to write an autobiography I'd lap it up and wouldn't mind even if flying broomstick is missing!

Image Courtesy: ny mag