on Harry Potter

The year 2000.

I still remember that day, when my father presented to me a paperback version of a certain book called 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. I also remember, how after reading through the first few pages (the first chapter was called The Worst Birthday, I recollect ) I had closed the book and kept it somewhere and ... well, yes, had stopped reading it. It made no sense to me. It seemed all too imaginary and hocus-pocus for me after the fairly more realistic and less-fantastical Enid Blytons and Tintins, that had been my constant companions and sleeping partners for the past few years. (yes, don't you raise eyebrows now. flying chairs and gnomes and pixies were less fantastical than a jet of green light that killed people, or so I felt back then)

Now, however, when I look back on that day, I can only have a good laugh at the thing that was me twelve years back.

Yesterday marked the end of that era of my life that had begun on that day in the year 2000. An era that had begun in utter distaste, an era that had grown to become an inseparable part of my childhood and teenage years and an era that I feel blessed enough to have lived through.

There have been sagas and chronicles before, in English literature, as well as in English cinema. The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Pirates of the Caribbean, et al. Some of them are even, better than Harry Potter, I would dare say, from an absolute scale of reference.

But something set Harry Potter apart, right from its conception. Something made the child wizard connect with us. Something about Harry Potter, about Hogwarts, about Ron Weasley, about Hermione Granger, about Albus Dumbledore, about the rest of the Wizarding community. Reached within us. Identified with us. Something that Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi, and Princess Leia couldn't do. Something that Frodo, Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins couldn't do either.

I guess, one factor that made it special was how the story of Harry's life unfolded with that of our own. It was as if Harry Potter was one of us. He was eleven years old when the story began. We were of a similar age too, when we started reading the books. His schooling went alongside our own. He matured with us. 

This was something that neither Luke Skywalker, nor Frodo could do, for absolutely no fault of their's, mind you.

Was it just this?

Hell no. Harry Potter reached out to an audience far expansive than just children of a particular age group. It appealed to the young, and to the old. To the housewife, and to the college goer. To the busy corporate, and to the archaic grey haired armchair stereotype.

Why was this then? Was it the story? Was it J K Rowling's mastery with the pen? I guess we'll never know. Also, it doesn't matter much, even if we do. It definitely wasn't the finest literary work ever. But then again, it was far superior from being just another work of literature, or so I feel. It was a new world that J K Rowling created, that merged seamlessly with the world of our own. A world that stared at us from the 4000+ pages of print. A world that drew us in, like a vortex, in a manner that no other fantastical world had ever drawn us before. And a world that left not one stone of doubt unturned and not one loose end before it dropped us back to reality.

Yesterday, as I sat through the final installment of the epic series, I cried like a little boy. The wilderness of feelings that gushed through my mind; through my self; through my body. Seemed choked by the sheer constipation of my ability to express them. I scarcely have felt more emotionally tugged before. As scene after scene rolled past in front of my eyes, all I could do was sit and stare, stunned to the very core.

To quote a certain review. The movie was "monumental cinema". It  had everything that one would want. Nothing more, nothing less. It invoked every little bit of every possible feeling that one can muster. The sorrow that stuns you when you see Dobby's grave; The rush of adrenaline when the Hungarian Ironbelly breathes fire right at you; The overpowering sense of elation when Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts; The revelation of Snape's past, and his unconditional love for Lily Potter that blows your mind; The outburst of reverance when Minerva McGongall steps forward in the Great Hall. Oh man, this list goes on. The surge of new found respect for Neville Longbottom when he confronts Voldemort; The sheer finesse of Molly Weasley when she finishes off Bellatrix Lestrange, shouting, "Not my daughter, you bitch!" And the final flourish of triumph when Harry Potter "resurrects" himself and ... the final duel ... and the epic expression on Voldemort's face when he realizes that his wand is no longer under his control.

The movie has it all. It reaches deep within your soul; reaches places you don't know exist, and scours for every iota of feeling, and hunts them down. Personally, it is as if, someone had dipped me in liquid nitrogen and then hit me with a sledgehammer. Yes. That was the feeling. An inexplicable mishmash of wonder, shock, sorrow, and jubilance, (thought I doubt being hit by a sledgehammer while frozen makes you jubilant, but you get it, right?) It is something that no one can do justice by writing about. Needs to be experienced. First hand.

I really have nothing more to say about Harry Potter. I've been one of the millions who have stuck with Harry right from the beginning, till the very end, and I'm proud that I have.

And is this the end? Definitely not. The story may have ended, but the spirit of Harry Potter lives on. The voice of Dumbledore "Help shall always be give at Hogwarts to those who ask for it" and his reassuring smile; the undying spirit of Fred Weasley. The bravery and awe-inspiring courage of every Auror who sacrificed his life. The spirit of Sirius "Padfoot" Black. The character of Severus Snape, "the bravest man of them all". And Neville Longbottom. For being the ideal Gryffindor. In spirit and in action.

I should end this now, lest I get more emotional. I can only thank Ms Rowling for everything. It's been one helluva ride. And we've enjoyed every second on it.

To you J K. We all owe you one.

a collage of some of the posters featuring most of the major characters. (click to enlarge and see in greater detail)

the best mysteries of Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov is known the world over as the maestro of science fiction. Not surprisingly, because along with Arthur Clarke, it was he who was instrumental in cementing the roots of the science fiction that we know today. Science fiction had existed before, in the ambitious works of Jules Verne and H G Wells, many of which continue to awe us today owing to their sheer clairvoyance, but in recent times the mainstream popularity of the genre was solely owing to names like Asimov and Clarke. Asimov with his epic Foundation series and ground breaking Robot stories, and Clarke, with his Rama saga and series of Space Odysseys, formed a cult following that has flourished, and continue to grow till date.

This post is however not about Asimov, nor is it about science fiction. Curiously, little known to many, Asimov wrote a host of mystery-thriller stories as well. They were written for newspapers and magazines more so than as part of his full time authorship.

The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov is the definitive compilation that contains every single mystery story ever written by the master. The book is divided into three sections.

Stories in the first, dubbed the 'Black Widower Mysteries' are all set at the Black Widowers' Club, a certain stag club, whose members are all elitist upper class Americans. Each story revolves around a meeting of the members of the club where one member brings a guest who has a peculiar predicament. The solution to the predicament and the lead-up to the solution forms the bulk of the story, and it is inevitably arrived at by Henry, unarguably, the most immaculate butler in the history of English literature, second only to Jeeves, (and maybe, Nestor? Umm. Nah.). The solution is, needless to say, sheer genius, and blows your mind. One is compelled to make colon Os and drop their jaws in sheer amazement and wonder at the ingenuity of the plot.

The stories in the second section, dubbed the 'Union Club Mysteries' are equally mind-boggling pieces of art. Here, the protagonist is a certain Griswold, a wizened old man, who lays slumped in one armchair, raising his voice to make himself heard, and to tell long tales that seem to make no sense, till the end, where his tale perfectly fits into the current situation and produces an amazing solution to whatever problem the members have at hand.

The third section consists of miscellaneous mysteries that don't fall in either of the aforementioned sections. These vary in length, plot complexity, but are invariably those wherein the protagonist rarely gets off the chair he's seated in, or moves out of the room where he is.

The thirty-one stories in this book, are better read than talked about. They add a new dimension to the stereotype that the thriller genre has grown to become, and immediately dispenses the myth that thrillers must have action and violence to thrill the reader. The stories are superlative from the literary point of view, and are sheer intellectual masterpieces; there's one story about the mysterious psychic powers of a little girl; another one where the secret to a young man's happiness lies in cracking a cryptogram; yet another where the solution to a puzzle is one number out of one million possible combinations. and yet another where the solution lies in reading a road sign with your head tilted. Moreover, each of the stories, has a lively commentary and an introduction, written by Asimov himself which adds a nice personal touch too.

Insanely arbitrary, outrightly outrageous at times, yet logically, absolutely sound and air-tight, these thirty one riddling tales form a compendium that any hardcore Asimov fan would treasure, and any book lover would love to add to his collection.

Not the sort of book you'd want to borrow from the library, or from a friend for that matter. Instead, the sort that you would want to shell out money for, and possess for eternity.

--

You might want to read this too.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: a review

I am indeed late, in producing this post, since Harsh, Avada Kedavra, and Shankar have already comprehensibly reviewed this movie. But ... better late, than never ... so here I go:

As a book, the Half Blood Prince never really impressed me, compared to the others in the HP series ... because in the end it was a complete triumph of evil over good. The main emphasis of the story was as a buffer to prolong the series and allow a seventh book, than take the story any futher. As a result, HP and party, end up in the same position from where they began ... in fact I would say, in a much worse position than from where they began ... owing to Dumbledore's unfortunate death. The main focus of the book is however, the revelation of Voldemort's past, which Ms Rowling has indeed done brilliantly.

back to the movie:

If you are a Harry Potter freak (HPF), and you would rather live by and die by Harry Potter and Hogwarts and JK Rowling, and, you consider reading any other book when a new HP is released to be blasphemous, then you will not like the movie ... because the movie seems to ... borrow cues from Rowling rather than filmify her novel .... you get what I mean, right? The movie is a heavly mutated ... (HPFs would consider mutilated!) version of the novel, and many, many things which JKR had written or mentioned has been ... intentionally overlooked, and modified ... by David Yates. The entire beginning sequence has been changed ... there's no glimpse of Privet Drive, and Harry meets Dumbledore at a subway station.

Then however, the movie does try to catch up with the book, but fails.

If however, you are the sort who likes Harry Potter ... OK, make it love Harry Potter, but that's it !... no other crazy feelings .... then I vouchsafe, you will enjoy the movie. After all one must agree, that filmifying this novel is difficult. If it wasn't a Harry Potter ... no one would have considered filmifying it ... the story is too mundane to be filmified, especially after the Goblet of Fire, and the Order of the Phoneix ... which were a lot more thrilling and movie-ish ! Considering that, kudos to David Yates! What he has done, is stuck to the essentials and produced a fairly decent movie to continue the series, masterfully compressing 600 pages to 2.5 hours ...

A few points to note:

• WHAT was all the hullaballo attack at the Burrow for? Was it mentioned in the book? If no, then why include it? Specially, considering the fact, that it had no further consequence apart from bringing Harry and Ginny together.
• HOW could the Burrow be attacked that easily? J K Rowling has made it pretty clear that the Burrow was under very strong protective charms
• WHY was Madam Rosemarta NOT shown? Specially when she played a crucial role in the book by informing Draco Malfoy that Dumbledore has left the castle, which allowed the Death Eaters to strom in?
• In order NOT to show Madam Rosemarta, David Yates, has modified an important feature of Hogwarts castle by allowing Dumbledore and Harry to apparate from within its walls. the reason Dumbledore gives is pretty lame - that staying with him has some advantages.
• The movie does NOT thrill. It does NOT make you cling to the edge of your seat ... in fact I had my posterior well snugly placed in the middle throughout. The movie is NOT heart stopping. The only point where there is a slight "suspense" is when the Inferi grab Harry in the cave and pull him down. Dumbledore's recovery and his saving Harry has been very well depicted indeed.
• lastly, and MOST importantly ... WHY was Harry not immoblised in the final encounter? WHY did he look on as Draco disarmed Dumbledore? Weak links indeed!

A few more observations:

• Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) still rules the roost as far as the cast is concerned ... he is just phenomenal!
• I sorely missed a chase for the snitch, which I generally look forward to in an HP movie :(
• I didn't actually find the romance to be as glaring as others did ... seriously ... it was just for a maximum of 15 mins ... or did I fall asleep? OK, there was a lot of unnecessary Ginny Weasley in the movie.
• Rupert Grint has grown stupider and Daniel Radcliffe hasn't grown much. Emma Watson is pretty much the same too! I particularly liked Tom Falton (Draco Malfoy) 's acting. And yeah, this new Tom Ridlle is weird ... the Chamber of Secret's one was waaaay cooler.
• The young Dumbledore somehow reminded me of Metallica frontman James Hetfield ... lol ...
• Lavender Brown looked like a middle aged woman
• Slughorn was pretty neat too ... I mean, the way he sunk into the character, was appreciable
• I hated the Dark Mark ... I mean, after the Goblet of Fire ... this one was unacceptable. Totally.
• The cave scene and the openeing death eater scene were done reealy well ... I loved the way Dumbledore fought the Inferi ... though the ending seemed a bit tooo hurried
• the chase and the fight in the Astronmoy tower part was the biggest let-down because it quite simply failed to capture the thrill and the action that JKR had so vividly painted ... David Yates just made the Death Eaters waltz into Hogwarts, kill Dumbledore, and escape with a rearkable degree of nonchalance ... It didn't just suit the movie at all :(
• There's absolutely no point in rating the cinematics and special effects because every new Hollywood movie sets a new standard ... this one was AS good ... especially the beginning death eater scene, the Pensieve scenes and the Cave scene.

Now from the perspective of those unfortunate souls who are absolutely unaware of the story ... who went to watch Kambakkht Ishq, and ended up watching harry Potter because KI was house full ... for people like them, who can only think of Harry Potter as something sharing the same initals as Hewlett Packard ... well I symapthise with you folks. You SHOULD have cursed the creator, the director, the actor ... everything by now! I would have suggested, wait for the next Kambakt Ishq show and go for that ... or else buy the DVD of Singh is Kinng and enjoy it at home. Would have been better options than HP for you!

Finall rating: well ... 3/5

an enjoyable book

Among the various things I enjoy, one of the foremost of them is reading books ... or better, it was reading books. Until recently this habit had almost become extinct owing to a lethal combination of superhuman study pressure, and lack of time, so the day my ISC exams got over I made a dash from my school for the Elgin Road Crossword store, and to my delight found a couple of books that seemed ... just right for me. One was Vikas Swarup's 'Q & A', the novel on which the Oscar winning 'Slumdog Millionaire' is based, and the other was 'Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman!' a collection of stories taken from the life of one of the greatest theoretical physicists, Richard P Feynman of the 20th century. Now, whatever my ISC marks may say, I'm honestly good at physics, and I love that subject owing to its complicated simplicity (After all, which other subject can explain why other subjects exist?), and hence am rather inclined towards books that deal in the same.

And if you are still wondering which of the two books this post points at, its the latter.

Now 'Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman' is not a book on science. What I mean is, its not full of pages fraught with high sounding scientific jargon, and particle accelerators, or anti-matter, or string theory or ... the stuff you find in Stephen Hawkin's books, nor is it made intimidating by the inclusion of weird symbols, or incomprehensible equations like Roger Penrose's stuff. Rather this is a book on the action-packed life of one of the most interesting persons of the previous century, how he grew up tinkering with radios ... "fixing radios by thinking" , getting into all sorts of mischief in college, removing doors from dormitories, graduation form MIT, and then Princeton. If you are wondering that this is just boring autobiographical stuff, then let me tell you, that you are eating the rotten end of the papaya (HEY, that's an idiom I created right now!!!).

The book makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read, but yup, there's no simple way to prove it. All you have is my word, that money spent in this book won't be mis-spent. It had me in stitches in every chapter, and I'm sure that you, whether you like science or not, will find this to be one of the most hilarious reads ever. It gives, not only an alternative insight into one of the greatest minds of the last century, but also shows how this great man, had his quota of fun, be it in the form of bashing up goons in a toilet in a bar, or being drunk to the last cell of his body and trying to impress the damsels around him. 

to wrap it up, one heck of a read.

The Queen of Crime

The world of detective fiction, may have been enriched by various authors from all over the world, but Agatha Christie sure stays apart with head held high. Thanks to her massive collection of intriguing mysteries, each of which keep the engrossed reader mystified till the last line, she can safely contend for the 'Braniest Lady of the Century Award', and win it.

Wow. This is one lady who has indeed given gentlemen of the type Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a run for their money... seriously. Personally I have an inclination towards Christie's books, than Doyle's, which might be due to the fact that I have read a lot more Christies, than Doyles. But the few Doyles I've read, I have seriously been bored, and to say the least, dissapointed by them. Events seem to proceed rather slowly and the language seems a bit too archaic. On the other hand, Christie is a lot more enjoyable and gripping.

However, tables in my mind seem to be turning against Christie now. The reason ? Here goes:

I have literally poured over Agatha Christie books in the past 2-3 years... Hercule Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence, Miss Marple... and the other miscellaneous stuff, but there is always, one striking similarity in all of her books, and I emphasize all. If you have been an avid fan of Christie, and have read some of her books, you would have noticed, that whatever the story may start out as, it keeps winding back to the same old setting. 10 suspects, 1 detctive. 1 of them seems to be the culprit. 3 others seem to be the most innocent. At the end, it is the THE most innocent of the three most innocent who is the criminal. In fact, those who have read 'And Then They Were None', will recollect, how a person who "appeared" to be dead was the criminal at the end. Added to that, the one whom you would have bet your life on, to be the culprit, would actually, turn out to be the most innocent. Getting muddled up ? Sorry, it is supposed to be muddling. And here's one more hint, to catch the criminal before the person is revealed: the new character who is inroduced at the very beggining, before all other characters, is generally the culprit. This happened in 'The Unexpected Guest', 'And Then They Were None', 'Black Coffee', 'Death by the Nile', 'One, Two, Buckle My Shoe', and some others.

At the end however, it is Christie herself, who reigns supreme. Those who have read 'Murder In the Orient Express', or 'The Witness to the Prosecution', will know why. Only Christie could have come with marvels like that.

Whatever it may be, she still is the 'Queen of Crime'.