In The Pensieve

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Some stories are heard while some are read. But there are some exceptions, the ones which belong the third category-stories which are heard, read, discussed, debated, loved, admired and cherished. All you Harry Potter fans out there will know what I am taking about. Like how Eagan said”Never judge a book by its movie”, I have always criticized and compared the Harry Potter movies with their respective books. The movies have never matched my expectations but I do have fond memories of times spent watching them with my friends. Today I am off with the same gang to watch the last one :-)

Everything about Harry Potter is special to me not because it was the most popular of the lot during childhood. I hardly knew of Rowling and the book when I was in school though many classmates of mine were well aware of it. Almost everyone around me used to say” Read it, you will definitely like it”. After a lot of suggestions and persuasions I started reading. And yes like I did, in fact loved it! I happened to become a fan by chance and I shall remain one by choice.

The beauty of these stories is that we can identify ourselves with them irrespective of what age group we belong to. Every time I pick up a book in the series and start reading I feel like am in a completely out of the world kind of skit. I then wish my school be Hogwarts, I wish my principal be Dumbledore, I wish my friends be Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, James or Lily. The list is just endless! There is so much that I have learnt and bettered as a person reading every story. Each line feels like a powerful spell when I read them even today. 

The situations and characters with their virtues and vices are perfectly etched, touching and upsetting at the same time!I still remember how eager we were to know who the Half Blood Prince was and how dead it made us feel when we came to know that Dumbledore is no more!Call this addiction or obsession-the pre orders for books, the talks which turned into fights,the run for movies and the countless telecasts back to back on Pogo during weekends,all this gave a different high ;-)

Anti Potters who chose to follow the other way and believe otherwise let me tell you Harry Potter is more than a product of fantasy or a figment of imagination.Life’s important lessons are more between the lines and you will get that only if you read it.You will learn that living becomes beautiful with school, teachers, family, friends,enemies,work,challenges, games,gain,loss,love and laughter,not because of potions or spells.Rowling with her words teaches you this in every book.The movies have tried to make it lighter, easier and have partly succeeded. I know there are intellectuals who think anything to do with Potter is juvenile stuff and that this is a crazy fan writing a crazier blog post. All I have to tell them is that “You have no idea what you are missing!”

Life is magic and much more than that.One needs to have a fine taste of imagination for enjoying it.Nobody can imagine for us and like us,except us.What say witches and wizards?So how many of you entered the Pensieve and watched the movie this time?Let me know how it made you feel.I am in a very nostalgic mood today,very...bittersweet!

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"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already...we have the power to imagine better"

-J K Rowling-

-R.