#365DaysOfWriting — Day Eighty-Four
Happy birthday, JK Rowling. And thank you.
Thank you, JK Rowling.
For introducing us to a magical world. ‘Magical’ in most cases, is figurative. Here, it is literal.
I’m going to keep this post short. If I start writing about the impact Harry Potter’s had on my life, I could go on writing all night.
But I can definitely tell you how my fascination for Rowling’s world started.
I was a late entrant into the Harry Potter mania. At the age of 15, in Standard 10, my English teacher read a few paragraphs from The Philosopher’s Stone. Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived — that chapter heading stuck with me for the next year or so.
Funnily enough, when I eventually got down to reading Harry Potter, the first book I read was The Prisoner of Azkaban. At that moment, one thing struck me — I had no background on any of these characters. I hadn’t read the first two books. And yet, I enjoyed reading the story. That’s the biggest plus of the series — each book (at least the first 3) read pretty well as a standalone story. Then I went ahead and read The Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban (again), The Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows (as and when they came out). Meanwhile, Warner Bros. had also started releasing the films — and even here, the first film I saw was Chamber of Secrets!
PS: One of my major pet ‘peeves’ with the movie universe was that there was no Peeves! Sacrilege!
And now, we have Pottermore, and I await for my copy of the Cursed Child. Whatever the reception for the book, and however it leaves the overall universe, one thing is for sure — Harry Potter is here to stay for generations to come. Maybe one day, I’ll be reading ‘The Boy Who Lived’ to my kids…
