Two Decades of Magical Realism- Harry Potter
I don’t remember the age when I fell in love with fantasy. I think it must have started with my dad’s wonderful narration of stories from the world of Indian mythology. I was enamored with the fantasy world and fell in love with the magic of stories. This was even before I could start reading on my own. Once, I mastered the ABC’s, world of books and magazines took me to many new places. I was with the fairies, with talking animals, and in the courts of old Indian kings and queens. For me books meant everything. To add to it, I was changing schools every two to three years and that kind of made it hard to have long term friendships. With less technology back then, staying connected was out of question. However, that was not the case with the books. Fictional friends were (and are) my best buddies. The same for boyfriends and crushes. I did not have any boyfriend in real life until I found my husband who is now my everything. So, fictional characters were my friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, acquaintances and all. The best part about that was I could keep changing and finding new ones without offending the other ;). I could also go back and forward in time with my fictional friends.
One such amazing fictional fantasy world that happened while at school was the Harry Potter phenomenon. 20-years ago, J.K.Rowling’s masterpiece and first from her series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone got published. June 26, 1997, was that amazing day. Of course, when it got published and became a roaring success, I was in a small town in the South of India and with the lack of social media or access to other media (as it is today), I only got to know about it a couple of years later. Thankfully for me, my sibling’s friend and classmate had a family visiting them from the UK (or the US). They gifted him the first and the second book. Since he knew how much we loved reading and books, he decided to share it with us.
I still remember the space where I sat down in our old rental place and every time my mother called out my name for either dinner, lunch, or help or whatever, I hated every minute of that interruption. I hated that interruption because, I was with the Dursley’s in Privet Drive, I was there when little Harry was left at the doorstep. I even thought, maybe I was Harry! I was with Harry as Hagrid walked in to remind him about the deadline for acceptance at Hogwarts. I went to the Gringotts to collect the gold from the vault. I felt that strong thrust of air slap against my face as we took the train to reach the vault 713. I had butterflies in my stomach as I rushed to cross to Platform 9¾ in King’s Cross Station. I was as jittery as Harry was (Yeah, should be, for I was Harry no?;)) as I boarded the Hogwarts Express. I was waiting to be sorted into Gryffindor and the list goes on. As I closed the book, all I wanted was to be badly present there in Hogwarts with Harry or as Harry. I also thought I should have been Hermione Granger because of the simplest and straightforward reason that she was a girl and of course, I loved her (Well, I still do :)).
Though I have always had an issue with spooky themes, Nearly Headless Nick and the 500th death day party all seemed actually wonderful. For me, Harry Potter series was different. There was true emotions, friendships, life lessons, magical realism, a parallel universe, fantasy, and everything beautiful. I can only think of this picture as the right one to describe my moment about being in the world of books (and here, Harry Potter).
Once, my sibling and I read this one, we were in awe of the whole thing and were waiting for more. I used to walk out to the balcony and watch out at night hoping there would be an owl that would swoop down and leave me my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Thankfully, J.K. Rowling heard our prayers and continued her magic with seven books in this series (sometimes, I only think why only seven:( ). The last one was published in 2007 and that is a good 10 years of magical journey and literary renaissance.
With success of her books, she was able to get movie deals and other merchandise deals signed for this book series. I promise, I haven’t watched the movies except for random scenes on television, but I am waiting to go to that Universal studio someday and just sink in to the world of Harry Potter. By the time the last couple of books released, I was in college and it was considered slightly childish to read a book meant for kids. Well, what do muggles know? :)
To me, a world without literature and poetry is not a beautiful one. Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling is like a diamond studded tiara on top. If you don’t like diamonds and tiaras please make her the chocolate ganache on top of the best cake in the world. Either ways, It adds to that existing beauty. J.K.Rowling changed how children looked at reading. There is something special about English literature and after the timeless Enid Blyton, J.K.Rowling is here to stay. She has helped narrate the complexities of adult world and the prejudices and intolerances we have in this big bad world. She has helped us teach our children otherwise. I only hope that when one day, I have my child, I can read it to her and she enjoys it as much as her wizard mom (and uncle) does. And Thank you, J.K.Rowling. Thank you. :)
This post is dedicated to a couple of folks. First to my dear sibling, S, without whom reading wouldn’t have been this fun and who loves HP and JKR probably more that I do. To D, my very first friend who enjoyed HP (I had a hard time finding folks who loved this book!). To Lava, who loves Harry Potter just like I do and yes, we still await our owl-post.
