Happy Birthday Harry!

I’m late I know, forgive me for that. This post should have been here the first thing when the clock struck 00 hrs. This is one of the things I hate about growing up, you tend to forget all your favorite childhood addictions. Luckily I was asked to report on…you guessed it-Harry Potter’s 30th birthday. So here I’m celebrating!!! J
It was a children’s magazine that had carried a kid’s review on this wizard who lived in a magical world. I was in Std 7 then & glued to all books (except the textbooks of course). I worshiped Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Secret Seven & what-not’s. But this review made me crave for this book. I remember forfeiting my birthday cake for this book-Harry Potter & The Goblet Of fire. And then I got addicted. Till date it has remained my favorite.

I read the series in the weirdest possible order-book4 went first & then Book 2 followed by 3 & then 1. I remain eternally grateful to my friends for lending me the series that I devoured with an urgency battered with a ‘please-don’t-end’ feeling.
Book 5 released when I was in the dreaded & detested Std10. I remember spending my summer scouring the night sky for a falling star that would grant me the Order Of The Phoenix. As my parents were most certainly not going to that. As luck would have it, a fellow addict-for whom in the past I’d acted as the drug peddler but who now had the entire stock, lent me the book. But not after torturing me everyday in school. I hid the book & crept out at nights to join Harry, Ron & Hermione in their adventures. One night I almost got caught with my loud guffaw at yet another Ron-wisecrack.

It was a constant debate between us friends-would Ron get Hermione? Is there a chance for a Draco-Hermione relation? Phew! The endless discussions… And the tears I shed when Dumbledore died!

Watching the movie was yet another monumental happening. I fell in love with Rupert Grint. Though I hated the 4th movie which I happened to see in Hindi owing to my eagerness. “Pitrushakti sankraskhanam “ simply didn’t go down my throat. By the way did I mention that 2 of my friends & I were considered the HP buffs of our section. And I’m still called Ron by many!

Nearly a decade I’ve laughed cried & loved the series. An today I wish both Harry & J. K Rowling a very happy birthday & I know that you will live in millions of hearts for a very, very long time!