HP mania.....

Just a few days back, I met a 10-12 year old girl in the lift…she was carrying a ‘harry potter’ book…a book lover that I professed to be one…I immediately asked her what book she was reading…and the conversation went something like this…I have to write the lines in marathi to do full justice…।

'काय ग काय वाचत आहेस ?
'हैरी पॉटर'
'हैरी पॉटर?'
'हो 'हैरी पॉटर' चे ६ वे पुस्तक ....'
'हो का ?'
'काकू , तुम्ही 'हैरी पॉटर' वाचले नाहीये ???? ह्यावर सिनेमा पण निघाला आहे ....'
'हो मी वाचले पेपर मध्ये'
'म्हणजे तुम्ही हा सिनेमा पण नाही पाहिला?'

Fullstop…end of the conversation….she went to her home .... that was like a wake up call for me….did the ‘kaku’ hurt more or ‘ignorance about the famous harry potter is a different matter altogether…..absolutely not open for discussion..:)

i mean I have heard about the harry potter alright…how he has taken the world by storm right from the outset…how J.K. Rowling has sold a million copies of each book….how the HP mania has no barrier either of age or language or country or religion….how the books are being translated and made into movies…how the movies are at par with books…and on and on….but for some mysterious reason…I never tried to read those books…I simply ignored them as children books….

But that 12 year old girl made me feel like I belong to some third world country….that spurred me on…and I started on the mission Harry Potter or HP as this generation calls it (there’s another reason to get hurt…are we now ‘past generation’?????)…a GK enthusiast I am…I started with Wikipedia…furnished myself with all the details I could lay my hands on….and then I learnt there are total 7 books of which 5 have been made into movies…I went with the flow and started from the 1st book itself…harry potter and the philosophers stone….well that was it…one book was enough to get me addicted to this character….i was hooked…from then on in last 1 month I have completed 7 books and 4 movies….and believe me….its worth going through at least once whatever age you are in…

to put it in a few words…it’s a fantasy series of which main character is of course harry potter…he is a wizard and studies in the Hogwarts school for wizards….success of HP lies in the fact that even though the story takes place mostly in magical world….it is never cut off from the real world…the way in which Rowling has kept the magic world and real world interconnected is what makes the theme work…of course I cant tell you the whole plot in a few words here….I mean…there’s no easy way to it…you have to experience HP world all by yourself…

P.S. Don’t try to do what I did….i mean reading HP Books and watching HP Movies all in a span of 1 month have resulted in having dreams of harry potter….so…enter….but at your own risk….

Flying in the air....

Finally i managed to do paragliding...one of the n number of things i wish to do in life has come true...i know...its not a big deal ...still i feel exhilarated to be part of that 'selected few' who know how it feels to fly in the air.... when I took off from the ground...it took away my breath for a fraction of a second..a knot tightened in the stomach...and then I am in the air...feeling quite liberated...leaving behind all the people on the ground...for a moment i thought i dont even want the company of the instructor..conveniently forgetting the fact that he is the one who is helping me realise my dream....

Once in the air...the surrounding mountains, the hills, the vast sky stretching back to horizon all seem to intimidate you....they kind of tell you the fact that you are nobody when u come face to face with the nature....but i was wondering what would Howard Roark say...i am sure he wont feel threatened...rather he will feel empowered...that he as a part of the mankind has the capacity to invent this sport....and fly in the air...just like that.....how you look at it is entirely your perception....

KKR's (no) show in IPL......

IPL sure is masala entertainment....just the other day Knight Riders sent back Akash Chopra back home...and here he is...back in the Set Max Studio...with suit and tie ..looking like a scholar...acting extra smart in extra innings...discussings ifs and buts of KKR performance of which he was a part just a few days back...what more entertainment u want...Shahrukh's team is living up to all the expectations...a show team...they ensure we get maximum entertainment possible...why waste time in playing cricket and performing..when other teams are doing nothing but that...so what they do...they create enough controversies to start with..then they choose players of mediocre capability to play in wham-bam-thank-you-maam version...and when they dont perform...send them back home.....i mean even a amateur like me can swear on it....Chopras, Bangars are not meant for 20-20 cricket in the first place...so why dont these Pandits see through it......and as if thats not enough...there's always Fake IPL player....~(his posts are quite funny and informative btw....).....oh god....if only dada decides to keep away from this team....its very hard to see him on losing side....for that matter it hurts even to see him playing for such a team....

Creativity at its best.......

Its been almost 6 years since i saw this board....and it never ceased to amuse me whenever i see it....it always brings a smile on my face....finally captured it in the frame....creativity at its best

Bride hunt...

i happen to drop on a conversation today...i was in the bus...two persons (not city people...they were villagers)...were busy discussing an interesting topic...one of them was on a bride hunt for a 'suitable boy' from his relation...his point was...if you really want to know what the girl is like...you should never ask her parents...reason being..obviously they will tend to hide her shortcomings...or will sugar coat them...u go and ask her school teacher...how does she fare as a student when she was in school...did she fight often? did she adjust with other classmates...so when she is out of her home...in a comparatively unknown and new territory...thats where you will identify the real 'she'....

i have read somewhere...if you want to know a 'real' person...observe how he behaves in public...how he handles stress situations...how he behaves with hotel waiters, fellow commuters in traffic, society watchman, vegetable vendors, customer care executives in banks etc etc...

this conversation was on the same lines...but it coming from those villagers...i was highly impressed...boredom of bus journey was nowhere in sight when i got down to my destination...

Second chance...

I always wonder how people manage to say time & again....that they have no regrets whatsoever in life...even when they are still quite young....i mean i have a whole lot of them...i am thinking of making a list actually...and they just keep on adding as life goes on....they start right from the early childhood days....and list is just endless from there....in future somewhere down the line...if God decides to be kind to me....and asks me

'CHOOSE ONE THING YOU WANT TO REDO'...i will struggle to choose that elite one...

btw...do 'I want a redo of wimbledon final last year and want fedex to win'...or 'a redo of 2003 world cup final...and see india winning...' come under personal regrets??

There will always be a next time....but i dont want that second chance...i want the first chance for the second time....

Amhi fakt karnar samiksha....

Just a few moments back....we were enjoying ourselves...sitting in a balcony...and doing nothing....living on the 5th floor do have some advantages after all...we have the best view of the road below...its fun enjoying the traffic below...when you r not into it...just then we witnessed an accident...an auto overturned...and crashed on to a lamp post...within a few seconds a large crowd gathered...passers by stopped....for a few seconds whole world came to a standstill...i was wondering how many of these are really interested....why r they not coming forward to help....do they really care what happened to that riksha wala...or the passengers....dont they have something better to do than enjoying the 'tamasha'..i even managed to come up with Mi Mazha lines at the right time...'Badalyche kam baki jagache...amhi fakt karnar samiksha'....and then i looked at myself...ashamed..amazed...these few moments of chaos down there did bring some break for otherwise quite late evening....what right i have to comment on those people??