Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Anushka Ravishankar on Harry Potter Series


Anushka Ravishankar is an acclaimed author of wonderful children's books. Some of her works are - Tiger on a Tree, To Market! To Market!, Atleast a Fish and Moin and the Monster.

We requested her to share her views on Harry Potter series with our readers and she gladly agreed. Here is what she has to say on Harry Potter books : 


It's difficult now to imagine the world of children's books without Harry Potter. What an amazing feat JK Rowling pulled off! In an age of television and video games, she made a cult of a series of books.

Reams have been written, and will continue to be written about why the books work. Is it the combination of magic with the everydayness of school life? Is it the deep, dark tale of goof and evil, leavened with the emotions of maternal love and friendship? It could be all of these, but when I read the Potter books again, I realise that JK Rowling is just a darned good writer. She writes with humour and precision and with a perfect ear for dialogue.

For me, though, the magic of Harry Potter began to wane after The Prisoner of Azkeban, when the books became fat and episodic and slightly self-indulgent. Some of them could have done with a good editorial slash and burn. The speculation is that because they'd become such a huge phenomenon by then, the publishers wanted them fatter.

And yet, with the last book everything came together so beautifully and satisfyingly that one was willing to overlook a lot. Except the epilogue, which evoked all the problems I had with some of the earlier books - that they were deeply gendered, and reflected many of the biases of the real world without making an attempt to subvert them. But that's a whole different thesis. 

Thanks Anushka :)

More art work on Harry Potter Series

Symbols of four houses in Hogwarts


Headmaster Albus Dumbledore


Art work by Raghav Sharma (10 years)

Reminiscence: Harry Potter Week - 12-18 August, 2012



Image source: Internet

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Goodbye...

In my mind I asked Harry Potter memories, "Will you stay with me?"
They unanimously replied, "Until the very end."



GOODBYE!!


Poster source: Internet


P.S. Strange things happen.


The Sri Krishna Connect
Having heard the stories of Sri Krishna as well as Ron had heard the 'Tales of Beedle and Bard', I can say that I am pretty well conversant with the basic life story of Sri Krishna.

Over the years, the more I delve deeper into the realms of the Harry Potter stories, the more likeness I find between the lives of Sri Krishna and Harry Potter. Extremely strangely so, but it seems truer the more I see it.

Both these heroes had problems synonymous to their names and since infancy they had had troubles. Both had faced what many many elders haven't or hadn't - DEATH... and that too, many a times. There had been prophecies intertwining the fates of these heroes and their biggest nemesis, long before they were old enough to understand it or, as in Sri Krishna's case, even before he was born.

Neither was brought up by his biological parents. The parents in both cases had to suffer at the hands of a tyrant who actually meant to harm their sons. Voldemort in case of Harry and Kansa in case of Sri Krishna. The most famous part of the lives of both our heros is when they worked and fought for the benefit of the good and to vanquish the bad. Friendship, was what both valued above other things. Just as Harry can be considered helpless and ineffective without Hermione and Ron, the Sri Krishna story lacks a significant portion without Sri Radha, the Gopikas and of course, Sri Sudama.

The biggest difference between the personalities is that Sri Krishna, being the almighty, did not suffer from all that ails the mortals.


It is time for a Goodbye
As we come to a close of the long, successful and happy Harry Potter week, as we lift ourselves over the thick beautiful clouds of the fantasy world, as we come out from the cupboard below the staircase, to face the real world once again, may this experience give us immense happiness to continue our lives. This week has been thoroughly enjoyable and the Hindi words go .. chirasmarneeya, avismarneeya. 

My heartfelt gratitude to all the little kids, members, zealous followers of Zealot Readers who contributed to make this event a grand one with over 65 blog posts and ounces of exuberance. 

Hoping that these fond memories stay with all of us for a long time to come...

Vaishali Sethi
:)



Here's what they have to say...


Leni Varkey, the author of 'Kuttan's Dilemma' shares her views on the famous Harry Potter Series...

If 'Magic' is removed from Harry Potter books, it would be the story of any boarding school. The fact that J K Rowling didn't go too far from reality, for example, instead of boarding on a magical creature to transport all the children to the school, she chose the london railway station itself with a 9 3/4 platform number and a bank to keep all the valuables, has helped in the likeabilty of the book.

The ability to write for a certain age group for children is a challenge by itself but J .K Rowling managed to do that keeping in view the growing years of the hero. She captured beautifully the innocence  of a child in the first book as well as the emotional upheavals of a teenager in the last book. That, by itself, is commendable. Honouring friendship,sticking through thick and thin, victory of good over evil (how ever clever and powerful the villain is), revenge, the chosen one, mystery, fantasy, romance Harry potter series has it all. What's not to like!

Pottermania



My mum made yummy aloo-parathas this morning. She even added green chillies. She had little idea of a Potter-maniac's prowess...




Our Green-eyed hero who had a lightening shaped scar on his forehead...

Book 7 - Some thoughts 1


Shouldn't it have been Harry Potter and the Seven (Eight?) Horcruxes? Why Deathly Hallows? Maybe this is Rowling's way of highlighting something that is not so obvious.

In the chapter King's Cross, there is a significant part of the conversation, where Dumbledore tells Harry about his trying to unite the Hallows to conquer death.

Dumbledore turned his whole body to face Harry, and tears still sparkled in the brilliantly blue eyes.
'Master of death, Harry, master of Death! Was I better, ultimately, than Voldemort?'
'Of course you were,' said Harry. 'Of course - how can you ask that? You never killed if you could avoid it!'
'True, true,' said Dumbledore, and he was like a child seeking reassurance. 'Yet, I, too, sought a way to conquer death, Harry.'
'Not the way he did,' said Harry. 'Hallows, not Horcruxes.'
'Hallows,' murmured Dumbledore, 'not Horcruxes. Precisely.'

This fits in well with their conversation about choices at the end of HP 2.

So we have here a triangle with Harry, Dumbledore and Voldemort at the three vertices. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort sought to conquer death. The paths they took, were, however, significantly different.

Voldemort chose to immortalize himself by making Horcruxes, living or non-living beings into which was incorporated a piece of his soul. He had to kill to be able to split his soul every time. Reminds me of an old fairy tale where a rakshasa (demon) could not be killed because he had lodged his soul in a bird, which was then kept under layers of security, and the protagonist had to breach each level of the protection to get to the bird, kill it, and so kill the rakshasa. The megalomania of the demon comes across in such a story, where there is complete disregard for the safety of or any pain suffered by anyone else. The deaths are deliberate.

Dumbledore, too, dreamt of conquering death. It was initially a nebulous wish, together with his teen-hood friend, Gellert Grindelwald. It begins with a common dream of conquering the world, of being the top-dog, so to say. Events that follow lead to a separating of ways for the two friends.

When Dumbledore defeats Grindelwald (now a feared dark wizard) much later, he wins the Elder wand, the first Hallow, from him. When he finds that James had the Invisibility Cloak, the third Hallow, he realizes that the legend of the Hallows is true. Consequently, he is tempted by the ring containing the second Hallow, the Resurrection Stone, and attempts to put it on. The ring is cursed by Voldemort, and it almost kills Dumbledore.

Note, here, that Voldemort had held in his hand a Hallow, and had turned it into a Horcrux. We realize that he had no knowledge of the Hallows, as he had been raised by muggles, and was later likely to be disdainful of 'mere children's stories' and anything to do with emotion.

Dumbledore, though, had never united the Hallows, though he possessed one or two of them at all times since obtaining the Elder wand. He had given the Invisibility Cloak away to Harry before he got the Resurrection Stone.

Harry, the third corner of the triangle, had never considered the possibility of doing either and conquering death. He, however, did possess all three Hallows after defeating Draco while escaping from Malfoy Manor. As Draco had overpowered Dumbledore on top of the Astronomy tower, he had won the allegiance of the Elder wand, and Harry won it on overpowering Draco.

So although Voldemort tried to kill him using the wand that he had forcibly removed from Dumbledore's grave, the wand gets snatched from his hand by Harry's signature Expelliarmus, and flies to its true owner, turning in an arc to hit Voldemort instead with his own killing curse.

The Invisibility Cloak belonged to him by rightful inheritance, and the Resurrection Stone had been bequeathed to him by Dumbledore. So, at the point where he walks into the Forbidden Forest, he has united all three, making him Master of Death.

The most important point to note here is that, he has not got any of these by killing or destruction. Even his overpowering of Draco had been an Expelliarmus in defence. He did not aspire to conquer death, and so he did, when he had all three Hallows.

Conquering death here could be looked at in two ways:
1) He had been frightened for his life until then, even until he finally walked into the forest. "He felt his heart pounding fiercely in his chest...Terror washed over him as he lay on the floor, with that funeral drum pounding inside him. Would it hurt to die?"

When he opened the Snitch and turned the Stone over, his dead loved ones appear and reassure him. This part is reminiscent of the end of Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities where the poor seamstress requests Sydney Carton to hold her hand till the end.
"You'll stay with me?"
"Until the very end," said James.
Harry was no longer frightened of death and walked to face his death with a sense of detachment.

2) Now that he had the three Hallows together, he no longer could be killed. Voldemort's Avada Kedavra in the forest selectively destroys the Horcrux bit in Harry. That was the fussing mass of humanity in the bundle behind the bench at King's Cross. The killing curse sends Harry, too, to the place in transit, but he has the option of coming back, and lives.

Dumbledore had the right idea in HP 1 when he hid the Philosopher's Stone in the Mirror of Erised. "Only a person who wanted to find the Stone -- find it, but not use it -- would be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas. And between you and me, that is saying something."

Choosing the Hallows over the Horcruxes is the fork in the road taken. And that has made all the difference, to quote Robert Frost.

Points 2 Ponder







Rowling in numbers...

There are a few numbers which have a striking recurrence in the Harry Potter series and here is a list of a few of them:


  1. Number of books in the series
  2. Years at Hogwarts
  3. The Weasley Kids - William (Bill), Charlie, Percy, George, Fred, Ronald (Ron), Ginevra (Ginny)
  4. Number of challenges to get to the Philosopher's stone
  5. The known number of secret passages in and out of Hogwarts
  6. Floor on which the Room of Requirement is located
  7. The number of Potters who finally flew one last time over the Privet Drive
  8. The number of Horcruxes Voldemort intended to make
  9. Prophecy about the child born in the 7th month ...and many more...
  1. The awesome trio - Harry, Hermione, Ron
  2. The forbidden corridor in the first book
  3. The number of heads of the Dog protecting the Philosopher's Stone
  4. The number of Hallows
  5. Name of the pub: The THREE Broomsticks
  6. The faithful friends - Moony, Padfoot, Prongs
  7. The Dumbledore kids - Albus, Aberforth, Adriana
  8. Harry and Ginny's kids - James, Lily, Albus Severus   ...and many more...



Diary: First day at Quidditch


Dear Diary

Today was my first day at Quidditch. I learnt it quickly. It seemed as if I have flown on a broomstick before. I came so naturally. Bad Draco Malfoy stole Neville's remembrall, so I got angry, mounted my broomstick and got flying. We were not supposed to fly till Madam Hooch made us to do the same. Professor McGonagall saw me and took me to Oliver Wood. I thought she would put me in a detention. But she gave me the post of seeker in the house quidditch team instead. I am so so happy that I would now play for my house.

The most exciting part was that I got a brand new broomstick - a nimbus two thousand. I am so happy today.

Harry



..........
By: Vidhi Sethi, 10 years.

Book 7- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

pic courtesy amazon.co.uk
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Written by J K Rowling
Published by Bloomsbury

I have read several school stories. Each character behaves differently when they know it's their last year there. I wondered how Harry would react when he had to leave. True, he skips his last year at Hogwarts. I would have liked to know how he would have finished school, and thus, had to leave.
 
So, coming to the book, it starts with a death. Then the amazing idea of having 7 Harrys. Another death.
 
In Dumbledore's will, he left Harry the snitch he had caught in his first year at Hogwarts. He left Ron a Deluminator and Hermione, his copy of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard".
 
Hermione and Ron accompany Harry in his mission to find and destroy all the Horcruxes. Here's the list of Horcruxes already found- the ring and the diary. Only 2 out of 7! 5 to go.
 
The Book left for Hermione proves to be useful as she finds a strange sign in it. Xenophilius Lovegood (Luna Lovegood's father) explains to the three of them that it was the sign of the three Deathly Hallows. These were- the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. Together they make one a master of Death.
 
They decide to live at Sirius' house. A trip to the ministry helps them find the locket. But how can it be destroyed?
 
Hermione realizes that the sword of Godric Gryffindor had basilisk venom in it and could thus destroy Horcruxes. So the locket is destroyed.
 
Later comes the search for and destroying of the rest of the Horcruxes and a huge battle. Deaths everywhere.
 
A dead Dumbledore tells Harry that he had tried to use the Hallows to become invincible. He points out to Harry how much like Voldemort that made him. Quoting from the book, "Hallows", murmured Dumbledore, "Not horcruxes". 
 
Harry almost dies. Voldemort is destroyed. Harry does not use Avada Kedavra, the killing curse. Then how does Harry kill him?
 
Voldemort casts a killing curse at Harry. An Expelliarmus from Harry's side. This causes Voldemort's wand to fly out of his hands, turning around to direct the killing curse at him.

Harry possessed all three hallows because-
1)He had his father's Invisibility Cloak
2)The snitch contained the Resurrection Stone
3)Dumbledore had gotten the Elder Wand by defeating his childhood friend. Then Draco Malfoy had  disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed Dumbledore. Harry overpowers Draco.

Voldemort was under the impression that as Snape killed Dumbledore, he would be the true owner of the Elder Wand. Voldemort wanted the Elder Wand to kill Harry as it was the most powerful wand in the world.
So, he kills Snape to gain the Elder Wand.

That brings us to the end of these stories. I would like to share a poem with you:
There is a group of seven tomes
Of which I have read all
And when I finished reading them
I wished they weren't so small!
 
Really, I would have loved more!
***************************************************

This review is by my 11 yr old daughter, A.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Book 7 - Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows



Title : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author : J.K.Rowling
Publisher : Bloomsbury (in UK) and Scholastic Inc. (in USA)
Date of Publishing : 21 July, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series.

Did you know that : It was the fastest selling book ever.  The novel has also been translated into over 120 languages including Ukrainian, Swedish and Hindi.

Book ends with the final words : "The scar had not painted Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

Diary: Harry's first day at school


Dear Diary,

Today was my first day at my new school Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the morning the Dursleys left me at the Kings Cross Station but I did not know how to reach Platform Nine and three quarters. There I met a large family and they showed me the way. 

I saw the red Hogwarts express. I met many children there like Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and many more. Some were already in their new Hogwarts robes. 

As we reached the schoolcastle, there was Hagrid waiting. He told us the way. We were taken to a big hall and I met Professor McGonagall. We were to be sorted into four houses, Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. I was so nervous. I have never been so nervous. I thought they would ask us to perform some magic and I do not even know one. But ther was a hat which we needed to wear and it would sort us into the houses. Magic, after all. I did not want to be in Slytherin. I pleaded with the sorting hat and it gave me Gryffindor with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ron's three brothers. 

I am so happy and relieved.

Harry


..........
By: Vidhi Sethi, 10 years

Book 6- Some thoughts 2


Time to speak of the Pensieve. A wordplay on
pen:- the instrument used normally for putting down one's thoughts
sieve:- a pan like vessel with holes through which things can fall --one literally 'falls' into the memories and can 'see' them happening
pensive:- contemplative, reflective, thoughtful. When a person's mind is brimming over with thoughts and memories, and it all becomes too much for them, one can literally 'siphon off' the troublesome thoughts, calm down, and examine them at leisure.

The Pensieve, which has featured in HP 4 & 5, is put to maximum use here, and is significant even in the last book. A way of giving a flashback, or avoiding having a direct narrative in the story.

All the Voldemort related memories are shown by Dumbledore to Harry, building up a comprehensive, more three-dimensional picture of Voldemort's persona, rather than the linear persona of a terrifying monster that we have till now. We see the lonesome, strange child that he had been, the quick-witted and manipulative teen and the sinister, ambitious, smooth-talking adult with his quest for immortality.

**********************************************
The Horcruxes.

The Ring, the Diary, the Cup, the Locket, the Diadem, Nagini, Voldemort himself and Harry. That's 8, isn't it? So what was all that about 7 Horcruxes?

The first 5 were objects of consequence that Voldemort knowingly made into Horcruxes. Harry was made into a Horcrux by accident when Voldemort killed his parents, and Voldemort was completely unaware of that fact. The bit that remained in Voldemort was the 7th.

Since he was unaware of Harry becoming a Horcrux, and he had wanted to make 7, which is believed to be a magical number, Voldemort makes Nagini into one, after his resurrection. By that time, however, Harry had destroyed the diary unbeknownst of the existence of any such thing. So, at any one time till the beginning of HP 6, there had been 7 Horcruxes.

*********************************************
Dumbledore's death was a shock to me. I was quite upset, and somehow worried for the trio, as he is the one person who seems omnipotent. It is as if Harry had been orphaned once more after Sirius' death.

Snape's actions are the ultimate betrayal, and half-blood prince or not, he has never seemed blacker to us than at the end of HP 6.    

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


The order of Phoenix is in full operation, Harry's Godfather - Sirius Black is dead and there is fear everywhere. The ministry is still not ready to accept the return of Lord Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has decided to give private lessons to Harry Potter, our Hero.

Quite unexpectedly, there has been a change of charge and Professor Snape gets his favourite subject, 'Defence Against Dark Arts' while a certain Professor Slughorn gets to teach 'Potions'. This change allows Harry to continue 'Potions' in his 6th year, despite not managing the top grade in 'Potions' O.W.L. in the previous year. Here he gets to use a book which previously belonged to someone who called himself 'Half-Blood Prince' and who had written wonderful side notes about spells and potion making. With the help of these side notes, Harry performs well and becomes a favourite of Professor Slughorn.

Alongside, Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin and Harry's biggest rival was upto something. He spent all his time in the Room of Requirement, doing something, keeping his faithful friends, Crabbe and Goyle on guard, wherever he went. Malfoy does not even trust Snape, his most favourite teacher.

Some strange accidents keep happening here and there. Katie Bell was attacked and Ron Weasley gets poisoned.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore has told Harry much about Harry's past and how he had divided his soul into 7 fragments and that he could only be divided if each of these 7 parts (or Horcruxes) were destroyed. He also takes Harry to hunt down one Horcrux , Slytherin's locket. When they return, they find that the Death Eaters have taken over the school. Snape kills Dumbledore and Harry discovers that the locket they had brought was fake.

J.K. Rowling actually has the emotions of the readers in this book. How Harry finally decides that he has to fight his own battle and that he can no longer have other people shield him and die - like his parents, Sirius and now Dumbledore.

A powerfully mesmerizing and power-packed book. What more can be said about Rowling's books, they are brilliant beyond human comprehension. A most definite must read for one and all. Do read the book to find who the Half-blood Prince was and why?

Points 2 Ponder