Dear Jo

Last year, I posted an emotional tribute to Harry Potter on his birthday. This year, I'm paying tribute to his creator.

Dear Jo,
How do I start? In a way, it was easier to write to Harry- the name synonymous with yours- last year, on the birthday you share.

He's thirty-five now. The world's only known him for eighteen years. But you were the one who created him, him and his friends and his world. You created, twenty-five years ago, Harry Potter and Hogwarts. And when you showed your creation to the world- we loved it.

We followed Harry's story. We felt as if we were part of his world. We watched as he saved the Philosopher's Stone, as he fought the basilisk, as he resisted Dementors. We were there as he fought through the Triwizard Tournament and witnessed Voldemort's return, as he started Dumbledore's Army and broke into the Department of Mysteries with his amazing friends. We looked on as he tried to find the Half-Blood Prince, as he searched for Horcruxes, as he finally sacrificed himself.

We cheered as he played Quidditch. We laughed at his sarcastic comments and all the fun times. We growled at Malfoy. We cried with him as Cedric, then Sirius, and Dumbledore died. We wept when Hedwig, Mad-Eye, Dobby, Fred, Remus, Tonks, Snape, and dozens of others perished. We rooted for him as he battled through all the obstacles you put in his path and emerged, battered emotionally and physically, but triumphant.

We have a lot to thank you for. We're not a kingdom, you see. We're a fandom. And you're the queen.
Happy 50th birthday, Jo. You're amazing.
-Purple Dragonfly

Amazing What They Do With Corrugated Cardboard

Who is your favourite pair of characters?

Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Through the Looking Glass? Fred and George from Harry Potter? Asterix and Obelix? Laurel and Hardy? Hiccup and Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon? Kristoff and Sven from Frozen? John and Phillipa from Children of the Lamp? Hallie and Annie from Parent Trap? Jo and Laurie from Little Women?

I love all these guys. But my favourite?
Guess.

Keep guessing.
Want a clue?

One's an animal. One's a human.
No. Not Mowgli and Baloo from The Jungle Book (ooh, love those guys too).
Still didn't get it?
Okay, maybe THIS will help.


CALVIN AND HOBBES!!!!

I have been reading Calvin and Hobbes for so long I can't even remember when I started.

Calvin and Hobbes say and do such awesome things. I mean, look at this one.

Brilliance. I wish I had the guts to write that on a test.

During those just-before-lunch classes, when physics equations are deep-frying my brain like a mirchi bajji, and my stomach is playing a Sivamani and Zakir Hussain jugalbandi, and visions of my favourite foods float in front of my eyes, I can totally relate to this strip:

Ha. Calvin, you're only six. Wait till you get to my age. Then you'll see. And, judging by darkly uttered accounts from trusted sources, it only gets worse. *sigh*

Calvin and Hobbes are funny for various reasons.
Calvin thinks he's above everyone else, an unrecognized genius, and so a lot of the justification he gives for his stupid actions is based on that, which is absolutely ridiculous and very funny. Take a look at this one.

Yeah, why can't the world change to suit us?

And then of course there's his astonishingly advanced vocabulary.

I don't know what that title even means

Honestly speaking, my consistently good grades in the vocab section of my writing tasks is largely due to my love of Calvin and Hobbes.

The way Calvin and Hobbes look at the world is kind of...different from the way most people do. Which is a bit of an understatement.
One thing I want to do, with someone who won't get bored by it, is play CALVINBALL. The coolest, most mysterious sport in the world. Most mysterious, that is because only Calvin and Hobbes know how to play it. Heck, even Bill Watterson doesn't know the rules.
Playing Calvinball is probably one of the most realistic things on my list of "Things I Want To Do Because Fictional Characters Have Done It".



Calvinball, in my opinion, is truly intriguing. What's a bonus box? Where's the Song Zone? What sort of a scoring system involves Qs with numbers? Why yell Olly-wolly polliwoggy ump-bump fizz?
Of course, since "you can't play it the same way twice", we can make up whatever we want and play it. This. Totally. Rocks.

Okay, I can fangirl for ages over Calvinball, but let me move on...
Who are the inhabitants of the strip's world?
Other than Calvin and Hobbes, there are only four people I consider important to the strip...
Calvin's parents...

Must be hard, raising a kid like Calvin...

Calvin drives them totally crazy...as is evident, just by reading this one strip.

Now meet Susie, Calvin's neighbour and classmate.

And quite often, she gets the better of him, making him pretty mad.

The fourth person is Calvin's babysitter Rosalyn, whom he hates and fears:


And for good reason...


Because she's the only one who can scare Calvin and actually make him listen. Look at how she threatens him! Reading a strip involving a Calvin-versus-Rosalyn fight gives me about as much pleasure as watching the Avengers beating up Loki in 3D.

I can actually become lyrical about Calvin and Hobbes, which is boring and weird to people who are not such ardent fans. So, let me end with a few of my favourite C&H strips:







   
And to close, a strip that sums up the spirit of Calvin and Hobbes...


There's treasure everywhere.

10 Ways You Know You're A Bookworm

When I checked into Goodreads, I saw a link that said, "Sound Familiar, Bookworms?", followed by the caption "21 Ways You Know You're a Goodreads Member."
The link turned out to be a member-generated Goodreads post listing 21 things a Goodreads member does.

I thought, "Huh, okay. Why not?"
Then I remembered assorted posts I saw on Pinterest: "You Know You're A Harry Potter Fan When..." "You Know You're a Hunger Games Fan When..." and stuff like that.
And then I thought, "Why not make my own?"
Therefore this post.

 You know you're a bookworm when...

1)...you can quote verbatim entire passages from your favourite books

2)...when you meet someone new, and during your first conversation, they mention that they like one of your favourite books, you feel you've met a kindred soul (and if they say they hate it, you think, "I now have no interest in furthering this acquaintanceship")

3)...you can argue for hours about a book or a character ("I feel sorry for Draco Malfoy. I like him." "He's such a bully! Remember 'Weasley is our King'? That's so spiteful!" "He's insecure." "Right, which is why he struts around, all like, 'MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS'.")

4)...you randomly make references in your conversations

5)...you light up like a row of diyas on Diwali when someone understands and appreciates a fictional reference you've made ("YESSSSSS! You understand me!"or, as Tony Stark would say:
)

6)...your to-do-someday list includes drinking blue Coke, or having Butterbeer, or something that only people in books do ("Can we buy blue food colouring? I want to put some in a glass of Coke.")

7)...your family or friends have to yell in your ear or snatch away your book if they're trying to get your attention while you're reading

8)...you don't notice hunger or thirst or time when you're reading ("You haven't eaten for seven hours." "Hmm? Oh, no, I'm not hungry. Look, I'm in the middle of a battle scene, so...")

9)...when your parents or some other adult ask you to sort out books, you eagerly agree and once you start, refuse to take a break until you're done (unless you discover a much-loved book you haven't read in ages and decide to reread it, right there in the middle of the floor)

10)...when you finish a really good book, you talk so much about it, your family seriously considers locking you up and throwing away the key

Aaaaaaaaaand
                                          

Quote of the Week

'Atticus said to Jem one day, "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

It was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

"Your father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corn cribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."'

-Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird

The Pursuit of Procrastination

Confession time!
I procrastinate. A lot.

Then again, which kid doesn't?

I mean, I've seen the most annoyingly smart kid in my class hide a novel behind a textbook and read.
With pending homework.
In a class allotted to finish that homework.
A week before the exams start.

I rest my case.

Okay, so we all put off things. Especially before exams- that's when we feel like doing anything else but study. We feel like staring into space. We feel like playing random games with our younger siblings (who don't have exams- the lucky kids). We feel like having hour-long conversations with that boring cousin we avoid. I mean, we prefer cleaning our rooms to studying. (Okay, maybe not clean them completely, just shove the piles of stuff on the desk and the bed into cupboards and push everything into something -loosely- resembling order.)

And of course during the exams, the movies you want to watch release, and the internet and newspapers are exploding with cast interviews and movie reviews and whatnot.
And this time...the WORLD CUP is during the exams.
Luckily, my parents let me watch the India matches (and I don't really care about the others).
Speaking of which, India's definitely in the quarterfinals. Nine straight victories, counting CWC 2011! How awesome is that?

Okay, where am I going with this?

Right. Procrastination and exams.
It's exam time and it's that time of the year when you just DO NOT feel like studying. (Okay, so we never feel like studying, but this is when you're seriously, actively willing to do almost anything but study because normally, when given a choice between helping our annoying little brothers or sisters and studying, we choose to study, but now...)
So you put it off.

You're like, "Yeah, I'll go study now," and you take your iPod to listen to music, close the door, and then you just switch your attention to the songs. You start scrolling through your playlists and albums, like, "Okay, now Taylor Swift or Aashiqui 2? Ooh, I haven't heard YJHD in a while! Badtameez dil it is!"
And then, 'cause you can't decide which song to play next, you choose to shuffle the songs, which reminds you of Party Rock Anthem and you pause to go, "Everyday I'm shufflin'!" before wondering what exactly the lyrics of Nagada Sang Dhol are and you replay it a couple of times to figure it out, and then you get bored with that one and move on to....you get the idea.

Or you sit down to"study" and then you get up every two minutes to drink water, grab a snack, drink some more water, grab another snack, get yourself a pen because the one you're using ran out of ink, check the score of the England-New Zealand match even though you couldn't care less who won, munch some muruku, see when the next Grand Slam tournament starts, cut your nails, drink a glass of juice, check the time and refill your juice glass, by which time you feel exhausted and you decide that you've "studied" enough.

Girls will be just itching to sort out jewellery, look for that kaajal stick that's been missing for a couple of weeks or try out that hairstyle that Deepika Padukone had in the song Kabira for Aditi's wedding in YJHD.
And me? I do all of that and work on blog posts (I haven't tried the hairstyle yet, though..will do so)
Because I have exams this whole week and I'm sitting here writing a blog post.

That's the way we are.
(Just the way you are... Stop. I shouldn't let my mind wander. Shouldn't think of Bruno Mars songs...especially not an a cappella version from Pitch Perfect...STOP!)

I call this phenomenon the Pursuit of Procrastination.
Because it sounds fancy.
(I'm so fancy...Oh, I am really getting distracted.)
And it's kind of like The Pursuit of Happiness.
Even though I haven't watched it.
My friends claim they cried over it.

Also it sounds precocious.
(If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious -supercalifragalisticexpialidocious! I love that song. I'd better check where that Mary Poppins DVD is...Julie Andrews is awesome. Note to self: write a post on Sound of Music.)

I'd better wrap this up before I go off on a tangent (math reference!) and bore you all so much that you go and start studying.
Oh wow. That would be weird. And would ruin the point of this post.

So!
The Pursuit of Procrastination, followed by nearly every school kid I know.
And possibly adults as well.
Better check and see....

Problems Of A Bookworm

For this post, I've decided to write about something that I, personally, and quite a few of my friends face.

So, without further ado (what a weird word), I present to you...
PROBLEMS OF A BOOKWORM!

In a world with waves of fantasy and dystopian bestsellers with strangely similar aspects (because hey, which kid who's read the books hasn't drawn comparisons between Divergent and The Hunger Games? Or noticed that, for some reason, in several series the protagonist's mentor is elderly and bearded?), there are lots of "geeks" and people belonging to "fandoms".
Why don't we take a look at some of the problems we fans face?

1) The Merciless Movie Murder

This is when you find out that a book you like is being made into a movie, and this is your reaction: "OHMYGODICANTBELIEVETHEYREFINALLYMAKINGITINTOAMOVIEINEEDTOWATCHIT".

And then you wait on pins and needles, counting down.
Finally the movie releases, and you go to the theatre (or watch it online) and...

The director's RUINED the plot. Whoever directed the movie has taken the plot, cast Sectumsempra on it, and presented it to the public for viewing.
So naturally, you're thinking, "Did you NOT read the book?"
An example?

Enough said.
(Photo from imdb)

And of course, Sea of Monsters is another example. Because movie sequels are almost always not as good as the first one. Which means that, when the first movie is really bad, the second's even worse.

Or, another case, there's a totally awesome character, who's smart, or sarcastic, or strong, or good-looking, or some combination of the above, and the person they cast, or how they write that character in the script, soooo does not live up to your expectations.
(Like, I don't know, maybe how in Sea of Monsters, Percy says "We gotta get out of here" and Annabeth says, "How?" Hello? Lady, you're the daughter of Athena. You're a strategist. And you're sarcastic. You do not, when Percy says something totally obvious, ask, "How?")

Worst-case scenario- combination of both. Bad casting and murdered plot. Painful is an understatement.

2) The Redundant Reference

This is when you make a reference to something you like- a book or a movie- and NOBODY gets it.

Like when you say, "No, we didn't carpool. We took a ride on a magical fifty-ton metal dragon."
Or, "Oh, yeah, this'll be fun. About as much fun as being chosen as a tribute for the Quarter Quell."
And the response is, "Uh... Okay."

This is how the conversation goes:

Person: What took you so long?
You: Sorry, Sunshine. Traffic was murder.
Person: What? This is school, dude. There are no cars in here.
You: That was a reference actually...
Person: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, those two are friends again.
You: Really? What happened?
Person: So, that girl, she said she was 90% about not talking to the other girl, and the other girl slaps her. And this one's all like, "What was that for?" And she says, "The other 10%" and they both start laughing and talking again. It was random. I mean, seriously? That makes no sense.
You: Ha! Good one.
Person: What do you mean?
You: The 90% and 10% thing. It would be better if they had been in an elevator, though.
Person: Whatever. And then, one guy got bad grades and he was sulking, like, all through lunch, and the other guy asks me why he's upset. And I told him, and he says, "So?" I mean, that's just heartless!
You: That's horrible! You should've said, "Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all do."
Person: Huh?

UGH.
I don't know. Is this just me?

3) The Clueless Companion

This is what happens when you've just watched a movie or read a book, and you're in shock mode, and nobody sympathises.
Like maybe you just read Deathly Hallows and someone just died (because there are so many who do!) and you HAVE to tell someone, so you go up to someone and say,
"Oh my gosh, I just finished Deathly Hallows. How could Rowling be so cruel?"
And they say, "Uhhhh...what?"

Okay, so some HP fans I know will be like What? EVERYONE knows Harry Potter! Nobody's gonna say that.
To which I say, Uh, no.
Because not everyone knows Harry Potter. And, blasphemous as it may sound, that's okay.

(Okay, the fans reading this, could you wait till your rage cools and then continue reading?)

Back to what I was saying...
Maybe you just watched Mockingjay Part 1 and you're like:
"No. This can't be happening. It can't just END like that!" (If you haven't watched it -- spoiler alert --  it ends with a shot of Peeta tied to a hospital bed and trying to free himself. Seriously. I'm no obsessive fan of THG but that's just cruel.)
And you go to school or wherever and tell someone about it and they say, "Oh, that's nice."

NO! It is NOT nice! I'm in shock mode here! Understand already!
But noooo. They don't know, so they can't get it.
It's tough, okay?


So yeah, that's it for now. Three of the problems faced by bookworms.
To those of you who are fangirls/fanboys, I hope you can relate.
To those of you who aren't, well, then, now you know how we feel. And now maybe you know how to handle a person like this.
As in stay away from a fan in shock mode over a book or movie.
Or, if you're confronted by one, make soothing noises and find an excuse to leave.
It might work.
Results aren't guaranteed.

Warning: I May Insult Draco Malfoy. Badly.

Imagine an blond adolescent boy in robes, strutting about with an arrogant expression, sneering at half his classmates, flanked by two slow-thinking sidekicks.

Draco and his sidekicks
from harrypotter.wikia.com

Meet Draco Malfoy. One of the (many) heartthrobs of the Harry Potter world. Pansy Parkinson fawns over him. Many fangirls go misty-eyed at the mention of his name. Sentimental fans pair him up with various female characters, one of the most popular "pairings" being Dramione- Draco and Hermione. (Then again, fans can come up with really impossible pairings)

But why? What is Malfoy's appeal?

He's arrogant. He discriminates people based on their so-called "blood status". He's so much of a daddy's boy that that term is rather weak: he idolises his father to the point that he blindly would follow anything Lucius says. Most of his arrogance comes from his supposed "status" which, really, is derived from Lucius' position in the Ministry and reputation as a rich man from an old pureblood family. He's used to being important, and prefers to be in power as far as possible (look at how he joins the Inquisitorial Squad under Umbridge, and that condescending line in the train in the fifth book: "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments.")

He's undoubtedly the typical snooty kid, only with a vindictive spirit thrown in for good measure (take, for example, the lyrics of the Slytherin version of "Weasley is our King" and the badges flashing "Potter Stinks" during the Triwizard Tournament). Merlin's beard, he even has two personal slow-thinking bodyguard-ish kids.

Really? And people like this guy? He's a creep. You've heard of inferiority complex? This kid's got superiority complex. He's a bully. End of story.
Or is it?

It's in the second half of the series that you start seeing another side to Draco. He's shown as desperate, afraid, and very insecure ("You don't know what I'm capable of, you don't know what I've done!")
If he's so afraid, why is he a Death Eater?


Lucius, Draco's hero, is a Death Eater and so is Narcissa. Bellatrix, his aunt, is the Dark Lord's "most loyal follower". He was a baby when Voldemort attacked the Potters, but he grew up among purebloods, many of them ex-Death Eaters who had managed to avoid Azkaban. He was brought up to believe whole-heartedly in blood status and the power of the Dark Arts (at the end of the fourth book, on the train, Draco tells Harry: "You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, the first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang out with riff-raff like this! Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first!")

So why is he a Death Eater? Simple. He's practically forced into it. His family, and close friends of the Malfoys, more or less bully him into taking the Dark Mark. And as Sirius says, "Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death." Look at what happened to Regulus Black (who became a Death Eater at age sixteen, like Draco, and happens to be Narcissa's first cousin). Or even Igor Karkaroff (who managed to survive for a whole year before being killed by the Death Eaters for his treachery). Draco doesn't want that to happen to him.

He can't back out- but by the sixth book, he wants to. Draco tells Dumbledore that the Dark Lord will kill him if he doesn't do what he has been asked - to kill Dumbledore. ("Don't you understand? I have to do this! I have to kill you! Or he's going to kill me!") 

No, Draco! Don't listen to Voldemort!
from harrypotter.wikia.com

At the beginning of his sixth year, Draco seems ready to fulfil the task Voldemort has set him- he has a plan to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts, and works on it all year (it works). He put Madam Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse for almost the whole year. He tried twice to kill Dumbledore, but both attempts failed (one attempt ended in Katie Bell being cursed and the other in Ron Weasley being poisoned). He is now feeling the pressure to carry out Voldemort's orders and is probably less sure about his capability to kill Dumbledore. The Death Eater status is probably losing its glamour. He's terrified of what he's being asked- no, ordered- to do. It's almost exactly what happened to Regulus.

After the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, he does what he is called on to do as a Death Eater. However, he is reluctant to do so (he hesitates when Bellatrix asks him to identify Harry, Ron and Hermione at Malfoy Manor), which clearly shows that he no longer wants to be a Death Eater.

It's in the sixth year that Draco changes. The movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, showcases this really well. Which brings me to another reason why people- such as the fangirls I mentioned earlier- like Draco Malfoy.

This reason can be summed up in two words.
Tom. Felton.
Do I hear the sighs of fangirls?

Aha, I hit the nail on the head! I agree, he did justice to Draco Malfoy in the movie. I personally thought the way he portrayed Draco's reactions to everything was very characteristic. Just look at the photo above. That is one of the best, most characteristic expressions I have ever seen in a movie adaptation of a book.

So, two reasons for people liking Draco Malfoy- one, that you can feel sorry for him, and two, Tom Felton's portrayal of the character.

Tomorrow brings joy to fans of Draco Malfoy everywhere and will probably convert more sceptics to Dracoism, because JK Rowling will be nice to all of us eager fans of the series and post interesting things on Pottermore. This will start tomorrow, and one of these posts will be about none other than....
(drum roll, please)
DRACO MALFOY!!!

All fans of Harry Potter (and Draco Malfoy), celebrate! We're going to find out lots more about the people in the series and other fascinating tidbits!

So see you all the next time I post something (which may actually happen soon, given that it is likely the new Pottermore info will provoke me into writing), and until then...
DRACO MALFOY'S A JERK!

Just kidding!