Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone!! I started off with the book by reading the summary on the last page. Initially I was like “What is the author thinking?? Witchcraft?” I was about to put the book down then, but I have some patience with books, I continued.

I don’t exactly know when, but within 30 minutes, I was instantly hooked onto the book. I entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with Harry Potter, Ronal Weasely and Hermione Granger. And that was it. There was no looking back since.

Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Quidditch. Ah! It was as if I was actually a student of this school. Harry, Ron and Hermione were my classmates. JK Rowling successfully managed to literally create the whole parallel world right in front of me. And if any author can do that, then well, that author is JUST TOO GOOD!!

I finished the first book in no time. Then instead of hunting the library for Sidney Sheldon books, I started hunting for Harry Potter books. And was lucky enough to find them. The concept of Tom Riddle's diary at the end of this book was amazing. I mean you really get to see the power of Voldermort in this book. I mean if one can control someone with just his thoughts, with the entries in his diary, the possibilities are endless.

At the end of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I had formed a mental picture of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Prof. McGonagall, Prof. Dumbledore, Hagrid and ofcourse last but not the least Professor Severus Snape!! From then on, the bar was raised. As with every book JKR had literally floored me with her story telling genius.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban!! This was and is still my favourite book of the series. Why? well simply because the suspense of Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew really took me by a pleasant surprise. Plus this is the part where they introduced the Marauder’s Map, which I think is THE most important instrument after the Invisibility Cloak. Also it introduced us to Dementors and Azkaban. Not to forget the concept of Animagi. All in all this was one great suspense novel I had read at that time.

2002 April. This was the time when the first Harry Potter movie was released. The auditions for the characters had created a huge hype around the movie. And I have got to say, the movie was really good. I mean seeing Quidditch was a real pleasure, because frankly speaking, I was totally lost in the written explanation of the game. To actually see it on the big screen was a thrill in itself. Hats off to Chris Columbus!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a huge book, but at the same time it was well worth the read. The Triwizard Tournament, the games, the appearance of Lord Voldermot, the works. I don’t remember much details from the book as I had read it about four years back. I feel ashamed to admit that inspite of being a true blue Potter fan, I have yet to see the movie. I will soon.

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix was released amidst huge fanfare. What with advanced bookings, simultaneous opening time of the book, serpentine queues outside Oxford bookstore, Crossword bookstore etcetra at 5-6am in the morning (as the book was released at night in London). But I personally found this book to be too huge, unnecessarily. Not that it was bad or anything, but it could definitely be a lesser number of pages. I found the main story of that book to be in the last 13-15 pages and fot that I had to go through 500+ pages. Maybe I had expected too much from the book. Well why wouldn’t I, after the stupendous previous 4 books. Also Sirius Black’s death was a downer for me.    

I had read the 5th book way back in 2005. By this time the 3rd movie was out too. To say that Harry Potter had become a phenomenon would be blasphemy! I was eagerly awaiting the 6th book, which too released amidst even greater hype and hoopla in July 2005. I didn’t get to read the book in 2005. I somehow got my hands onto an ebook version, and I just read about 20-30 pages and then just lost the ebook.

After that I got busy with my engineering routine. Harry Potter took a backseat. I was slowly forgetting many things from the books. I also missed out on the chance to watch the 4th movie. Harry Potter was slowly fading away. And I did not like that one bit. It couldn’t be. I was just 2 books short now. I could never ever dream of leaving the series midway.

In August 2006, I got hold of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. By this time I already knew that Snape was the Half Blood Prince and that Dumbledore was dead. There wasn’t much to be read I thought now. I kept the book locked away, and read other novels some fiction, some non fiction. It stayed there till I had no more pending novels.

This was just like 2001. I was left with Harry Potter. Honestly, after a not so pleasant experience with the 5th book, I was not at all expecting much from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Moreover, I already knew the identity of the Half Blood Price. The motivating factors were slim. But I kept an open mind, and started off with HBP with a fresh outlook, leaving behind OOP.

Needless to say, within an hour into the book I was instantly hooked. Dumbledore’s classes with Harry and the trip down memory lanes was the USP of the book. And then the Mother of all concepts was introduced. HORCRUXES!! Well, I’ve got to say. JKR won me back with this cracker of a book. Yeah, like most of the readers, Dumbledore’s death came as a shock to me too.

Coming to the present, well what can I say?? The bar has been raised so high that I can hardly see it. The possibilities of what will happen in the final installment of the series has everyone in a dizzy. So much so that a Harry Potter fan site mugglenet.com has come out with a book “What will happen in Harry Potter 7!!” One can only imagine the frenzy! Agreed the marketing department has worked wonders. Harry Potter as a brand is the best in its field. The only other fictional character who has an equal recall value is Don Vito Corleone from Mario Puzo’s classic, “The Godfather”. JKR too has worked wonders with her characters. After the 6th book, the only other person apart from Harry and Voldermort, who I think has helped in raising the bar for the last book is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher of Half Blood Prince, the one and only, Professor Severus Snape!

On an afterthought, I think that delaying reading HBP was the best idea, cos now I just have to wait for two more months for the release of the final installment. And trust me when I say this, the wait is killing, after you have read the Half Blood Prince!! You just want to get your hands on the last book ASAP!! So immediately after finishing off the 6th book, I made an advanced booking for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the next day. The book is priced at Rs.975, but the place where I got it from, Strand Book Stall offered a Rs.300 discount, so it was like an icing on the cake. The most expensive book I have purchased so far. Well the book deserves to be read. Hats off to JKR!!

So before finishing off, like everyone, I too have my own theories as to what will happen in the 7th book.

Theory # 1 : For starters, I don’t think that Snape is really on Voldermort’s side, for the simple reason that JKR has made it very obvious. I feel he is just following Dumbledores orders, and maybe Dumbledore isn’t really dead. JKR says otherwise. I think the phoenix Fawkes is the Animagi of Dumbledore.

Theory # 2 : Harry Potter is the last Horcrux according to me cos of the simple reason that Dumbledore has mentioned in the book that when Voldermort was trying to kill Harry, he accidentally placed a part of him in Harry, which is the reason behind the Mark on Harry’s forehead.

I am not a thorough PhD in Potterology, but these are just some theories. Ultimately ma’am JKR is going to call the shots!!

So with that, I will conclude my post. Waiting eagerly for the release of the last book of the series. 21st July 2007!! And as if the book wasn’t enough, the 5th movie is releasing just a week in advance of the movie. 13th July 2007. Its sure going to be a riot for true Potter fans!

Take Care

Ciao

Avada Kedavara!!