Vidya Mandir - 12 A

Abacus!!!

My family...

To the Ganesan family!!!You guys rule!!!!!!

Why I love Harry Potter...

Last weekend, I was delving into the cluttered mess which I like calling my cupboard, when I found that set of 6 Harry Potter books which I have re-read way too many times. I don’t know why, they seem to have this weird, almost creepy, charm to them that makes me want to read them over and over again. Now, I couldn’t just put them away and continue looking. I just had to pick up one of them and start reading. And that was the end of my nth attempt to complete “Freedom at Midnight”. It’s just been one week and I’ve completed HP 6 already. I started Freedom at Midnight a month ago. It is ½ the size of HP 6 and I’ve managed to get through about 150 pages.

I’m not blaming the book. Freedom at Midnight is brilliant. And this is not the first book that I’ve abandoned for the same reason. I have tried repeatedly to make clear to myself what is so magnetic, so alluring about Harry Potter. I guess it’s the basic underlying theme that is so charming – FANTASY. Sounds childish, huh? Great, because if you think so, you should make a move and stop reading this page RIGHT NOW! It makes me sick when people tell me they’ve “outgrown” fantasy. I would appreciate it if that sentence was rephrased to something like, “I don’t enjoy fantasy”. Fantasy is too often perceived as childish for I wonder what reasons.


To me, fantasy is just another world - a world that transcends reality and is yet real in its own way. To some, it may mean nothing for the simple reason that it does not exist. For God’s sake, you needn’t believe in witches, fairies or elves to appreciate fantasy. In case you haven’t noticed, many moral stories involve non-existent “fantasy creatures” and moral stories are unbelievably important to a bunch of humans like you and me who seem to have lost all sense of social responsibility.


Harry Potter to me is a very creative moral story. After all, the basic theme is “good versus bad”. Maybe the theme sounds way too cliché. But there is something to it that makes it so remarkably unique.
Some people can read these books once, twice, a hundred times and yet fail to see something in them beyond witches and wizards randomly waving wands or flying on broomsticks. Have you read all those reviews at the back of the books?

“JKR charts Harry Potter’s adventures with consummate skill and in breathtaking fashion”.
“Rowling delivers a complex and demanding plot in the form of a hugely entertaining thriller”.
“She is a first-rate writer for children”.

I’m not denying the fact that the plot is “complex and demanding” because it is both. But is it just an “entertaining thriller”?? And “first-rate writer for children” ??? The “fantasy is meant for kids only” and “You’re too old to read fantasy” rubbish is back…
To me, the best thing about Harry Potter is that the whole story is filled with subtle but perceptible messages. One of the first of these messages that I noticed was in Book 1 during the end-of-term feast.

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”

I’ll give you a few more…

“Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than for being right”

“As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worst for them”

Short, simple and undeniably true.

Besides these things, which come in as dialogues, there are a whole bunch of…what should I call them…concepts, maybe…dunno so lets just get to the point…Starting from Book 1, there is quite a lot of emphasis on love being the most powerful magic ever. Harry is told that his mother died to save him, and to have been loved so deeply leaves some protection forever. It is repeatedly accentuated that love is a power Voldemort has neither had nor understood. To put it briefly, it is a power that helps make a clear distinction between good and bad. I think that’s a wonderful concept.

There are many characters in HP who have a certain depth to them. But I guess Dumbledore is my favourite. The best thing about him, I guess, is the amount of confidence he always seems to radiate. Always calm and composed, he just seems to have a kind of comforting aura around him that makes people feel secure. The first time we see him totally lose his composedness is in Book 6 when he goes in search of the horcurx with Harry and drinks the liquid. When you see Dumbledore frightened, yelling in pain, you seem to lose all hope…nothing seems possible anymore. Later, when Harry tells Hagrid that Dumbledore is dead, Hagrid refuses to believe him. When the Minister of Magic questions Harry about Dumbledore and his plans, Harry refuses to disclose any details and proudly calls himself “Dumbledore’s man through and through”. That is the amount of trust bestowed in him.

But the part of the story that I think is most beautiful is the prophecy. At the end of Book 5, we learn of a prophecy made by Professor Trelawney a long while ago about Harry and Voldemort.

" The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..."


What makes this prophecy so special is that it isn’t really a prediction. I must sound like I’m contradicting myself, right?? I’ll tell you what I mean. Harry believes that because of the prophecy, either himself or Voldemort is going to end up killing the other. What he doesn’t realize is that this is not because of the prophecy itself. When Harry finds out about the horcruxes, Dumbledore tells him,

“But Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort made it so. If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled? Would it have meant anything? Of course not!”

What is clear from the above lines is that the prophecy never meant that anyone had to do anything. It merely made Voldemort believe that Harry was his equal, which made him feel a necessity to kill Harry. This is where the reality in fantasy comes in. The prophecy is not some future-telling device. It is, or rather, will be made to happen because someone namely Voldemort chose to believe it. Harry could either turn his back on it or believe it but Voldemort had chosen to believe it…which made it certain that Voldemort would try to kill him. What's more is that the prophecy could have easily referred to Neville Longbottom. But Voldemort thought of Harry and not Neville. But yet again it was the choice and belief that mattered. The future, ultimately wouldn’t depend on the prophecy itself but on whether it had been believed or not. What always matters in the end is the belief, which is what made it so realistic in spite of being a prophecy.

To end with my favourite paragraph,

“It was, Harry thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.”

This page is for my favourite quotations. I'll keep updating this one...

"Don't cry because its over. Smile because it happened."
- Dr. Seuss

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."
- John Lennon

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing. That's why we recommend it daily."
- Zig Ziglar

"Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance."
- Sam Brown

"I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we're not wise enough to see it."
- Oprah Winfrey

"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
- Bertrand Russell

"Family isn't about whose blood you have. Its about who you care about."
- Trey Parker and Matt Stone

"The original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate."
- Francois Rene de Chateaubriand

"Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope."
- Josh Billings

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
- Victor Borge

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."
- Phillip Brookes

"A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person's brow."
- Charles Brower

"My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today."
- Richard Adams, Watership Down

"We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified."
- Aesop

"Motivation will always beat mere talent."
- Norman R Augustine

"The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost."
- G.K.Chesterton

"All we see of someone at any moment is a snapshot of their life, there in riches or poverty, in joy or despair. Snapshots dont show the million decisions that led to that moment."
- Richard Bach

"Your mistake does not define who you are...you are your possibilities."
- Oprah Winfrey

"We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."
- Calvin and Hobbes

"Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish."
- John Jakes

I’ve been going to the temple with my parents from as long back as I can remember. Yet I never felt the necessity to question myself on what I really achieved by going there. I went, I stood before those idols with hands clasped and ritually recited every word of my school prayer, which I loved. Each visit went by with my making a wish, hoping against hope that it would come true. And of course, when it didn’t, I still saw no reason to attribute this to a theory that God doesn’t exist.
No, I hadn’t been brainwashed by my parents to believe in God. My belief was something that developed by merely observing others around me. Everyone prayed to Him. God seemed obvious to me – a reality in my small world.
This reality was first questioned me at a stage when I guess I could label myself as “mature”. I began to ask myself, “Why do I believe in God?” “Have I ever seen him?” “He doesn’t seem to be making wishes come true?” “Who is he?” Religion seemed to lack proof. Suddenly I found myself transcending that reality I had once placed such firm belief in.
I don’t know if I can say with conviction that I became an atheist but I guess I was quite close to it. I didn’t seem to be getting any “spiritual comfort” from temples, although i still liked them very much. The wet floor and walls was something I didn’t like even back then. I still don’t. I guess I had started to look at them as just marvels of architecture. These thoughts more or less remained unchanged for a long time. My trips to temples continued as did my liking for them. But I no longer found myself praying or wishing. For the first time I had started taking closer looks at the walls, the carvings, the writings...A new feeling arose from within - one of sincere admiration for the sheer faith and effort that had gone into making that wonder under which I stood, a feeling that had been sparked by that marvellous structure.
Yesterday, as I sat at school reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, I read two pages of all the spiritual comfort one could look for.
“Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as humans has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident. Even the technology that promises to unite us divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone.”
“Who is this God science? Who is this God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or bad idea.”
“You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clone living creatures but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones and computers but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do.”
“All faiths are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand. Religion is flawed because man is flawed. If the outside world could see the church as I do, looking beyond the ritual of these walls, they would see a brotherhood of imperfect souls wanting to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control.”
I cried over those two pages.
Religion is flawed – yes it is. But what in this world is not? We understand “good” because we know what is “bad”. We feel joy only because we have felt its antonym as well. Religion has done so much for us and we forget to thank it. Yes, temples, churches and mosques are not just pieces of wonderful architecture to me but systems of faith, upon which not only mine but your value system is based. Religion has taught us morality. It has merely bowed down before a power that controls us. We all feel that force whether we believe in a so-called “God” or not. It is the energy that courses through our nerves. It is the blood that flows through us. It is the instinct that is making me type this.
Religion has just given the force names and forms. Maybe there is much untruth behind religion. Maybe there is no heaven and hell. Maybe there is no Jesus, Allah or the pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses. But religion is striving to bring about a perfect world.
Perfection is a process. It is dynamic – a dream that can never reach a stage of completion but must go on.