The Madras Mail

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love.”

This is probably one of the most profound statements that Joanne Kathleen Rowling has ever made in any of her books. A fitting end to an epic series that has enthralled me and millions of others for the past few years. It does not in any way match to JRR Tolkien’s, ‘Lord of the Rings’, but what Harry and his friends have to say is something special. Hats-off to JK Rowling and her inimitable writing style.

The seventh and the final part of the series – ‘The Deathly Hallows’ does not disappoint. Rowling has tied up all the loose ends pretty well. Even though there are gaping holes in many places, she has done a pretty good, rather a great job of concluding the saga of Harry Potter. The book on the whole was very dark and more loaded with information and facts than the previous books. And as rightly said in the review by TIME, the final book does not have the necessity to deal with all the minor details. The book depicts the final battle between good and evil and Rowling has done an amazing job. The pre-final chapter, which is the final battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort, is decently written, though not as well as I expected, but on comparing it to the final battle in LOTR, I got rushes reading the final pages of the Return of the King, not as much in HP7.

Anyway, on the whole, it is a very satisfying book and thank you again Mrs.Rowling for giving the world such a wonderful book, though not of any literary value, a book which is absolutely entertaining and worth all the trouble of reading it.

Here are a couple of passages I enjoyed the most in the book,

But Harry had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster’s chair. Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and the gratitude emanating from him filled Harry with the same balm as phoenix song.

“Albus Severus,” Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Ginny could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, who was now on the train, “you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”

Anyway, ……….

“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.”

Just back from office. Called up Sundeep. Malaria. Bad News. Called up George. Didn’t pick up. Good news, probably considering the fact that he might not be in a balanced state of mind to actually answer his phone, and might end up breaking it in the process.

Yesterday was one of the few times that I actually laughed so hard that my stomach was aching badly by the time I was done. Am not going to write the reason as to why I was laughing ’cause I might have to endure a long-winded speech and an ass-kicking that will hurt like hell.

Today when I was driving to work in the morning, I was my usual self (i.e. Didn’t give a shit to anyone on the road and drove like Valentino Rossi ), when I happened to encounter a really funny guy who was very interested in whether I told the people in my house where I was going. Actually a lot of people seem to be interested in whether I told the people in my house where I was going. Weird. On top of that I keep hearing a lot of names of the human anatomy shouted at to me whenever I’m driving. Very weird. This was especially true a couple of days back when I pulled a George on the road and thought that I could drive wherever I want irrespective of whether those stupid big lights on the road were on red. Halfway through common sense got the better of me and I stopped. A normal person would have appreciated me on my sense of duty and adherence to the law but one guy didn’t seem to think so. Oh, by the way, he happened to have driven right into my motorbike and was caught between my exhaust and the rear tyre. So we were pretty much the chums till he got free and then looked at me with a glare, I swear could have melted ice. It was then that I realized what had happened, two more people had driven into this guy’s motorcycle and there were quite a lot of spare parts scattered all over the road. I knew that I was on the right side of the law, gave him a silly grin and pointed to the signal.

Anyway incidents like these keep happening to me and I am slowly realizing the fact if I continue driving on the roads for a few more years, there are 3 things that might happen.

[A] I might get my ass kicked and get thrown in jail.
[B] I might have to endure the beating of a lifetime and spend the rest of my years counting the bars in prison and singing old Rajnikanth songs.
[C] Or both.

Anyway, am now in a very reflective mood and am going to put off my computer and get myself a nice, cold ……… , and probably get a mouthful of words which basically revolve around the reproductive organs of the human body. Lol.

I’m sitting here at my computer trying to figure out what to write and simultaneously fighting a losing battle with these mosquitoes which have been steadily drinking my blood for the past hour. Anyway, am down to almost 3 months for CAT, haven’t started studying seriously still (in spite of whatever George might say). What I’m hoping for right now is that I somehow get my ass into a good college for my MBA. Two more years of college and then into the wide, wide world. Will probably be the youngest guy ever to join for MBA I guess. Also it kind of feels really weird to be working right now. Am still a teenager for crying out loud. Anyway the whole point of this job thing is that by next year when I join MBA, I’ll have a year of job experience, some contacts in the industry and hopefully (If I work my ass off this year) some good references. Can’t believe that I’m in a situation where I have to think about my future, career and stuff. It still seems like yesterday when VG, SJ, and me used to go after IIT class and do all sorts of crazy stuff. Can’t believe that school life is behind us and that sort of fun can now exist only in our memories and we are now too old to do that kind of shit and get away with it. Koshal and VG are in some land far, far away that is run a by a stupid fucker who gets his kicks out of blowing up countries. SJ is in a godforsaken place in central India that in all probability has cannibals running around with leaves tied around their waists. Montu is probably the only guy whose whole outlook on life has changed and has become a whole different character (no offense intended Montu), in spite of whatever he might say about him still being the same and he is just putting his feelings out in the open more than he used to in school. In spite of all that Montu is still Montu and will always remain Montu. Sundeep, George and me are spending most of our time talking about this kind of stuff and yes, our discussions also venture in what might be said as the unpredictable, scary future.

Wow, things are changing pretty fast. What wouldn’t I give just to be sitting in Doctor’s Mechanics class, getting shouted at by her. VG in all his ’singam’ style messing with his hair. Koshal playing with Sundeep’s cell phone. Sundeep laughing his ass off looking at the antics of Montu and Cali. George and SJ doing god knows what at the last bench.

Hmmm…..

‘….We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness‘, reads the American Declaration of Independence signed in 1776.

The ‘Pursuit of Happyness’, I have no words. Simply fantastic.