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

November 25, 2012

Of Growing Up and Twilight, Harry Potter and Other Casualties

There was a time when I was crazy about the Twilight series. And by crazy, I mean the mad crazy levels where one needs rehab. And I have written about it too! But then between finishing reading the series almost 3 years back and now, a lot of growing up has happened, which makes you laugh at your once-upon-a-time choices. It started last year when I saw Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 with a friend who had no clue about the Twilight series and and when I explained the story, the look I got from my friend was like was well, rather not be explained! Obviously, what would you get when you tell a person that you were crazy behind a book who's story was about a love triangle between a vampire, a human and a werewolf. And the human chooses the vampire over to werewolf and the dejected werewolf turns into a pedophile falling for the human and vampire's kid! Yes, it sounds funny, but read the books. They would make you want to get rehab! They're so addictive. Anyways, so since I was over Twilight, I thought I'd see the last installment of the series, Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 only to laugh about it. And laugh on me. The movie was strictly ok. Because there was only Bella in it and so less of Edward Cullen. Who wants to watch Twilight for Bella?! And in the middle of cursing the director for too much of Bella (I was wondering if Kristen Stewart had an affair with this director too. Does this sound like I read a lotta tabloids... Damn!) yeah, so digressions apart, amidst wondering why I liked Twilight at all, there came this song in the last 5 mins wherein they showed a flashback of all the 4 movies, and my long lost love for Edward and Twilight resurfaced with full force! Ah! Old romances do die hard! There's just something about 'forever' that make women go weak in their knees. Maybe that's why the diamond companies position diamonds as things that are there forever!

Growing up has a lot of casualties. Like one was not liking Twilight anymore. Another is that you stop sugar coating your words while giving advice. Have too many close friends dealing with 5-6 years of relationships breaking down. So earlier, when hope, faith, be positive would do the trick, you're now telling them to just accept that it's over and move on. People find it weird to listen to it from a person who believed in YRF romances and Twilight of course! Well, growing up does that to you. Changes your outlook in life. But, sometimes life isn't a bed of roses. Sometimes, to cure a wound, you just need to have a firm hand, cut and suture. Like a surgeon. (Yes, there's too much of Grey's Anatomy in my blood right now. You can't blame me. McDreamy is hot. Denny was hotter, though. They should have taken a better looking Meredith! Just like how Top Gun would've been much better with a better looking actress.)


Also, SRK had sent out a nice tweet which I feel is very true when Yash Chopra passed away, which was something like, when someone dies, a part of you dies with that person. Well, that's kinda true. Not just with death. With every person who was there in your life at one point and isn't there anymore, that person takes a part of you with him/her while leaving. A part of you kinda dies. Not in a very creepy Horcrux way though. (Horcrux what? Well, oh yeah, I 've been a Harry Potter fan too :P) 

I read this interesting article about being in your 20s. And there was this one point that was so freaking true. It goes like 'You’re going to lose touch with a lot of your friends. With some people, it will be expected but with others it will feel like a punch to the stomach. No friendship is truly safe in your twenties. You’re undergoing so many personal and professional changes that there’s bound to be some casualties along the way. Don’t worry though. You’ll end up with the ones that matter. If someone’s no longer in your life, it’s for a reason.'  And this practically sums up your friends equation between beginning your life in 20s and ending it. And I'm in the first half of 20s and already scared at the rate we're losing touch with friends.

I had been to a friend's engagement sometime last week and I just remarked to another friend that how when we were studying together, 5 years back we knew what our friend's other friends are upto and now, we barely know what happening with our friends. At least some of them inform you about their impending weddings/engagements, for the others, you're left at Facebook's mercy! I dread the day when a friend would invite for for their wedding through an invite on Facebook!

Enough serious thoughts for a Sunday evening! Time to listen to A Thousand Years from Twilight again and getting lost into Twilight again :) Brings back sweet memories of the past. Craziness was fun. Anyone game for watching the series again next weekend over popcorn and girly giggles for Edward? Do send me an invite on Facebook :P

Hope reading this blog today was as good as reading this blog back in 2008-09 :) Do let me know. Can do with some ego massage :P




April 6, 2008

Harry Potter and The Magician With Words!

No,this ain't Harry Potter's eighth book,its just what I think about J.K.Rowling. People may either like her work,or they may rubbish it, but theirs no avoiding this Mistress of Words!! People who have read the Harry Potter series may argue that their was no extraordinary vocabulary that was used or the grammar,too was slack at times, but what intrigued me the most was the use of etymology(the science of origin of words), intricate meaning of the names and the reason behind naming them! Mind blowing,to say the least!(And yes this blog isn't out of the fatigue due to the marathon completion of "Word Power Made Easy"by Norman Lewis... a must read!)

For starters,lets start with the protagonist,Harry,coming from the word Harried,meaning to annoy,trouble more precisely from the root Hergian,meaning "at war". Wasn't Harry always troubled and at war with Voldemort?? Ah,Voldemort, mort coming from Latin Mori,meaning "to die", and like we know Voldemort didn't want to die. His follower,Lucius Malfoy,derives its origin from Latin Lucifer,meaning Satan and the morning star.That explains his white hair and evil behaviour.His son Draco Malfoy comes from Greek drakonem, meaning serpent like,the one with a deadly glance.Don't we think of serpents when we think of Draco? And even his Slytherin house had a serpent as its symbol. Their last name, Malfoy, has Latin root Mal, meaning not good,evil....This explains a lot,doesn't it?

Albus Dumbledore,has Alba in it,meaning the colour White...remember the silver beard? Remus Lupin,the DADA teacher, comes from Latin lupus,meaning wolf..... he was a werewolf!! The friendly ghost,Peeves, comes from Latin perversus,meaning "perverse, capricious, silly,".This very much describes Peeves' antics!! Remember the sadist Dolores Umbridge, of course you do! In Latin "Dol" means sad,gloomy,macabre....getting my point?? Molly Weasley, the loving mother of the Weasley kids,derives her name from the root Mol as in soft,warm...its the same thing in molluscs! Aragog,the creepy tarantula in the second book/movie comes from two roots,both Latin, Ara from Aracnoids,spiders and gog from agog,meaning leader.... he was actually the leader of spiders!! How much have we loved Harry shouting Expecto Patronum to get rid of those demented dementors, and James' stag comes to Harry's rescue.... Patronum comes from Latin Padre, meaning Father!

Harry Potter seems so different when reviewed like this! I was in awe of Ms.Rowling when i first began to decipher these names!I'm sure there are many more and its just a matter of time before I decrypt them!

P.S: Special thanks to Norman Lewis,the author of "Word Power Made Easy", www.dictionary.com, www.http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=m&p=14, all teachers at TIME's verbal dept. and Aanchal for sharing the bewildered expressions with me when we first deciphered Harry Potter names!!