The first half of this year has lots in store for Harry Potter fans.
What will happen on 21st July,2007???
It is a big day for millions of Harry Potter fans across the globe. On 21st July, they will get to know the fate of their fictitous magical hero. Will Harry be killed by his creator, J.K.Rowling? Will she ultimately kill her protagonist after saving his life so dramatically in the previous six books? If you have read Harry Potter, you'll certainly know how breathtaking the last few chapters of each book were. Rowling had arranged the plot so beautifully in the last few chapters. She has done this six times. So, why can't she just do it once more? I do hope that Harry points his wand at Lord Voldemort and chants "Avada Kedavra". Just hope it's not the opposite. If Lord Voldemort kills Harry, we will witness the victory of the villain, the victory of the evil. We will not witness the victory of good over evil. But, then, that is the tradition. In all stories, we always find the good fellows winning. It need not necessarily be like that every time. Yet, it will be better if Rowling follows this tradition. She has millions of admirers. But, I guess her protagonist is a lot more popular than her. If she wants to get the same amount of love and admiration, she must not allow the victory of evil over good. Besides, we all know that when Sherlock Holmes was killed in "The final problem", fans all over the world had not accepted it. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had to make Holmes resurface in "The adventure of the empty house". Probably Rowling doesn't want anyone else to use the lovable character of Harry Potter to write their stories. She probably doesn't want anyone else to use the concept of Harry Potter stories, which are totally the result of her great imagination.
In any case, we, the Harry Potter fans, do not want Voldemort to live. We want Harry to kill him. I am sure Rowling knows that. And if she knows that, she must fulfill her fans' expectations. She already must or mustn't have fulfilled their expectations because she has already written the whole book. We are all eagerly awaiting the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" , when we will have the big answer to the big question: Will Harry live or will he die?
Before 21st July arrives, we will see more Pottermania. On 13th May,2007, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"(the movie) will be released worldwide. Most people say that the fifth part was not so good. But I think it was quite good. Let's see whether the movie is as good as the book or better than it or worse.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Enid Blyton rocks
A few minutes back, I finished reading a story from "The Mystery Series" by Enid Blyton. This is "The Mystery of the Vanished Prince." It is a very exciting one. Well, the stories from "The Mystery Series" are always exciting.
This story deals with the disappearance of a certain prince called Prince Bongawah. As usual, the Five Find-Outers ( Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets) come to Peterswood, their hometown, for their summer holidays. Buster,the dog is also there. Even the "Famous Five" and "Secret Seven" stories feature dogs . In the "Famous Five" series, Timmy, the dog, is actually one of the five. So, all three of Enid Blyton's mystery series feature dogs. That's one speciality of these series. Anyway, let me get back to the story. The police constable, Mr. Goon's nephews Ern, Sid and Perce also come to Peterswood. But, they stay just outside the camp that has been arranged for certain schoolboys. Prince Bongawah is one of them.
The story begins really well. It's very funny, with Fatty and his friends fooling Ern, Sid and Perce by disguising themselves as foreigners. Actually, Fatty doesn't put on a disguise. He tells Ern, Sid and Perce that he has made friends with the foreigners. He introduces Bets to them as the Princess Bongawee, the sister of Prince Bongawah. The rest are introduced as cousins of the Prince. But, this trick becomes the cause of a few misunderstandings.As a result, when Prince Bongawah disappears from the camp, the police are misguided initially. Then, Fatty and his friends own up to their trick and Fatty promises the Chief Inspector that they will try to find the Prince. But,alas! The mystery seems to have neither head nor tail. The Prince seems to have disappeared from the camp without anyone noticing anything or hearing anything. The Five Find-Outers are puzzled. The only clue seems to be a very beautiful blue and gold button. The Five suspect that it may have come off the Prince's pyjamas. The second clue comes when Sid says he had noticed a third boy in the double pram belonging to twins named Marge and Bert. What follows is a peculiar string of incidents and ultimately, the Five manage to rescue the Prince! I won't talk about the incidents in between because if I do so, I will pour out the most interesting and main parts of the plot. It's such an excellent piece of writing. It is really amazing that Enid Blyton has written 51 mysteries ( 15 each of "The Mystery Series" and "Secret Seven" and 21 of "The Famous Five") and each of these 51 mysteries have got different plots. And, they really are different. One will never find two plots of the same type. It's not that I have read all 51 mysteries, but I am absolutely certain that 51 different plots have come from Enid Blyton's head and all of them are equally good.
I also read "Fifth Formers of St. Clares", again by Enid Blyton. This is the sixth and last book of the St.Clares series. I have read all the previous books of the series, except for "Second Former's of St. Clares". The last book is equally good as its predecessors. The O'Sullivan twins (Pat and Isabel), Bobby, Janet, Claudine, Carlotta,Mirabel, Gladys, Alison, Angela, Pam, Doris and Hilary go up to the fifth form. They are joined by a new student, Anne-Marie who thinks she is a poet. Alma Pudden comes down from the sixth form and Felicity, a real genius in music comes up from the Fourth form. Together with some of the first and second formers ( Jane Teal, Violet Hill, Sally and Antoinette) , Mam' Zelle and Miss Willcox, the fifth formers entertain the readers inspite of exam pressure.
Even the St.Clares series is very good. Oh boy, Enid Blyton was really a good author. How did she manage to write such beautiful stories? Anyway, if I don't stop this discussion here, I'll go on admiring Enid Blyton forever.
This story deals with the disappearance of a certain prince called Prince Bongawah. As usual, the Five Find-Outers ( Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets) come to Peterswood, their hometown, for their summer holidays. Buster,the dog is also there. Even the "Famous Five" and "Secret Seven" stories feature dogs . In the "Famous Five" series, Timmy, the dog, is actually one of the five. So, all three of Enid Blyton's mystery series feature dogs. That's one speciality of these series. Anyway, let me get back to the story. The police constable, Mr. Goon's nephews Ern, Sid and Perce also come to Peterswood. But, they stay just outside the camp that has been arranged for certain schoolboys. Prince Bongawah is one of them.
The story begins really well. It's very funny, with Fatty and his friends fooling Ern, Sid and Perce by disguising themselves as foreigners. Actually, Fatty doesn't put on a disguise. He tells Ern, Sid and Perce that he has made friends with the foreigners. He introduces Bets to them as the Princess Bongawee, the sister of Prince Bongawah. The rest are introduced as cousins of the Prince. But, this trick becomes the cause of a few misunderstandings.As a result, when Prince Bongawah disappears from the camp, the police are misguided initially. Then, Fatty and his friends own up to their trick and Fatty promises the Chief Inspector that they will try to find the Prince. But,alas! The mystery seems to have neither head nor tail. The Prince seems to have disappeared from the camp without anyone noticing anything or hearing anything. The Five Find-Outers are puzzled. The only clue seems to be a very beautiful blue and gold button. The Five suspect that it may have come off the Prince's pyjamas. The second clue comes when Sid says he had noticed a third boy in the double pram belonging to twins named Marge and Bert. What follows is a peculiar string of incidents and ultimately, the Five manage to rescue the Prince! I won't talk about the incidents in between because if I do so, I will pour out the most interesting and main parts of the plot. It's such an excellent piece of writing. It is really amazing that Enid Blyton has written 51 mysteries ( 15 each of "The Mystery Series" and "Secret Seven" and 21 of "The Famous Five") and each of these 51 mysteries have got different plots. And, they really are different. One will never find two plots of the same type. It's not that I have read all 51 mysteries, but I am absolutely certain that 51 different plots have come from Enid Blyton's head and all of them are equally good.
I also read "Fifth Formers of St. Clares", again by Enid Blyton. This is the sixth and last book of the St.Clares series. I have read all the previous books of the series, except for "Second Former's of St. Clares". The last book is equally good as its predecessors. The O'Sullivan twins (Pat and Isabel), Bobby, Janet, Claudine, Carlotta,Mirabel, Gladys, Alison, Angela, Pam, Doris and Hilary go up to the fifth form. They are joined by a new student, Anne-Marie who thinks she is a poet. Alma Pudden comes down from the sixth form and Felicity, a real genius in music comes up from the Fourth form. Together with some of the first and second formers ( Jane Teal, Violet Hill, Sally and Antoinette) , Mam' Zelle and Miss Willcox, the fifth formers entertain the readers inspite of exam pressure.
Even the St.Clares series is very good. Oh boy, Enid Blyton was really a good author. How did she manage to write such beautiful stories? Anyway, if I don't stop this discussion here, I'll go on admiring Enid Blyton forever.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Phew! The exam is finally over. It was going on and on and on....specially the last week....subjects like Environmental Education and Value Education( stories from the Bible) were just irritating! I was also fearing that I might have pox anytime. Actually, one of our friends,Anindita, had come to attend a tuiton class even after getting pox. Thanks to her irresponsible act, I could have had pox too and would not be able to sit for the exam then. I was even more worried because in the last week, Amrita(another friend) got the pox. And, she had sat beside Anindita that day! So, it was obvious that Anindita had spread the germs. Anyway, I don't want to think about this anymore. Like every year, this year too my birthday came during my exams. This year, I shared my birthday with Holi(March 3). Holi/Dol Jatra is always celebrated a day in advance in Kolkata. But I had my Maths exam on March 5. So, I celebrated my birthday by studying the worst branch(Geometry) of my least favourite subject. The best parts of the day were the lunch-time and the dinner-time, since the food had been prepared by my mother and maternal grandmother.
This year though, the vacation after the annual exam is not going to be that good. The next session will be a very important one because we'll be in the tenth standard.After all, we'll be preparing for the ICSE exam, the first big exam of our lives. So, my tuition classes will be starting from the week after next. Anyway, the pressure will be less as long as the school doesn't reopen. There'll be enough time to relax and have fun. There will be lots of things to look forward to. The Cricket World Cup begins on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what the unpredictable Indians do this time. I think South Africa have got a good chance of winning the tournament. England will try hard too. But probably they won't be successful.What do u think? Which team will win the World Cup? Also let me know who your favourite player in the Indian cricket team is and why. My favourite is Rahul Dravid for the beauty of his batsmanship. What I like the most about him is that he always plays for the team. Yesterday, I saw in the newspaper that some politicians have described cricket as a game for rich people who drink beer in the afternoon. I hope you all don't agree with this. It's absolute rubbish. India is a cricket-crazy nation. Every Indian, whether rich or poor is mad about cricket. It is ineed true that the other sports are being neglected because of cricket, but all these politicians are in charge of one sport or the other, as was reported in the newspaper. And, these are sports like shooting, rowing,athletics, football,etc.
This year though, the vacation after the annual exam is not going to be that good. The next session will be a very important one because we'll be in the tenth standard.After all, we'll be preparing for the ICSE exam, the first big exam of our lives. So, my tuition classes will be starting from the week after next. Anyway, the pressure will be less as long as the school doesn't reopen. There'll be enough time to relax and have fun. There will be lots of things to look forward to. The Cricket World Cup begins on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what the unpredictable Indians do this time. I think South Africa have got a good chance of winning the tournament. England will try hard too. But probably they won't be successful.What do u think? Which team will win the World Cup? Also let me know who your favourite player in the Indian cricket team is and why. My favourite is Rahul Dravid for the beauty of his batsmanship. What I like the most about him is that he always plays for the team. Yesterday, I saw in the newspaper that some politicians have described cricket as a game for rich people who drink beer in the afternoon. I hope you all don't agree with this. It's absolute rubbish. India is a cricket-crazy nation. Every Indian, whether rich or poor is mad about cricket. It is ineed true that the other sports are being neglected because of cricket, but all these politicians are in charge of one sport or the other, as was reported in the newspaper. And, these are sports like shooting, rowing,athletics, football,etc.
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