It is hard to imagine that it has been 20 years since we were first introduced to Harry Potter's magical wizard world and I have been drawn into it since then. I still wonder how it all started and inherently made me fall in love with so-called children's books series of Harry Potter!
The memories are still crystal clear in my mind. It was the last week in June 1997, when first Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling was released and the universe was going wild and crazy. Entire media outlets from radio to TV and newspapers to magazines were covering this story continuously. This did not make any sense to me at that time.
Now don’t get me wrong! I love reading fictional stories and I have even tried to write some for fun. But I just could not believe why a simple children’s book was getting so much importance. I tried to ignore it, but that did not help at all.
"What's the big deal about Harry Potter...?" I remember me sharing with my husband in despair.
“I don't get this. It is a simple kids story book and why are adults crying over it?" I added. But while I was perplexed with the mystery, I was unknowingly getting curious about it. Next thing I remember is my son asking me to buy the new HP book, since one of his friends was reading it. We went from one bookstore to other, but no luck! None of them had the book in stock.
"You can make the full payment and we can order the book for you," the person at the counter was saying. But the catch was we had to still wait for the book for at least two and a half months. That was the earliest time predicted to get Harry Potter book. I was not ready to wait any longer.
Next day when I went to work, I decided to ask my close friends if anybody had gotten the Harry Potter book for their kids. Bingo!! One of my friends fortunately had the book and he promised to lend it to me once his son would finish reading it. Finally, after 3-4 days wait, we got the hard copy book. There was no kindle or any electronic books back then. So, my son started reading the book during day time and I dared to do a little bit browsing one night.
That was enough to stir up my interest in Harry Potter, the boy who lived in the cupboard under the stairs! The words were so captivating and story getting darker. I just kept on reading night after night until I was done! I could feel the power in the words flowing through the story. It was a miracle!
“WOW! That was something,” I was surprised with my experience and shared the thoughts with my friends. However, I was still skeptical and was not so sure why I liked the book, until I met a 75-year-old lady in library. She was a total stranger to me and was just done reading Harry Potter new book. We ended up having a little chat about our experience. I quickly realized that age was neither a factor nor a barrier for enjoying this book!
Harry Potter books could easily transport me to Hogwarts. I could visualize myself on platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross station and allow me to be with Ron, Hermione and others. Professor Dumbledore inspired me and I was eager for the story to unfold as time went on.
My excitement rose to the peak with the release of every book. And when it was time for the “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” to come out of press in 2007, my goal was to win the collector edition boxed copy of the book through one promoting media contest. I remember, I was required to write in my own words the story of Harry Potter as I would imagine.
First, it seemed as if I need to compete with J.K. Rowling and I was ready to give up. But then I decided to accept the challenge and give it a try. I wrote a few pages of story as I envisioned in my dream world. It was a long shot and I never thought I would win such a tough competition. But very soon, I received an e-mail with congratulations for my writing. The e-mail followed by the collector edition boxed copy of the book in the mail. Thus, Harry Potter was slowly becoming a part of our family.
I eagerly saw Harry Potter movies, most of the time before the actual release. I enjoyed those movies and sometimes wrote movie reviews for them. But honestly, the movies could not take me high into my imagination like the books did.
My craze for Harry Potter continues and whenever I find time, I can easily slip into the wizard world and roam into wild imagination! Hope it does same magic with you too!
Sandy Kulkarni
You can follow me on twitter: @sandykulkarnee