Inky-pinky-ponky

I came to know of the 30 day book challenge from my friend Bindu, who posted it in a group on Facebook. To talk of books is brilliant. My friends tease me that I might run out of space for the books I buy to read. That doesn’t really stop me from buying those books that appeal to me a lot.

Day 4 – Favorite Book In My Favorite Series

Ask me to pick a favorite from the eight Harry Potter movies, and it’s easy. But asking me to pick a favorite from the Harry Potter series is like torture, because I’ve walked the world of these books umpteen times and have become part of it. I might as well do “inky-pinky-ponky” and pick a book, and it’d still be my favorite. But a challenge isn’t meant to stick to what I find comfortable always, so if I were to absolutely pick one book out of the seven, I’d say it was the first. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is probably the one that stands out a bit for me because it’s where the magic begins. A young, not-at-all pampered, very ordinary teenager is told that he is not very ordinary at all, that he has magic in his blood and a world way beyond his imagination is waiting for him. When I read the book for the first time, I was just about the same age as Harry, and I wondered if someone would tell me I have magic in me. I didn’t want a Hogwarts letter delivered by a snowy owl, but just to be told I could be extraordinary if I wanted. Like a fantasy or a fairy tale, it had that happy ending, that triumph of good over evil. It had the first steps of a student in a new school, making friends, telling apart rivals, discovering hidden talents (like Harry finding out he is an amazing flyer). The book was also devoid of a love story, something I didn’t feel was necessary. And the book was the first of the series I had the pleasure of discussing with my sister. Though it was The Prisoner of Azkaban that got me started on the magical journey of Hogwarts and that world, for some reasons like these, I think Philosopher’s Stone remains my favorite book of the seven.

(11th November 2014)

Vinay Leo R.

Poetry & writing to me are to me, a breath of fresh air in a life that is sometimes covered by the smoke of sorrow or self doubt. They also become the sweets I share to celebrate when life offers me a reason to. But most of all, they are to me, my life. For each word I write is a piece of my heart, a thought that just had to find its way into the world.