LOTR vs Harry Potter

Recently I saw the LOTR series and revisited the Harry Potter series. I was yet again drawn to the similarities between the two and differences and ommissions from book.

The differences and similarities of different stories to the book with require its own series of blog posts, will do that some other time.

For now, I will focus on the similarities between the two series:

1. Friendship plays an important role: be it Frodo and Samwise or Harry, Ron and Hermoine. 

2. Or even Merry and Pip vs Fred and George. These two even seem similar in chatacters: pranksters yet loyal and important.

3. Nightriders and Dementors: they are creatures which are neither dead or alive and suck all joy and bring out a coldness. They can make a person worse tgan dead.

4. Gandalf vs Dumbledore. The wizened powerful wizards  who are mentors to protagonists even look so similar.

5. Sauron vs Voldemort: both are dark wizards gone wrong who don't have their own form and fullpower and are trying to regain it. Both are severely feared and manipulative. Both are too powerful even in their formless form.

6. The ring vs the locket horcrux: it changes the nature of the person. It sucks the power out of the person and tries to take control over the person. 

7. Protagonists need to destroy the  sources of power of these dark wizards and embark tough journeys for the same.

8. Gollum vs Kreacher: similar looking elves.

The two classics are very different of course but have sufficient similarities to feel that maybe the origins of Harry Potter started with LOTR. 

The fault in our stars and others and their side effects

Some books demand to be read just as "pain demands to be felt". This is one such book. The first time I read it, I  loved it. I felt it was a masterpiece. It started on this genre of youngadult bools. Especially medical ones. I hunted them for years and devored them. Some such ones:

1.  The fault in our stars ( we already know this but it has to be included in the list)

2. Five feet apart, 

3. Everything Everything, 

4. All the bright places, 

5.The Sun is also a star

6. Midnight Sun.

7.Eleanor and Park

8. The girl with the nine wigs.

The last one is bit different because it is true. It is a memoir. So special. 

But to me they are also special. All characters come alive.

But "The fault is our stars" the most. It makes you emphathise. 

Before reading the next time, I watched the movie and loved it utterly. I loved how true it was to the book and how beautifully it portrayed the characters.

The next time I read the books years later, it felt being hit by a speeding train. I was stunned by the force of it. I read the book. I highlighted quotes. I watched the movie again. And for a final touch. I read " The Imperial Affliction." The version which I liked the most. Maybe not most accurate one but the fun one.

Can a book have such hold on you? Even after reading so many books, it is a rare experience. But yes, sometimes a book demands that you just stop everything and think about it. It can even literally put you in bed or (pull you put of it) for a while.

I remember experiencing it the first time I read Harry Potter (part1 and then againin part 5 and 6).

This is not the same feeling as not knowing what to read next ( which is a milder side effect). This is not even an overwhelming sense of loss of the characters or of finishing an awesome book. That happens. This is when somehow the characters pull you within and after it is over, you need to pay homage to them as you contonue to feel a bit bewildered while returning to the living world.

The diary of Anne Frank: a review

This is a classic book which everyone should read. As a child I read the abridged version but this complete was very different. In the years, my perspective also changed for this book. The abridged version seemed more about the way Anne and how her family managed their life and food rations within an enclosed space and also an emerging friendship between Anne and Peter which the family found amusing. I loved it. I also loved this version but for very different reasons.  This version is more about a teenage girl coming to age and how she deals with internal and external changes. I see similarities between the families hiding in enclosure and  initial covid days. Of course minus the discrimination. One relates to the way Anne craves for fresh air, going out, for company and then also for solitude. It goes on to show Anne growing over a period of time. It shows her as a typical teenager struggling with her parents, the generation gap, initial attraction, exploring the unknown and discovering her sensuality. Would not recommend this complete version for kids below 12.

It may seem darker to them. But would highly recommend it for mid teenagers and above and their parents.  It goes on to show her maturing and changing her perspective over the years.  Loved it for its complete complexities and slight darker edge though. This is a book worth absorbing.

Life comes a full circle

Life seems to have come a full circle these days, right back from my childhood times. That time I was a child, now my son is. I am reminded vividly of those times, especially visits to my Naani's place. It was the best place in world to me then. I am still reminded of sitting on her lap and eating the gol boti (mutton) while she regaled tales from her childhood. Those times remind me strangely of today's scenario and the way life has come back the full circle, though weirdly. Then, the house and neighbourhood itself was very safe where literally everyone knew everyone so no doors were ever locked. It was safe for children to play outside. Today also, within societies it is safe for children to play outside their homes, though noone knows each other. That time, my naani used to call out from her terrace or call up shop keepers whenever she would fancy a kulfi or jalebi. Being the friendly neighbouhood, anything under the sun was available to her at a moments notice. She knew not just the first name but the latest details of all shopkeepers and their families. Today again, we have the shopping world in our fingers tips through different "instamarts". A press of a finger and we receive the order within 15 minutes from milk to gourmet cheesecake. But we care the least to know which shop it was sourced from, let alone the delivery boy's name.

Strange coincidences across the generations. The world grew smaller as we grew apart. 

Somethings that did not change. The love. The people. I lost my naani around similar age as my son lost his nana (my dad). They each dotted their grandchildren similarly and played a significant role in their lives and even fed them similarly. The affection and memories remain. The outer world changed its way of communicating but the hearts that are connected communicate similarly.

Maybe the future will again complete a full circle where we will again know the first names of those around us and call out instead of whatsapping or pinging.

The booklist

A recent book I read had a booklist which people started following. It was strewn all over in different places and reached different people in different walks in their and across generations. It inspired me to create my own list. If I had to create a list of my own which I would want to recommend to just anyone, it would be the one below. This has something for everyone: classics, humour, traditional, modern, positivity, darker, thriller, young adult, alightly philosopical/ words of wisdom kind of books. Together the list is balanced and covers different aspects of life and a plethora of emotions and incidently contains all my favourites. It was hard to restrict myself to so few. I wanted a list of 10 but could stop only after this 18. I hope this list also reaches someone in need to reading a good book or who wants to start reading.

1. Little Women

2. Heidi

3. The secret garden

4. Polyanna

5. A little princess

6. The book thief

7. Just as long as we are together: Judy blume

8. Anne of Avonlea

9. Speedpost

10 And then there were none

11. Coma

12. The fault in out stars/five feet apart

13. The Brethen

14. The undomesticated goddess

15. Who moved my cheese

16. Tuesday with Morrie/The last lecture

17. Chicken soup for the teanage soul

18. Mallory towers/ any one Enid Blyton book

I miss my dad

I miss/missed my papaji,

When I awake up in the morning

When the city opened up

When corona cases decreased

When corona cases increased

When we drink tea

When I got a cold

When I wanted chocolates

When I was awarded at office

When something went wrong in office

When Diwali was impending

When it was Diwali

When the last year with him ended

When the new year when I would never see him started

When Lohri was impending

When it was Janamashtmi

When I just wanted to talk

When the workday ended

When Lata Mangeshwar passed away

When Shane Warne passed away

When the war started

When it was my late grandparents' birthday

When the little one did well

When the little one looked like him

When I look in my mum's eyes

When my husband remembers him

When we eat fruit

When we talk to family

When anyone loses anyone close

When I see some parent with their child even on TV

When I read or look at my bookshelf

When I dream of him

When I remember the dreaded day

When my heart palpitates

When I am confused

When I need advice

When I sit in the on the couch where I would talk to him

When I am on the road

When I walk

When I listen to old songs

When I think of his or my impending birthdays

When something good happens

When something bad happens

When I look in the mirror

I miss him, everyday.

The normal stuff

A new year does deserve a new post. But I have been in a writer's block for a while now so just going to go with the flow. This is not my first post of the year. But this did start as that. 

This time the New Year did not bring about the same joy so it was difficult write a post of a new start. Sometimes we don't want to let go of what is getting left behind with the past.

Sometimes new beginnings are not about wanting everything to be different and new and stretching oneself. Sometimes it's just a booster to continue to the next right step. Sometimes that's all that we can do. And it's enough.

As I often mention, normalcy is underrated. There is great value in our routine. A normal family evening or weekend. We just need to realize that.  The power of salt over the overrated spices. The power of comfort food over highly acclaimed dishes. A walk in the sunlight. The feel of the morning wintery air. A parents' care. A loved one's touch. The softness and trust of a child. The belogingness to a set of people or a firm. A reassuring snore. A much used blanket. 

 So this year, lets cherish some of that underrated yet so precious normal stuff.

Grief by Gwen Flowers

Grief doesn't go away. It just dims enough for you to continue daily stuff and then pops up to remind you that it never left you. It is there not just in all the big moments but also in missing small daily conversations, some shared word, a sweet memory or just the onset of a morn. To me, it brings about a feeling of being unteethered. The loss of a validation of all I do. The direction of life. The constant refrain of a question that now can life ever get better or is apex lost with the person.

This poem by Gwen Flowers brings out this do clearly so am jotting it down here.

Grief

I had my own notion of grief.

I thought it was the sad time

That followed the death of someone you love.

And you had to push through it

To get to the other side.

But I’m learning there is no other side.

There is no pushing through.

But rather,

There is absorption.

Adjustment.

Acceptance.

And grief is not something you complete

But rather, you endure.

Grief is not a task to finish

And move on,

But an element of yourself –

An alteration of your being.

A new way of seeing.

A new dimension of self.

by Gwen Flowers