My name is Harry.

For those few who are familiar with Michael Crichton's 'Sphere', the title would mean a lot.The rest might be wondering what have I gotta do with Harry Potter. Well, its harry potter frenzy time again. And each time this happens, I feel irritated. I ask, Why are people so crazy about it ? And I rarely find an answer other than something that's a bit unsettling.. I'll come to that in a minute. And don't mistake me for someone who hates everything that's Zeitgeist. I have no shame in admitting that the DaVinci Code was the most exciting book I've ever read, though its literary value is highly questionable. And yes, I was also drawn into this Harry Potter mania, when I was in college. Lemme expand on my very short tryst with the series.

I really don't remember when the first book was released. But I do remember the buzz that came after. And I remember all my friends getting excited about it. And at its peak, I couldn't talk with any of them without Dirty Harry [ ;) ] poking his nose into it. So I thought, what the hell, lemme read it too. And before I could finish the first ten pages I was back to my Forsyths and Crichtons. And yeah, out of conversation with my friends till the buzz died down.

The same thing happened every time a new installment came through. By the time I was in college, and something was becoming clear to me. Something I said I would mention later. And its this. Most of the people I knew, who read Harry, read it because their friends read it. Because half the world did it. And most of them didn't read it because they liked it. They did it because they don't fall out of the loop. Another sad thing I noticed that for most its not about really reading it. Its about who finishes it first and proves that he's better than the rest. Sad, but true. And that made me decide that I was not gonna fall for it. But all that changed over a lunch on Monday.

It was the Monday afternoon after Saturday when the final harry was released. And as expected the conversation over lunch was undoubtedly harry. And the three friends I go to lunch with are all Harry fans. So I was the odd one out. And I already had an impression in my mind about harry potter fans. So I finally proclaimed. "All this is just a gimmick. Its all about peer pressure". And then I noticed something that I didn't expect or haven't come across. Normally when I say this to Harry fans they usually accept it. But what I saw was that one of my friends was literally fuming. If I had let her, she would've happily strangled me. And I was surprised. Because unless she really likes it, its hard to take what I said as an insult. And then she told me. "Its something you would never understand. There's no point in explaining it to you. Its not for people with an average mentality". Phew!!! . I was insulted for sure.

And there was something else. It struck me that I might have been simply stubborn. So I decided that I might give it a try. And here I am, reading the Fifth book. They say its the grim one of the lot. I dunno. But I've reached page 74 and it still looks interesting. I will have another post, once (if) I finish it. And after that if I end up being a convert, she deserves an apology from me.