An open letter

Dear Ms. Rowling,
I hope this letter finds you in excellent health and peace of spirit and mind. This has been stashed away at one corner of my hard drive for weeks now, and its like being six again, writing to Santa, except that there is no speculation about your existence.
I have known Harry and his friends for nine years now, so you could say I practically grew up with him.It was such fun! My copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, a Bloomsbury edition, made its way into my hands on my 10th birthday.It was around 2000 that you can say that “Potter Mania” hit me and my friends and we have been ardent fans ever since.I finished the four books in about 2 months, but had to wait for the fifth one since it was not out yet. Those were the days! We would scrounge the internet for possible teasers, rumors ,took book quizzes the results of which were proudly emailed off to friends, a sort of invitation to a challenge- “Who knows potter better”,which of course were eagerly taken up J.
It was around 2002 that the first movie released.Obviously, me and my friends had booked the tickets in advance and showed up an hour earlier,eagerly waiting for our favorite storybook character to come alive. That was a landmark day for us,you could say.Though we became instant Dan Fans, we remained loyal to the Harry between the pages too.At this point it may seem that we ate,drank,slept and talked Hogwarts, which is not entirely false,for we did.Time and again we had wished for a Lumos,Reparo(that one time when I broke my mom’s favourite china dinner plate), a pepper up potion(whenever we caught a deathly cold), a wingardium Leviosa or even an Avada Kedavra! Mars bars and Hershey’s no longer interested us, we ached to loot Honeydukes!!
When all those years we had to wait for the next book to come out, we used to hate it.We couldn’t wait to read more, see more and discuss more Harry. Now a year has passed since I read the last book and ironically, I crave for that wait which used to annoy me so much. It still hasn’t sunk in that there wouldn’t be any more new stuff to read about the Trio.New adventures of Harry and Voldemort now live in a few good fanfictions I found on the net. Now and again I come across a headline “Rowling says she would write for adults next” and “New adventures from Rowling to hit bookstores”…all of these have been nothing but disappointing and disheartening rumours.
I have grudgingly come to accept that there wouldn’t be no more about Harry.I guess I could live with that, but the moot point of this letter is that I,we,all of your fans around the world want more from you,even if it isn’t about Hogwarts. Create magic for us again!!
For more reasons than one,you are my hero!!!You are the best muggleborn sorceress ever!!
May our wands stay sharp!
With tons of hope in my heart,
Yours truly,
S

Social Networking:Aye or Nay

I have bee an honorary netizen for 5 years now,having spent much of my time at myspace,hi5,forums,Deviantart and a whole bunch of other whats-its-names,now tired but not retired and peacefully settled at Orkut.This association of mine with the world wide web has been looked at,dissected,commented on and criticsed from various angles ranging from "OH!your myspace page is SO HAWT!"(myfriends), "Do something constructive"(my dad),"If I open an account,will you email me daily?"(uh Mom,we live in the same house),"See if she doesn't get molested,I'll change my name"(once a year lulus-the kind whose interaction with you is limited to a phonecall on your birthday which goes something like this :

I-dunno-who:Hey happy birthday! Me:Thank you!!

-dunno-who:So whatcha doing today? Me:*rattles off stuff* ,I-dunno-who:K,gtg see you then. Me:k,take care. I-dunno-who:Oh btw,you did recognise me didn't you? ME:UHH..*UH-OH*!)

As I look back now and contrast between Then and now,I recognise a pattern.The *then* patternwas "Meet as many new people as possible,decorate your page with the glitziest icons,the sparkliest backgrounds,ape your new friends as much as possible to meet more newer and and more popular myspace/hi5 whores friends. And the now pattern is Throw decorating to the winds,connect with your friends,the kind you did or still do get to see on a more or less regular basis.Blogging,however,is a different issue.I have met such wonderful people,got to know their views on different things,get to laugh with them,wish to be a borrower of their pains whther I *meet* them or not.

Social networking can be a boon or a curse,depending on how you use it.I for one have never put personal information like contact numbers or my address online.You just don't do it.The networking sites are sitting up,and there are n number of options to lock your albums or lets you limit the amount of information you want to show to people who are not in your immediate cirle or *list*.I have been silly at times,let slip stuff and had sulked or frowned whenever anyone chided me for it.Major dumbo,I know.You can do a lot of silly things when you are 13,14,15 or even at 40.Reign it in,and you'll be ok!Some people pretend like they haven't learnt to look before they leap,and well,leap.It is for the worldy wise to make sure that they find a safe place to land.The *virtual* world can be a dangerous place.A world wide masquerade,if you so please.People can be whoever they want to be so its important to watch your step.If anybody sounds wonky,don't proceed just because you have a screen and a thousand miles separating you.A few days ago Myspace removed a few hundred sex offenders from their network.But it all depends on how you use it,such is technology.You can use it to feed or blow up a whole nation,similarly you can use it to close up the distance between your loved ones,make your life easier with e-payments,e-tickets et al or pave hell with your life.Some find it too complex a medium to stay in touch,but thats totally up to them.I'm pretty happy doing what I do over here.So,over loud protests(maybe not) Miss nobody squeaks,nope clears her throat, and firmly says,Aye.

P.s:I still haven't gotten over decorating my page lol,though glitters don't attract me anymore.

Disclaimer:This post is not intended to offend anybody,you may chose what you want ,its upto you.Or any of the mentioned social networking sites.These are just my views.And neither am I encouraging teenagers or young adults to hang on to the edge of their keyboards.This is the time you *build* yourselves,use it carefully.Treat it like a ticking time bomb. :D

The Host: a review

The Twilight Seriesby Stephanie Meyer is the latest rage,started by a dear friend at school,Nabanita.I was hooked to the book from the very first page and proceeded to the rest of the books in the series New moon,Eclipse and Breaking dawn.Oh,and they are highly recommended!
By the 50th page of Twilight I had become a die hard Stephanie Meyer fan.So the next weekend I checked in at Starmark and bought The Host(I'm an impulsive buyer when it comes to books.That day I picked up another book Labyrinth by Kate Mosse,which I loved.Might post a review soon!)
Okay, sticking to the story...What would you do if your soul was poured into another's body and that someone refused to go away?Wanderer,is a cherished alien.She has lived on seven planets and our planet earth is her eighth.So,a li'l problem like a troublesome host shouldn't have bothered her,or so she thought.That was until Melanie began to show her living memories and Wanderer begins to empathise with her.She agrees to assist Melanie in a quest to find her little brother Jamie and Jared,Melanie's one true love.In this quest,with a nosy Seeker(not the Harry Potter kind) hot on her trail Wanderer begins to question the fruitfulness of the whole invasion and even her own existense.Will Wanderer ever get rid of her pesky host?Will she seek solace somewhere else?Find out!
What do you have when the story progresses effortlessly and a 550 page book seems like light reading?A good book.That is what this book is.If you loved Twilight,you should definately go for it.
iRate:5 stars

Q and A

My dad's collegue sent me this book,the novel by Vikas Swarup, whichhas been adapted into the movie Slumdog Millionaire .One more added to my bookfair pickups.Happy un-birthday to me!! Yaaay :D

Pet wows

adopt your own virtual pet!

As a little girl I always wanted a furry little friend of my own.But I was always bombarded with a thousand excuses not to have a pet around what with both my parents working and me going off to school and all.ord all.But I ranted and and cribbed and my parents got me an aquarium and I had a lovely time pressing my face against the glass and watching the little things frolicking around with a little flick of their tails.It was lovely to see an entire ecosytem thrive in a glass box.They didn't need all that looking after like a dog or a cat and we were all happy.But one unfortunate morning I woke up to see that the aquarium had leaked and all my fishes were long dead.Since then I hadn't had any more pets.But a year ago my dad came home with a large box nd this is what he had inside! <

Gypsy at 21 days

The first few months were tedious...he was always hungry and did his stuff all over the place!But it was all worth it.The best part is when you come back home after a hard day at work or school( yes,you CAN have a trying time at school too :P) and you are greeted with a VERY wet lick and a look that says "I missed you,you are the centre of my universe."Its been almost a year and he grew up so fast.When dad brught gypsy home, I didn't realise that I was going to have a dog and a lamb all rolled into one.Kinda like that puppy you see in the Vodafone adds,only not half as smart lol.He would prefer chewing my sock instead of bringing it to me.When he was teething he chewed our new remote,a twenty rupees note ,which I recognised by the perforated half a face of Mahatma Gandhi(!),my new ballerina slippers,cushion covers and what not.But its all worth it when you are having a nightmare and the little one gives you yet another lick,a nudge of his wet nose and rests furry his furry head on your feet.aww,the cuteness.

My little boy,Gypsy

They just need a li'l lovin'
And theywill love you right back
Young or old,Fat or thin

Somebody,ANYbody sound the bell

People who gracefully move from one phase of life to the other are the true artists.I,however,am a moper,a whiner,and tend to cling to the days bygone.The last day of our school passed months of ago with much celebration,signing yearbooks and teary goodbyes.

A friend on orkut posts pictures of us in school yesterday and here I am,getting strangely nostalgic.Hence this post.The fights,makeups,jokes,hanging the underdogs and then feeling guilty about it later,teasin',being teased,new crushes,still crushing or trashing old ones,all of it.I miss it all.The worst part*gulps* is leaving my friends behind...many of us are leaving the city to attend college elsewhere.I hate it when the only contact left with old friends are an ocassional email,a text message or a scrap in orkut.People who could tell, at just a glance, whether ur down in the dumps,harbouring a secret or trying hard to supress an ecstatic bit of tidbit inside you are reduced to people who call you once a year to wish you on your birthday.Or worse. Being incomunicado with these amazing people I have known my whole life is a pain I would find hard to bear.Yea,boo hoo.School life,me thinks, is a mould any cookie would hate living out of.

This is it,

The twilight of

My decade and a half of sheboleths;

Now I'm free to go anywhere,

But Teacher won't you

Tell me to

Clip my nails and

Plait my hair..