Desperately reading Harry

There's a kind of hush all over the town this weekend as Harry Potter fans bury themselves in the pages of the latest book. Teen joints in town will be kind of empty this weekend. Parents will hear less chat from their kids. And there will be more perusal of the written word in Bangalore than ever before. And no wonder. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hitting bookstores at last, excitement levels are at fever pitch.
Early birds:
Rahul Rathod, 16, woke up at 5.30am to reach the bookstore at 6am for his copy. "It's the last book in the series, so it's worth it," he says. He will speed read through the weekend to finish the book, so no one can "spoil the fun in school on Monday," he says, "But I will re-read it during my vacations to absorb any details I might miss. I've done that with the sixth book, the Half-Blood Prince, before this one came out to refresh things in my mind."
Arune Chellaram got his copy at 9.30am, reading it in an auto en route to his friend's place. He's told friends not to reveal vital plot details. "It will ruin the book for me. And I've been waiting for this one from the day the sixth one ended," he says. "I'm expecting closure with this book. There were too many loose ends," he says. Would it matter if Harry died? "Not as long as the story is complete."
Twelfth grader Aruna Chittiappa got her copy at 8.30am and three hours later was at Chapter Four. A couple of friends have already told her who dies in the end - not fun, she says. "But a true Potter fan would read the book, irrespective of knowing the ending." She's normally a fast reader, but is reading even faster to finish by Sunday, she adds.
Sanah Vij, 11, got her copy at 9.15am and hasn't put it down since. She will read around outings, meals and other activities this weekend, she says. "I'm taking the book everywhere. Getting the book was a lot of fun," she says.
Up to the mark:
Arune says, "The book is very good - beyond expectations. Earlier, Harry was child-like . Now he's more grown up." Says Aruna, "Rowling has kept the pace up, but there are enough shocks happening to keep people's interest going. The plot is really well-crafted ." "It's just about 600 pages - too short," says Rahul. I expected it to be longer."
Should Rowling reconsider and write an eighth book? Aruna is in two minds. "I'm kind of hoping both Harry and Voldemort die so that the story doesn't get botched up by any other writer," she says. Yet the experience so far has been well worth it, "You are on a journey into a magical world."
WANT A POTTER HOLIDAY?
The race to finish the last book in the Harry Potter series is on. Students are even willing to bunk school and college on Monday because they don't want to run the risk of their friends playing spoilsport and telling them who dies in the Deathy Hallows.
But parents won't let children do it. Arune Chellaram says, "My parents won't let me miss school. So I'm going to stay up all night and take the book to school with me on Monday. I'll read it in the bus and even in class if I have to."
But mass comm student Bhanu S and her classmates bunked college on Saturday. "A few of us took a Harry Potter holiday so we could read the book," she says. But engineering student Rohit Bhat was told who died in books 4, 5 and 6 even before he got them . The first two times were accidents, but the third time was planned. "I was with some friends who knew who died. One of them came up to me and yelled 'Snape kills Dumbledore!' in my face," he says. This time, he's on vacation, so going to college is out of the question. "And I'm not in touch with that frind now, so I'm safe," he says.