Harry Potter Maniac: 2006

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

My Thoughts on Reservation, Division by casts, and the Meenatai Thackeray Issue

Hi People we'll I'm back again...

The recent Reservation issue from my home country brought some thoughts to my mind, which I want to present before you.

Its quite conspicuous that how keen we are in making divisions in our community.. Everyone wants to divide it into narrower and narrower groups.. We (Indians) have been seperated as Hindus from the Muslims, Christains from
the Muslims (They follow the same god yet call him by different names viz. Christ vs Allah), Lower Cast from the So Called "Upper Cast", SC from the
ST, OBC Vanjari (all lower cast hindus) so on and so forth. the list is virtually endless.
I could go on with this for another hour but what would be the end result. Nothing but waste of webspace (for Blogger), Bandwith (your's as well as mine).

This is what is creating rifts between us and also allowing the filthy
politicians who are not even worthy of ruling their own homes get to
rule us with ease every 5 years.

Why cant we people stay united...as Indians, or maybe.... as one Humanity .. why do we like to create divisions?

Perhaps its not the fault of any one person or two.. this is in our history.. this is the reason why we have been ruled by outsiders for centuries.. because we are always ready to divide ourselves, for our minuscle benefits, without caring at all for the overall impact of our actions..

A case in point is the recent riots regarding the mud-slinging on the statue of Meenatai Thackeray. No-doubt the desecration of the statue of any person, whether of historical importance or not, is a despicable and horrendous act. It is an insult to the Deceased person himself and humanity too in general. But the acts that followed it were more despicable and worthy of anybody, even the Shiv Sena. Mr. Abu Azmi's retaliation to the comments of the Sena High Command regarding his alleged involvement also did not do any good, rather did more bad than good. I regret to say that but I presonally felt there was a Communal Tinge to the comments made by both the parties involved...

The Statement I feel given by the newly formed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackery was more appropriate to the situation.. Though he voiced his concerns regarding the desecration of the statue he refrained from giving it any political or communal color. He said that his aunt was a preson of peace and would not have liked the Rioting that followed her statues' desecration.

Today's papers carry news giving pointers that certain elements who may be part of the Sena itself or its Close Allies may have been involved in Sunday's Incident. This if true, makes me feel that the nick I use for myself (The Devil's Advocate) is being fulfilled by these filthy politicians... Who else would stoop to such low levels to only for getting political mileage out of it. To show their useless display of muscle power, and falling flat on their face... What else can we call the bandh they called. I work at a suburban restaurant in mumbai.

The news reached the local Shakha at about 10.00 A.M. At 11.30 A.M. they came and asked us to shut shop. But by 4.30 P.M. the shops were all opened and resuming work.

If you call a bandh of two-four hours a show of power, Then I pity you. If that is all you can do.

The astute silence maintained by Sena Chief over the whole episode also threw in some pointers of the change of the Power Equation at Matoshree (The Sena Chiefs' Residence)

We'll that I think should be the end of my largest post till date. Please post back your views on the matter.

The Devil's Advocate

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Harry Potter Actors

to Send Video Greetings

to Comic-Con Guests

We've learned that the Harry Potter trio - Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint - and producer David Heyman will make a videotaped appearance at this year's Comic-Con International, the huge comics convention at which attendees have seen Harry Potter previews in the past. The actors and producer have taped a video message from the set, which will be played during one of the nights; at this time there is no plan to show any preview footage of Order of the Phoenix. More info on the way!

Confirmed: JKR Interview

on Richard & Judy

Coming June 26

TLC can now confirm that author J.K. Rowling's appearance on the Richard & Judy talk show will be broadcast Monday, June 26. This show will air on Channel 4 from 5 -6 pm, and we do not have any details on what they will be discussing at this time. This interview comes the day after Jo will be reading from Half-Blood Prince at the special birthday party for the Queen on Sunday, June 25 that will be broadcast on the BBC. Anyone who can get video or screencaps of either event, please send them in.

New HPEF Convention: Prophecy 2007

HPEF, the same group who brought Potter fans Nimbus 2003, The Witching Hour, and the upcoming Lumos 2006 convention, have announced their new event: Prophecy 2007. Being held in Toronto, Ontario Canada, Prophecy 2007: From Hero to Legend will occur August 2-5 next year. Hotel and registration information will be coming soon. Members from HP Education Fanon will be at Lumos to answer questions and more, so stay tuned! Thanks Doris!

Registration for Chamber
of Secrets Reading Groups Open

Registration to participate in our Harry Potter reading groups is open again, this time for discussion of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. To get sorted into a group, click here! You don't need to have been in any previous groups to participate now, but you do need to be a Lounge member, so click here to register.These groups are known to fill up too fast for us to manage, so click soon if you're interested.