The Hindu : Down with `Hogwarts headache'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 04, 2003

National

National

Down with `Hogwarts headache'

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

CHENNAI NOV. 3. Ironical as it may seem today, J.K. Rowling who created the Harry Potter magic is now being accused of giving children a headache. A Washington doctor has termed this discomfort ``Hogwarts headache''. It is caused when a child reads Rowling's entire 870-page adventure ``Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,'' the latest in the series, without, well, putting down the tome.

This appears to be a new kind of spell that Harry is casting on his young readers, quite different from the one he caused when Rowling's first volumes hit the stands some years ago.

This was nothing short of sensation. Boys and girls — who had virtually given up on the written word and remained glued to shallow television soaps and cartoons — were irresistibly drawn to Potter's tryst with witchcraft and wizardry in Hogwarts school.

It was the fourth Rowling work, ``Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' that made history of sorts. Millions of copies were printed and translated into over 30 languages.

The reason for this marvellous success is all there in the pages of these books. Peppered with amazing escapades and mythical characters, a Harry Potter fiction has just about every ingredient that a kid loves. The text is not patronising or preachy. It is not even educative. Rowling has this charming ability to make one laugh, and she adds a liberal dose of suspense. She invents a world that tickles young curiosity.

In today's atmosphere of stifling competition, children, who are continuously forced to perform, find Harry not just different but amusing and invigorating. Can you blame them if they cannot put down a Rowling work even if such ``relentless pursuit'' gives them a headache? Looking beyond this slight uneasiness, one cannot ignore Rowling's contribution to a habit that the world thought was lost, along with some other endearing arts, such as letter-writing and even conversation. There is a growing tendency among boys and girls to indulge in an absolutely non-participative activity like watching television; and Rowling's Harry has broken this terrible spell.

Once, Enid Blyton had been a Rowling. With hundreds of her stories available in 30-odd languages, Blyton invented unforgettable characters — Five Findouters, Famous Five, Secret Seven and the like — who turned pages of words into pictorial possibilities. The mind made its own screen and watched fascinating images. Such was the power of Blyton's narrative.

Blyton left behind a void, at least in India, where there was hardly anyone to work the kind of mantra that Blyton did. Till, of course, Rowling came along. But one Rowling is not enough.

It is strange that India, despite its rich folklore, heritage and culture, has not been able to spawn writers of significance for the young. What one finds on bookshelves tends to be unimaginative, dull and repetitive. What is even more regrettable is that authors are often moralistic and judgmental. They talk down to the young.

One hopes that Rowling will inspire others to take a serious look at children's literature. We could certainly do with a lot more writers who would allow boys and girls to dream. Harry Potter has done precisely that.

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