Friday, July 15, 2005

harry potter and the borders bash

Hey..

Dont worry. This is not a review of the latest Harry Potter and the Half-Blood prince and Iam not going to give away any secrets or break the suspense here. Unfortunately I was not even able to get a copy of the book on the opening day. Procastinating as usual, I had delayed reserving my copy and the cut off for reservation at Borders bookstore was July 2nd.

Neverthless, when my local BORDERS bookstore announced a big bash as a prologue to the release of the book I decided to pay a visit and see what was in store. The fun was planned from 9:00 PM July 15 till midnight when the book bundles will be opened. I walked in and the Borders salesperson asked me if I wanted to volunteer for the kids event. I happily said yes. They gave a wizard hat, and a label that pronounced me as one of the dementors. (dont giggle!) - Borders sales people had taken all the nice adult characters. I was incharge of the Internation Music section and my job was to try and keep the kid-rowdies at order as much as I could.

There were hundreds of kids. Hundreds and hundreds. They were all wonderfully dressed as various characters from the Rowling books. Most of the boys were of course Potter or Ron and the girls were Hermoine. But you could see almost everyone including Hagrid. The dress was accurate as that of the movies. Potters carried the birthmarks on foreheads, Hermoines carried a huge cat, Dracos carried brooms. And irrespective of their fancy outfits, all kids were universally mischievous like the Weasley twins. There was Zonko's fake magic shop selling wands and candies. The espresso coffee shop had become Madam Rosemerta's Inn and carried potions. It was like as if Halloween had made it early this year. And as if you were at Hogsmeade near the Hogwarts school.

The main event was a treasure hunt and a Marauder's map was provided with cryptic clues. The kids were divided into teams of 10-20 sizes and we had 37-40 teams - it was way too tough to count. The kids were running around trying to figure out the clues. As everywhere, the Hermoines were more meticulous in solving the tricky questions than the boys. Further, the parents were more interested than their children trying to solve the riddles. Some kids were plain running around. A few were playing ground-quidditch. And there was a kid who had covered his whole face and running around, bringing down the book shelves that came across his way. There was also a section were kids were taught to make wizard hats and a few were having face painting done. The bookstore staff and us volunteers had a tough time to try and have the unruly young wizards & witches and their parents in order.

It was too much fun and interesting to see the kind of publicity and marketing being done for a children book. And it was enjoyable to see parents spending lot of energy, time and money and encouraging their kids to read. Nice to have been a part of the launching ceremony of hopefully yet another interesting Potter adventure. Expecto patronum !!!

Chao..

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

An Siva, I envy you. You had so much fun enjoying with the kids. When around with kids, you feel like one of them.

Though I am not a big fan of Harry Potter, I really regret missing the funtime you had at Borders :-( It really is nice to see that parents got actively involved along with their kids. Events like these definitely help in bringing parents closer to their kids and of course, in this country, you definitely need events such as these.

Robbie said...

Dear Dementor:
hahaha! I missed seeing u there dude! glad you had a good time with the kids..seems like you can get into hogwarts at this rate. I heard that Dumbledore just sent out hagrid in search of you:P. I dont know if the christian parents are right in making their children read wizard stuff. The church is against it you know:P.

eyeStreet times said...

Siva...good to read that you had a great time watching the kids have a great time. Its contagious you know !?

GS said...

Looks like a lot of fun ... Liked the way you wrote the article.

Ganesh said...

shiva vangiachaa
read some good reviews about the book

Arvind Srinivasan said...

Shiva,

Good time with the kids, romantic posts, searching for partner....all kinda falls in place...

Anything to announce ? :P

Anonymous said...

Siva...Enough Beating around the bush..Tell everybody what you told me....

Anonymous said...

Rags, Arvind,

Cool Down guys. If there was something up with Shiva, I would be among the first to know. ;-)

Shiva Thalaivaa. Overaa sound uttuten. Kavutharaadheenga!

Shiva said...

adappavingala.. spent a joyous evening with kids around - and this has turned into a discussion questioning my marital intentions !!

raman - you are right in both ur comments :)

robbie - next time will recommend you for Voldemort ;)

eswar, G, ganeshaa - thanx; innum book vaangalai :(

arvind - your list is in the wrong sequence..

Rags - prachanai panndidadhey man. Dont get makkal curious. Kodu potta rodu potturuvaanunga..

Ganesh said...

shiva
I have tried audio bloggin
Kettutu eppadi irukunnu sollungo

eyeStreet times said...

Shivaa...daal main kuch kaalaa hai !!

RS said...

Just finished the book! Worth all the wait to get it and now begins a 2 year long wait again :)

Shiva said...

RS - idhu romba too much !!! it is hardly 5 days and you have finished it already !... a true HARRY POTTER fan, or a true HERMOINE ?!, maybe.

eyeStreet times said...

HERMOINE ?? Shiva...explain.

Anonymous said...

Eshwar,
Think you should brush up on some Harry Potter history for your next blog ;-)

Shiva said...

Eshwar - Of all people are you an ignoramus on Harry Potter characters ? Unbelievable, but true !!!...

Sriks said...

While traveling from London to DC last Sunday, I saw at least 10 kids and few adults carrying this green book. Most of them were reading it. The guy in front of me had one but was not reading, and was using it as a pillow, reminds me of the Sukhla account pillow oops text book that guys use to carry during my college days just to impress color kozi’s. [Most endedup with a “mavu kattu” adu oru thani katha] :)
is the Harry potter snake back from Chandramuki shoot? :)

Sriks said...

what would it take to add my name in your DC bloggers list?
a copy of my Cd? :)

Shiva said...

Srikanth

Welcome back from ur vacation.. I have blogrolled u, but neverthless u shd still send ur CD..