The 'Romantic' Hero

Girls are consistently fed the ‘romantic' hero stereotype, starting from the age of three with stories of Cinderella’s Prince Charming relayed to them every night.


And why was he called Prince Charming and not something else? Did all he have was charm? I am guessing that must be the case. All he did was dance with her. No bravado, no sign of intelligence. Seriously, choosing a bride on the basis of her shoe size? But he sure was charming.


And the romantic movies. Look at all the guys Hugh Grant has played. Sweet, caring, charming. RICH. Intelligent, blah, blah blah.

And closer home there is Sharukh Khan flinging his arms wide; with his oh so cute dimpled smile; singing songs that can melt your heart. Running in mustard fields telling you “Main hoon Na”.

Well, obviously our expectations are high and obviously we are disappointed when we take off our tinted glasses and find the real life guy types- the MCP, The slob, The show off, the Brawn without brains etc etc.

And girls have the task of finding a guy she could love, wading through a sea of the guy types. And well, they do find their own Prince “not so charming” and maybe their own knight in “Versace” armour.


Girls have to basically realize that guys will be guys. Some of them will be jerks hiding under the prince charming disguise. Some will turn out to be nice but they still will have guy habits. But that’s why we like them, don’t we? And let’s face it, no all of us like Prince Charming.

The HP craze!

The fifth book came a long time after. The first movie had released by then. And Daniel Radcliffe became one lucky guy- he got to play the famous boy wizard AND got an instant female fan following. I was 12 when the 1^st movie came out. A few girls in my class started calling themselves Mrs. Radcliffe.

I remember a memorable incident that took place at that time. We had a senior, a year older. She was a tomboy, had cropped hair and wore specs. One day few of us saw her on the field from our 1^st floor classroom window. Bang! She totally looked like Harry Potter.( we thought so then) That did it. One girl developed a crush on her. We all trooped in between classes to catch a glimpse of her. Breaks were spent looking out for her. We even knew her routine! We followed her everywhere. She naturally felt harassed. She told us off, even complained to our teacher. We calmed down for a while. 


One day some of us came up with an idea. They bought a cake on 31^st July and told her to cut it! That certainly was the last straw.  She complained to the Headmistress.  No action was taken though. We heaved a sigh of relief. Final exams came soon and we all went up a class.

In the 1^st week of the new session ‘she’ arrived. With the Headmistress. To identify her harassers. Oh God! Somehow she didn't  recognize me. Good for me!

Anyway, the craziness had just begun. Over time we HP fans started calling ourselves Hard-core HP fans as we wanted to distinguish ourselves from the HP movie lovers. And the love for everything HP related continues…

P.S – Class 6 being high school we were reshuffled into new houses. When my turn came all I wanted was to be in Red house, the closest I could be to being a Gryffindor. And guess what? I did get chosen for the Red house!

P.S again : I later realised that I was more of a Ravenclaw than A Gryffindor. I am now A Pottermore certified Ravenclaw.  

Growing up with the wizard with specs

I was in class five then. My friend Pratiti told me about a great new book- Harry Potter. She told me I absolutely have to read it! Somehow her excitement intrigued me. When my bhua came for a visit and asked me what I wanted I asked for the first three Harry Potter books. And thus my odyssey began.

“ Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, at number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. “

That’s the first line. I didn’t move my eyes from the pages till I reached the last line. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. It was frenzy, my first reading of Harry Potter.  

I remember I read through the night and went to school the next day. And I wasn’t even drowsy. That was the level of my excitement. After seventeen chapters and loads of awe filled moments I was hooked!

I couldn’t wait to get back home and read the 2^nd book. How intriguing is a name like “chamber of secrets” be? Pretty intriguing.

Soon  had read all three books. My mother promised to buy me the fourth book if I did well in my finals. Best incentive ever!

By then a proper fan club had been formed in our school. India too had discovered the most popular bespectacled boy and the HP craze was all over the news. The Chosen One had arrived.

Its been 11 years and The Boy Who Lived has never bored me. Ever time I re- read the books I discover something new. And the Adrenaline rush I get whenever I talk about HP has not decreased a bit.

I don’t think I will forget the year ever. It was 2001 and I became a Harry Potter fan. For life. 

You've come a long way, Kid! Part 2

My natural instinct is to be over-sensitive, moody and reserved.

I however realized that these characteristics could end up becoming my Hamartia- my fatal flaw. So I needed to change that. I started to de-sensitize myself. Every small thing needn’t hurt me. I started letting go of my grudges. And since I was confident about my abilities now, I stopped caring about what other people thought of me, my actions, my words. Yes, I did and still do care about what my friends and family think about, but that’s about it.

I am still moody but I have learned to control my moods to a certain extent. I still get cranky when I am hungry.

And about being reserved? I am still a reserved person at heart but somehow people have a different image. I am friendly, I talk to people. Smile, sing, laugh, joke around, act crazy. Who would say I am reserved?  Not that I am faking all this. All the jokes, the fun is part of me. But I do have a quieter part. Only a handful of people have gotten past the surface and seen my serious side. My shy side. I don’t wear my emotions on my sleeve. ( except when I write, that is)

I sometimes wonder if I can become the quiet girl again. I don’t think I can, even if I wanted to. Whenever I am a bit quiet my friends think something is wrong. Not many people like silences. But its true that I talk more now and cant go back to being the person I was. I used be able to stay quiet for hours. Not anymore.

I can now move on. Let go. Accept changes. Let things run its course. Or just let them be.

I believe a lot in destiny. I was destined to write. But if I sit tight, don’t do anything about it, don’t write. Then it’s my fault. Yeah its my destiny, but it is to some extent in my hands. I believe in the stars and everything. But I also believe in hard work. in making things happen.

Sixteen year old me wouldn’t have imagined such wonderful things happening to her. I did turn out to be OKAY. The future seems bright and atlast I can swim!

You've come a long way, kid!

Very recently a very sweet junior of mine described me as a “mastikhor”. That was the first time someone used such an adjective to describe me. I was surprised and very very pleased. Who would have thought that the erstwhile quiet girl like me would be called a “mastikhor”. WOW!

That got me thinking about myself. I turned 21 a few days back and that got me thinking some more. I have come a long way. I know everyone does. Just that I am so amazed at the changes in me that I would like to share it.

I was a terribly under-confident teenager for several reasons.

I was an average student to start with. And was demoralized so much for my poor performance in science subjects that I stopped believing in myself and as a result became a below average student. I hated it. More so because my parents believed I could do better. They could see it, I just couldn’t.

I wasn’t very athletic either( I still aint but I don’t really care about it now) Not being picked for any sport kinda hurt.

Since I was epileptic as a child I was on medicine till I was fifteen. I hated that. A lot. And I kept it a secret, none of my friends knew my medical past. I had to go for annual check ups and EEG tests. I wasn’t allowed to learn how to swim. Then of course by the time I was allowed life got to busy for lessons and well I was too embarrassed to learn.

So till I was around sixteen I wasn’t sure about my abilities in any field. I wasn’t even confident about my writing.

People grow up. They grow out of their gawkiness and so did I. somehow I gained confidence a few months before my class 10 boards. I got even more confident when I changed schools in class 11. ( More
of that some other time maybe)

People change. I am glad I did. I like the ‘new’ me better.