hey...i wrote this stuff long back...but have blooged it just today...i dunno hows it but i find it good...
i wrote it wen harry potter and the half blood prince was released

HARRY POTTER & THE FULL-BLOODED IRONY


The world's a strange,rather silly place-& full of ironies !No i dont intend to flaunt my philosophical understanding of the world-not for any other reason but simply because i dont have any !Instead i want to talk straight,about things that matter!So,heres the story !

J.K.Rowlings 7th literary venture-HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE-was released in the 1st minute of the english sunday in Britain & soon after,in the rest of the world-as part of a global synchronised launch.The event took place amid much fanfare.People,specially children,were euphoric while celebrating the release of their fav. book!The paparazzi too gave it all due (&undue)coverage.All major national & international newspapers & tabloids had colourful pics of potter fans-along with their prized possession-splashed all over them !But even as "pottermania" gripped the "entire world" in its magical charm,humanity & its champions(read the G-8,G-4 & all other Gs thative missed out on while writing this article !!)were being stared right into the face by what appears to be one of the most ironical ironies of recent times!While on one hand,millions of children celebrated the release of their fav. book,on the other hand,millions of others wondered whether or not they would get their daily bread or whether or not they would be able to see-off another day of their miserable lives.In fact, in most of the cases,they cant even wonder.Malnutrition & maternal apathy tend to render their senses numb!And yet we celebrate.We close our eyes on them & read out the adventures of Harry Potter to our children,lying in soft beds,enjoying the snug comfort of our homes.We let our escapist tendencies take over our conscience & resort to strange defence mechanisms such as celebrating the release of the new harry potter book in such outrageous proportions that it makes us blind towards the existence of another world-a world thats very much a part of our own world,our ownplanet!A world where children dont know who's harry potter,they dont know what a book is or what it looks like,they dont know what a home is,heck,they dont even know their names !Its a world that exists parallel to our own world & yet is so distant !Large parts of Africa &Asia & some parts of South America & Europe are home to millions of such children,who are devoid of even the most basic living requirements! They "live" in unimaginably unlivable conditions !

Irony screams out loud-at ever corner of life!11 yr. olds selling newspapers(detailed with pictures of euphoric potter fans) at traffic signals,polishing shoes right below giant harry potter promotional posters!Looking at all this,one is forced to draw a comparison;one is forced to ask a question to oneself-how can we nurture childhood to perfection in one part of the world and remain oblivious to it in the other part,where its dying a slow painful death?The fact that the celebration of the harry potter book release is in a way a celebration of childhood,makes the irony more ruthless & hitting,after all what are we celebrating?childhood or its death ? Global sales of the 1st 6 harry potter books have topped 300 million & the 3 harry potter movies have grossed $ 2.5 billion,making the author extremely rich,in fact one of the richest in Britain.But has it in any way ,helped the causeof childhood ,selling which,Ms Rowling has made a fortune.Not really!

The gravity of the situation can be aptly illustrated by the facts-20children face death every minute on our planet,before even reaching the age of 5!Thats 30,000 children a day & a mind-numbing 10.6 millionevery yr! In the sub-saharan african region alone,which accounts for43% of the worlds child deaths,9 children die every minute-thats 4.8million children every year.This implies that by the time a really fast-paced child reader finishes reading harry potter & the half-bloodprince-which could be anything between 2-3 days-about 60,000-90,000 children will have died !What are these?Mere stats gathered to satisfy the hunger of a number-crazy world?No,actually they are a strongreflection of the world's apathy towards sensitive issues that matter much more than irrational wars & celebrations,which we never fail to justify !The billions of dollars spent on the iraq war by the U.S.govt. could have been put to a better use,for a nobler cause-considering the fact that (acc. to 2003 survey)36 million americans i.e 11% of the U.S. population experienced accute hunger or were at a risk of a food crisis.Whats important is that out of these11 million are children.That means 1 in every 5 children in the U.S. suffered from hunger or experienced food insecurity!That more-or-less clears the picture !Child related problems are not exclusive to theunder-developed or developing nations only,a fact that most of thedeveloped nations take plesaure in overlooking!This apathy of the resourcefull few towards the resourceless many -makes the problem worse & more rooted!

J.K.Rowling'sliterary baby may have matured from a celebration of childhood to a celebration of adolescence;but the unimaginably horrific conditions of miilions of children worldwide has only deteriorated !In fact, it has hit its nadir in the recent yrs!The warning has been given-the writing is there on the wall for all world-leaders to see.Its high time,these champions of humanity took serious note of the situation & acted accordingly;or the day isnt far when there wont be enough children left ,to make these children's books the successes that they are!There wont be enough children left to celebrate!

MAHIM PRATAP SINGH