The cell phone beeped exactly at 4:00 in the morning. I had set an alarm to be woken up early. I was alone at home, and today was the 21st of July, 2007. The big day for book lovers – the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was merely a few hours away. I lay there in bed for a long time, wondering whether it was an extravagance to rise early and drive all the way. I had pre-ordered my copy, and hence could always go and collect it later. At 4:30, I finally got up with the firm intention of collecting my copy at the earliest.
The book was scheduled to be released at 5:30 in the morning. The drive to Landmark was extremely pleasant, due to the fact that they were hardly any vehicles on the Outer Ring Road. At 5:00 in the morning, The Forum Mall looked quiet and eerie, lit up in dim fluorescent lights. A few cars were already lining up outside. On the second floor, a queue of 100-odd had already formed. To my surprise, there were not many kids around. The crowd seemed to be made up, mostly of crazy potter enthusiasts like me. Some of them were seated there from 9:00 pm the previous day.
Coffee was being served to those in the line – though it never reached me – and ‘Sweet World’, the candy shop opposite to Landmark, showed great enterprise, as they immediately opened up to lure the kids who had turned up. The middle-aged lady standing beside me in the queue seemed quite surprised to see so many people, and confessed that she had expected to just walk in and collect the books. She had come there with her little niece, who called up her mother to boast that she was actually standing in a queue to pick up her book. The little girl, Shreya, was soon in the limelight, as a few reporters who had turned up there came running to interview her about the usual stuff: “Are you a big fan of Harry Potter? Since how long have you been reading the books? Who’s your favorite character? Blah blah blah” The kid seemed to be quite excited at all the attention. “You’ve been interviewed by ‘The Hindu’! Now that’s not something that happens in you hometown. Does it? Let’s tell your mother about this!” exclaimed her aunt.
At 5:40 a.m. – ten minutes after the “scheduled launch” – a girl came out of the store, microphone in hand, and started blabbering something. For a moment I wondered whether it was parseltongue since I couldn’t decipher anything she was saying, but a minute she stopped, realizing finally that the microphone was switching. She again started off in a drooling fashion: “Goood Mooorneeeng everyone!” Thankfully, the guys sitting in the front of the queue decided not to show off their frustration, and responded with a gentle ‘good morning’. The shock came soon though: “the book will be released exactly at 6:30”: she drooled on. The news was greeted by a collective groan. What followed was a barrage of questions as to why there is a 1 hour delay, when the book was to be released at 5:30. Quite confident with her, the girl continued: “Well, the launch of the book has been put off by 1 hour worldwide!” Very unwise thing to do…Within minutes, cell phones were out, and all of them had proved her wrong. “JK Rowling has finished her public reading of the book!” retorted one of the guys, dressed up as if he were on a camping trip. Thankfully, one of the store assistants had the common sense to come out and pull the girl in. Soon enough, a chant started out among the assembled: “530! 530! 530!”
The girl was not content yet. She came out soon enough and announced: “Penguin has released the book at 5:30 itself, and you have to wait till the stock reaches our outlet from the warehouse, and as soon as it reaches here, we’ll open up”. Somebody questioned back about whether they had considered the traffic jams in Bangalore. Before the girl could answer, the shop assistant had reappeared and pulled her back in. The crowd decided to amuse themselves, and started an airplane race. Soon the place was filled with paper airplanes whizzing past your nose. Amused at the scene, Headlines Today decided to make the most out of it, and set up their equipment to record the whole thing. The anchor started screeching and shrieking as to how, she had never seen “such an atmosphere” so early in the morning. There was some stupid contest going on. We were given sheets of paper to fill up some puzzles and submit for a lucky draw. Some of the guys were eagerly filling up the forms. I took one glance at the sheet and threw it into the wastepaper bin.
Finally at 6:15 the doors opened. There was no mad rush to go inside. It took almost five minutes for me to get inside and pick up my copy. There were some excited shrieks – not from any of the kids, mind you – from some of the ladies: “I can’t believe it! It’s finally in my hand!" As Obelix might have said, "These Muggles are crazy!" “Breakfast” (as they said) had been arranged for everyone – it consisted of one pastry, and a small triangular piece of sandwich. I sat there reading my copy, until I finished the whole of the first chapter. The book was 600-odd pages long – a relief when compared to “The Order of the Phoenix”. It was going to be a long day…and perhaps long nights, for there were miles to read before I sleep.
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