The Potterheads of Sri Lanka

Always? Always. Yep, that’s a Potterhead for you. Once a fan, always a fan.

The wizarding world of Harry Potter, with its dazzling spells, moving staircases, secret corridors, nifty trinkets, flying brooms, and magical creatures, has offered us a much-needed escape from the real world. Growing up, all of us – at some point in our lives – have been guilty of getting sucked into the fantastical world.

Since the first Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – was published almost 25 years ago, we can all agree that Harry Potter has now gone on to become a phenomenon in the publishing world. It wasn’t too long until the movies caught up on the craze, making Harry Potter, not just one for book worms but the movie fanatics as well.

Today, this sensation birthed in the mind of J. K. Rowling continues to awe us with the latest ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movies, the ‘Cursed Child’ stage play, and even the recent reunion which is taking us down memory lane.

We here at Pulse just had to go look for some Potterheads in our midst and talk to them about what this magical world means to them

Mihi Perera and Dillon R. de Silva

From left: Dillon cosplaying as Harry Potter and Mihi’s book set with her Deathly Hallows trinkets

Mihi was just one year old when the first Harry Potter movie came out in 2001 and her dad took her to the cinemas. Today, even as an adult, she holds the eccentricities of the wizarding world close to her heart. For Dillon too, it was a matter of being able to see himself through Harry that made him take the series to heart. The reason he decided to cosplay as Harry for the 2017 Lanka Comic Con was that he understood the values that Harry stood for. For both Mihi and Dillon, it was an escape from reality. According to Mihi, while she wasn’t the coolest kid in class growing up, her love for Harry Potter showed her that it was okay to be different and not fit into what everyone thought was ‘normal’.

 

Tharusha Mudalige

Tharusha was just six years old when he moved to Canada, with barely any idea as to what Harry Potter was; a mere Muggle some might say. It was only after moving there did he meet his best friend, Timur, who is a big fan of the books. Over the years, Tharusha and Timur’s friendship grew stronger with their shared love for this literary masterpiece. They were even distinguished members of the ‘Harry Potter Fan Club’ in their school. For them, like for many others, this interest was a way to block out the rest of the world, and have a safe space in which they could be their most authentic selves.

 

Maneth Samarasinghe

Some of the Harry Potter-inspired paintings that Maneth has done over the years

Growing up as an obsessive Potterhead myself, I just had to include my story. Being just one year old when the first Harry Potter movie came out, the experience of watching it couldn’t have been anything more than moving pictures on a screen. However, those moving pictures spoke to me. As I grew up, I was first introduced to the books by my ‘Aththamma’, who lived in London at the time. She sent me the entire set of first edition Harry Potter books. Obviously, I was a little too young to read it at the time, but my mom used to read them to me and I loved imagining it all in my head.

Fast forward a couple of years; I’ve now read the book series a solid nine times and I still manage to find some interesting and quirky little details I had missed before. Much like with Mihi, the books made me feel like there was nothing wrong with being the ‘weird kid’ that ran around the house with a black bathrobe and a painted chopstick! (P.S. I used to be so obsessed to the point I asked my ‘Aththamma’ to send another set of first editions as a gift for my fifth-grade crush).

 

I guess we can all admit it. Whether it was playing the ‘Which Harry Potter house are you in?’ game more times than you could count or finding out what your Patronus is, we’ve all been obsessed with this idea of a magical world where nothing is impossible, as long as you have a few good friends. At the end of the day, what J.K. Rowling created when she dreamt up this tale on a train journey from Manchester to London wasn’t just an average story of wizards and witches. It was one that brought together a whole community of young people obsessed and utterly devoted to the lives of these characters.

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