J. K. Rowling by Shraddha Rajmohan

J K Rowling

Introduction

It is the most commonly admitted fact that living in today’s world is tough and tenacious and to survive in it is to know what you are doing at all times and thinking twice before you take a decision; but 19 years before a gifted writer and a woman with extraordinary talent in words created a whole new magical world and shaped a belief in every reader’s mind that it existed.

Joanne Jo Rowling is a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer best known for writing the Fantasy Harry Potter series. Loved by fans around the world, the series has sold over 8 million copies, translated into 77 languages and made into 8 blockbuster films. Her story is known as an ideal example of a ‘Rags to Riches’ life; she being the 12fth richest woman in the UK.

Childhood & Family :-

The Rowling Family :-                       

Joanne Jo Rowling’s childhood is greatly reflected in her books which are considered, one of the biggest literary sagas. Jo’s parents, Peter James Rowling and Anne Volant met at the King’s Cross Station, at London and got married just a year later, when they were 19.

This inspired Jo, later, when “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to make Kings Cross , the station were Harry first boarded his train to Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Platform 9 ¾ .  Jo was born to them on 31^st July 1965.

Born to be a writer :-

Growing up, Jo was a voracious reader. She loved to read fantasy and non -fiction books. Her favourite writers were Elizabeth Goudge, Paul Gallico etc. She wrote her first book when she was just Six years old; it was about a rabbit named Rabbit. Jo confessed later that she knew she was going to be a writer from the age of Six itself.

When she was Nine years old, the family moved to Tutshill, near Chepstow on the Welsh border. She went to Wyeden comprehensive school and college with her sister Dianne Rowling. She then joined Exeter university in 1983 and graduated with a BA in French and Classics in 1986.

Platform 9 ¾ quarters and creating the world of Harry Potter.

Creating the Magic :-

Are you wondering how such  clear idea of an imaginary, fictional world came about ?  “It all started in Platform 9 ¾ “ Joanne  said in an interview. On one summer day in 1990, Joanne was travelling on a crowded train back to London when the idea of Harry Potter simply fell into her head. She stated that if she did not have the shortage of a pen and paper, she would have started writing right away.

Since the train was delayed, she had plenty of time to figure out the basic details. Slowly, the image of a scarred and spectacled 11 year old boy started emerging in her head. She began to write “The Philosopher’s Stoner”, that very evening ; although, she said that the first few scrapped sheets beared no resemblance to the finished book.

It was also during this time that Jo’s mother Anne Rowling passed away at the age of 45. This brought a shadow of sadness to Jo’s life, which was greatly reflected in her writing, as the Director for the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th movies said – “The feeling of loss runs like a stream through Jo’s books”.

Jo described this period as her rock bottom from which she rebounded. She took a job in the Scottish Arts Council which gave her a generous ground of $8000 which allowed her to take care of her eldest daughter, Jessica Rowling and at the same time gave her enough time to search for a Publisher.

Finally, she struck a deal with Scholastic and Harry Potter and the “Philosopher’s Stone” was published on 26^th June 1997. In the beginning the book was only popular between children, but slowly it began to grow in to a huge adult fan base.

The series continues…

“Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets”. The second title in the series was published on 2^nd July 1998. It became No.1 on the adult hardback bestseller charts a month later. The 3^rd title “The Prisoner of Azkaban” was published on 8^th July 1999, much to the fans outcry and to worldwide acclaim. It spent four weeks as No.1 as the adult hardback bestseller charts in UK. The fourth instalment “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” released publicly exactly a year later on 8^th July 2000. It was no exception proceeding the other three titles in the series – it broke all records on the first day of publication in the UK.

She published two smaller books as comic relief in the name of Harry’s school books – “Fantastic beasts and where to find them” and “Quidditch through the ages” on March 2001, and believe it or not, but its sales raised over £17 million!

Personal Life

Dr. Neil Murray

J K Rowling married Dr. Neil Murray on 26^th December 2001 in a private ceremony in their country home in Scotland way from the public eye; as she did not want to be put in the tight spot of answering any questions regarding her first husband Jorge Arantes and their daughter Jessica Rowling. Together Neil and Jo had Mackenzie Murray and David Murray.

Caste and Crew of Harry Potter

The Harry Potter series of books has sold over 450 million, making it the most bestselling book series ever. The Harry Potter films have got 7.7 billion at the box office, making it the most successful film series ever.

Yes, that is a perfect match.

Daniel Ratcliffe once said at the Deathly Hallows Part II premier – “I don’t think end of the story happens tonight, because each and every person, not only in the square but also watching around the world who will see this film and who have followed these films over the last 10 years, will carry the story with them through the rest of their lives, and it will affect what they do.”

And yet to this day, people watch and enjoy these films because of its phenomenal cast and spectacular graphics.

After Jo wrote the fourth book – The Goblet of Fire, the movie of the first book – The Philosopher’s Stone, released on 16^th Nov 2001, and resulted in a huge box office success.

 

 

Auditions:

Jo continued writing the books when the films were being shot, but was actively involved in the casting and script writing. After several auditions, the cast was set and introduced; the lead roles included : Daniel Ratcliff as Harry Potter, Emma Watson as Hermoine Granger, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, Matthew Lewis as Nevill Longbottom, Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley, Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy and Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood.

All these actors developed strong emotional bonding with each other as they grew up together on the set of Harry Potter and lived the fantasy over the course of eight films and ten years of magic, under the watchful eyes of three directors and most importantly Joanne Jo Rowling.

Deathly Hallows :

The Final Instalment

We have all heard the saying often enough – “A beautiful journey always leads to an unbelievable ending. “ This was proven right by Jo on July 21^st 2007 when she published the last and final instalment – “The Deathly Hallows”, that made as basis for two movies, The Deathly Hallows Part I, that released on November 11^th 2010 and “The Deathly Hallows Part II”, that released in July 7^th 2011, after the movies of the “Order of the Phoenix” and “The Half Blood Prince”.

Deathly Hallows Part II

At the box office, Part II claimed the world wide opening weekend record, earning $483.2 million, as one of the best reviewed films of 2011. As of 2016, the film is the 8^th highest grossing film of all time. The worldwide premier, were all the stars met to have a meet & greet with the fans and answer questions from the press was a massive success. Over 4 million fans waited over three days with rain pouring down the Trafalgar Square, where it was held to meet their favourite stars.

 

 

Conclusion

Jo’s master brain is still at work as she works on “The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, and “The Cursed Child”, both about the wizarding worlds, as the sales Harry Potter movies and books have had consistent growth over the past five years since the release of “Deathly Hallows Part II”.  The reason is the fans still bear in mind what Joanne said when she dropped the final book – “Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home”.

The Voyager Interstellar Mission by Anvay Das

Welcome to Space

Space, stars, galaxies … and space again. Then the questions, thoughts and ideas. Ideas leading to creation and exploration. Exploration causing discovery.  Then? Then we’re back to questions. The human race is at exploration. Now, we must discover! Discover the secrets of space. For so long, they have been right there, but yet out of our reach. Now, let us dive in.  Straight into the cameras of the Voyagers, two of NASA’s satellites far away in deep space.

What lies beyond

The Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), originally initiated to explore Jupiter, Saturn and their satellites, has now expanded its objective to explore not only Neptune and Uranus, but also the outer limits of the Sun’s sphere of influence, the heliopause and interstellar fields. These added objectives are helping the scientists make new bases for research. This projects has also helped astronomers gather information about the termination shock. The termination shock is where the solar winds start slowing down and leading into the interstellar fields. This project was launched by NASA in 1977, a year with a rare phenomenon that happens every 189 years. Enough general talk! To the Voyagers!

The first goes … second?

Voyager 1 was launched on the 5^th of September 1977 from the Kennedy Space Center. Its mission was to explore Jupiter, Saturn and their satellites. It arrived at Jupiter in March 1979 and at Saturn in November 1980.  It travelled across space to collect information on the satellites, interiors, magnetospheres and atmospheres of planets. It took around 32,000 pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, its rings and their satellites. After completing its main objectives, it didn’t take any more pictures until early 1990 when it took roughly 60 pictures of the Sun and the six planets from “outside our solar system”.  Oh. Wow. That’s great. Can we talk about the second Voyager now? I was just getting there … Sorry. My bad.

 

 Slow and steady … will get you second

Voyager 2 was launched before Voyager 1, but it reached Jupiter four months after Voyager 1. The more you think about it, the more confusing it is. Confused? NASA thought so too. They launched Voyager 2 before Voyager 1 to reduce the gap between their flybys of Jupiter. Here are Voyager 2’s arrival dates:

• Jupiter -  July 1979
• Saturn -  August 1981
• Uranus: - January 1986
• Neptune -  August 1989

Voyager 2 took around 8,000 pictures of Uranus and its satellites and roughly 10,000 pictures of Neptune and its satellites.

GREAT! Did they do anything other than a photoshoot? Yes, they did. Thank you for the cue… again * insert death stare*.

 

 Thought you ought to know

Since some of you might be bored to death by now, here are some fun facts for you! (At least, I think they’re fun…)

• The Voyager 1 reached Interstellar space on 25^th August 2015.
• The Voyager 2 is the longest continuously operated spacecraft.
• Under the cracked, icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, there are indications of an ocean.
• The Voyagers run on plutonium batteries, not on solar panels.
• The Voyager’s trajectories were made by a college graduate.
• Voyager 1’s cameras were damaged after its flyby of Jupiter.

 

A Journey’s End

Do you feel enriched with knowledge? If not, a quote or two out to get your clogs turning.

John Grunsfeld, NASA: “Perhaps some future deep space explorers will catch up with the Voyagers, our first interstellar envoy, and reflect on how this intrepid spacecraft helped enable their journey.”

Carl Sagan (pale blue dot): “Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, every one you ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines. Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”  

Owls by Neeharika Shrivastava

OWLS

Wise old owl lived in an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard: Why can’t we all be like that bird.-Edward Hersey Richard

 

Captivating owls

What makes owls so mysterious to us? They have had a powerful hold on the human imagination across centuries and cultures, appearing as warnings of doom and as symbols of wisdom We think of them flying silently over churchyards, and their eyes seem to glow in the dark. But there’s nothing supernatural about the acute hearing and sight of owls. Far from fearing them, we should appreciate owls as competent predators that hunt mice and other rodents, helping to maintain a balance in nature.

 

Name that owl

 

While most of us have no problem identifying an owl—just look for that round face, sharp, hooked bill, and large eyes—it’s not as easy to distinguish between different kinds of owls. Even scientists have trouble placing some species in the two family groups: barn owls and typical owls. You have to look carefully at their facial disc (for example, all barn owls have a heart-shaped facial disc, whereas typical owls have a round one), their feet, and whether or not they have ear tufts. Look for owls near your home, and see if you can identify local species.

 

Built for night life

 

Everything about an owl’s body makes it the ideal bird for night living. An owl has the best night vision of any animal, and its hearing is nearly as acute.

 

Hearing— Did you know that an owl can hear a mouse stepping on a twig from 75 feet (23 meters) away? Every owl has two huge holes in its skull for ears, along with a facial disc that channels sound into the ear openings. Owl ears don’t look like our ears, but they are incredibly good at picking up sounds.

 

Vision— Animals that are active at night usually have large eyes that let them make use of any available light. With owls, the eyes are so big in comparison to the head that there is little room for eye muscles, meaning owls can’t move their eyes.

 

Feathers— Another important adaptation for owls is silent flight. Where other birds have stiff feathers that make a whooshing sound when they fly, owl feathers have soft edges that allow the birds to fly silently. This is important for owls, as they can swoop down on prey without being heard.

 

Any home will do

 

Owls are often described as opportunists and rarely build their own nests. Instead, they look for the abandoned nests of crows, hawks, or even squirrels, or may use the hollow of a tree. Owls living in treeless areas nest on the ground or underground in existing burrows.

 

Owls Evolution

When you are talking about the evolution of owls, you do need to understand that many aspects of it continue to be highly debated. Plenty of what is out there about owl evolution is only theories. The lack of solid evidence to prove it makes it hard to swallow what is being offered.

 

It is believed that owls derived from various species of birds. In order to survive their bodies evolved to give them better eyesight and a body that was able to live in one environment all year long rather than having to migrate like other species of birds. As a result they where able to continue to become more different from their ancestors as time passed by.

 

Some experts believe that owls were once like the ostrich, with very long legs and living on land. However, they developed a need to fly and so they got shorter. However, their sharp talons didn’t go away, and they were actually enhanced as a way for them to be able to capture their prey.

 

The fact that owls definitely seem to be far more advanced though than other types of birds is important to note. There are plenty of experts that give credit to the evolution process for this. It is no accident that they are well known in society for their wisdom. They have rituals that are very sophisticated in the animal world. Yet they are also able to identify and to problem solve in their surroundings.

 

 Owls in Human Cultures

Throughout history and across many cultures, people have regarded owls with fascination and awe. They have been both feared and venerated, despised and admired, considered wise and foolish, and associated with witchcraft and medicine, the weather, birth and death. Speculation about owls began in earliest folklore, too long ago to date, but passed down by word of mouth over generations.

 

Owls in Japanese Cultures

 

The Symbolism of Owls in Japan

In modern Japanese culture, owls are quite significant. Many Japanese people commonly carry an owl charm, but what does it symbolise?

If you walk around the shops or find yourself on the subway in Japan, you'll often come across cute little plastic owl cell phone ,charm dangles, owl stickers and phone covers, wooden owl figures and owl toys in all shapes and sizes.In Japan, owls bring luck and offer protection from suffering.

 

Some people believe that the different colours and shapes of owls have different influences on the type of power and luck. This is why an enormous variety of owl merchandise and souvenirs can be found in modern Japan.

 

The Changing Symbolism of the Owl in Japan

Well, owls don't only symbolise luck in Japan. In different parts of the country, they have historically been given a variety of other attributions (as a guiding bird and a bird which can predict the weather, for example), but original folktales ascribing these representations seem to have gradually vanished.

 

 

In many areas of Asia the owl has both positive and negative meanings in popular culture. It really depends on the colouring of the owl as well as the species of it. This is very hard to keep track of unless you are from that type of native culture and you have been educated in it since you were a young child.

 

Owls in Greek Cultures

 

In the mythology of ancient Greece, Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, was so impressed by the great eyes and solemn appearance of the owl that, having banished the mischievous crow, she honoured the night bird by making him her favourite among feathered creatures. Athene's bird was a Little Owl. The little owl (Athene noctua) is a bird that lives in the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, Asia (east to Korea), and North Africa.This owl was protected and inhabited the Acropolis in great numbers. It was believed that a magical "inner light" gave owls night vision. As the symbol of Athena, the owl was a protector, accompanying Greek armies to war, and providing ornamental inspiration for their daily lives. If an owl flew over Greek Soldiers before a battle, they took it as a sign of victory. The Little Owl also kept a watchful eye on Athenian trade and commerce from the reverse side of their coins.

 

 Owl and Human Relationship

Humans seem to be fascinated with owls but that only goes so far. They tend to love the look of them and the sounds that they make. The fact that they are often heard but not seen makes it a rare occasion when someone see an owl in the wild. Yet there are plenty of locations out there where the world of the human and the owl collide.

 

This is due to the fact that humans continue to move into the natural habitat of these animals as well as many others. They do so in order to be closer to nature or due to the fact that they can buy land for cheap. Then they complain though about owls in the area and want to get rid of them. They may cut down trees, use netting to keep them axway from structures, and even use poisons.

The hunting of owls is very common as a means of getting them out of the way. Some humans will use traps and then release the owls into a new environment that is far away from the one they happen to be in. You will hear many reports out there of owls being a nuisance.

There are many places though where humans use owls to help them control different needs. For example in areas where people have problems with pigeons or other large flocks of birds, they will introduce a few owls. Since owls are solitary animals they won’t create the large numbers. They also don’t come out during the day or leave behind tons of droppings with acid that can damage property.

 

In a nutshell owls help maintain a balance in nature using their extraordinary flight, vision and hearing. They evolved from ostriches and they do’t migrate. Owls are also in may human cultures such as the Japanese and Greek. The Little Owl was Athena’s favourite bird. Last but not the least owls provide humans but also disturb humans’ daily life.