Siddharth's world of fantasy

mY sElf pOrTrIat

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Wed, 01 May 2013 03:45:00 +0000

My self-portrait ......

OF HERALDIC DEVICES FROM TOLKEIN

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:28:00 +0000

Tolkien went to great depths, in all of his works to improve the finer details of his world. To make his world “believable”, he created near perfect languages, inscriptions, runes. He made maps of the realms, he had created. According to him, believability is one of the key features in all tales - fantasy or not, a key element which most writers miss.

Tolkien was a professor and a writer. But he could also sketch, a talent dwarfed by his writing-skills. He himself dismissed many illustrators who had come up with their own versions of his texts. He himself has left many sketches of his tales.

In his Middle-earth saga, he has written about hundreds of cities and realms in all of Arda. And for many realms he told about, he made special banners/flags, in other words heraldic devices, for them.

This is a descriptive (and exhaustive) list of the realms whose heraldic devices he has drawn:

House of Beren: Men under Beren. From “The Silmarillion”. A successor of the royal house of Bëor ( one of the first men on ME). One of the two main characters of Tolkien’s song “The lay of Lithien”( which is a central piece in many of his works) . He is most known for capturing one of the Silmarils from Melkor’s crown and escape with it

House of Finrod Felagund: Elves under the rule of Finrod. From “The Silmarillion”. Eldest son of Finarfin, of Alqualonde. One of the high-kings of the Noldor. Ruler of the secret realm of Nargothrond. He gave his life for an oath to protect Beren.

Valinor: The realm of the Valar. Valar were the angelic beings sent by Eru (God) to look after Arda. Also known as the Undying lands, this is the place where all immortal beings (Elves) arrive after their “death” in Arda. Only exceptions being the mortals Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. The banner describes the two trees of Valinor, one of the most central concepts of The Sil and LotR.

House of Gil-galad: Elves under the rule of Gil-galad. From “The Silmarillion” and “The Lord of the Rings”. He was the last high-king of the Noldor Elves. He was of the house of Finwe. He played a crucial role in the Last alliance, the battle which led to the first defeat of Sauron.

Numenor: Also called Westernesse. It was a realm established on a huge island separated from Middle-earth. Known as the greatest realm of the Men ever established. A rebellion against the valar lead to the downfall of Numenor, which is accounted in “The Silamrillion” in “Akallabeth”. The faithful Numenoreans established the later realms in Middle-earth, such as Gondor and Anrnor.

House of Elwe: Elwe Singollo, later named Thingol was the King of Doriath, High-King of the Sindar and Lord of Beleriand. He gave rise to the Teleri, the “dark” Elves who did not see the land of Valinor. Elrond, a key figure in The Lord of the Rings, is his direct descendent He is a prominent figure in The Silamrillion.

House of Galadriel: Queen of the woods of Lothlorien . Galadriel was one of the three chief forces of light in The Lord of the Rings, along with Gandalf and Aragorn. She is also the carrier of one of the three Rings, Nenya.

Dol Amroth: One of the Principal cities of Gondor along the coast, in the Third Age. Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth is a key figure in The Return of the King. The banner depicts a ship in the form of a great swan.

Mordor: Lies in the eastern part of Middle-earth. Sauron, the Lord of Mordor, is the chief antagonist and the titular character of The Lord of the Rings. The flag depicts the Red eye of Sauron.

House of Cirdan: Lord of the Falas ( east of the Grey Havens) during much of the First age. Also the chief Shipwright. He was the bearer of one of the three Elven rings, but he gave it to Gandalf the Grey.

The Shire: Located in Eriador, west of Middle-earth. The hobbits live in The Shire. Both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit begin in The Shire, “the land of the little-people.”

Fangorn: Fangorn, also called Treebeard was the most ancient creature in Middle-earth. He was the chief of a race of tree-shepherds called Ents. The forest of Fangorn lay near the Entwash river, north of the Gap of Rohan.

House of Finwe: First High-King of Noldor to lead his people into Valinor. Also, the father of the three principal characters of The Sil: Feanor, Fingolfin and Finarfin.

House of Feanor: One of the main characters of The Silmarillion. Son of Finwe, he was the most gifted in craftsmanship of all the Elves. He made the three jewels ,the Silmarils. And he bequeathed the terrible oath of Feanor upon his sons. Two elements around which the whole of Quenta Silmarillion revolves.

House of Elrond: A key figure in The Lord of the Rings, he is one of the three Elven ring-bearers. He also took part in the battle of the last alliance. The realm of Elrond was in the secret valley of Imladris, in common tongue; Rivendell.

Isengard: Saruman was the head of the Istari, angelic beings who took care of the proceedings in Middle-earth. He turned evil driven bu his lust for the One Ring. He is the secondary antagonist of The Lord of the Rings. He is the Lord of Isengard, and resides in the tower of Orthanc. The white hand of Saruman is the banner of the Uruk-Hai.

Minas Morgul: Once a part of Gondor and named Minas Ithil (Meaning Tower of the moon; and hence the banner) , it was captured by Sauron and turned into the evil dwelling for the Witch-King of Angamr. Also known as the Dead city or the city of the Nazgul. It is one of the most evil dwellings described in the Lord of the Rings.

Gondor: One of the greatest kingdoms of men in Middle-earth during the second and third age. An important location in The Lord of the Rings. The white tree of Gondor, a symbol of the power of the King of Gondor, is described in the banner beneath 7 stars, describing the seven levels of Minas Tirith (the chief city of Gondor).

Rohan: North of Gondor. Another chief location from The Lord of the Rings. The men of Rohan were simple folk who loved the freedom of open plains. Hence, their cities were small and much of the land were green open prairies.

The horses bred in Rohan were the best and all of the soldiers were horse-riders. It is also known as the land of the horse-masters.

Stewards of Gondor: In the third age, the line of Gondorian kings was broken when the King strode off to avenge one of his enemies. He gave his staff to his steward, to rule until he returns. But the King never returned. The stewards looked after the kingdom in the absence of the King, and hence the house of steward was established.

Haradrim: One of the chief allies of Mordor, in The Lord of the Rings. The Haradrim were evil-men who were the sworn-enemies of the realm of Gondor. They rode giant Mumakils (or oliphaunts in the common speech) in wars. The Black Serpent is their symbol.

Angbad: Morgoth was the Lord of Angbad. The original Dark Lord, whose lieutenant was Sauron. He was the Enemy, the greatest threat to Middle-earth there ever was. He sat in his iron fortress of Thangorodrim, in Angbad in northern part of Middle-earth. His banner is black, because darkness is his symbol.

Easterlings: The land of the easterlings is to the east, above Mordor. They are allies of Sauron. Men, corrupted by him.

Durin’s Folk: The only banner Tolkien ever drew for the dwarves. Durin, also known as Durin the Deathless was one of the fathers of the Naugrim, elvish for the stone-folk, referring to the dwarves.

House of Fingolfin: One of the chief characters of the Silmarillion. Fingolfin was one of the mightiest Elves of the Noldor. He ruled the north-west part of Middle-earth; Hithlum

House of Luthien: Luthien was the daughter of Thingol, the King of the Sindar. She is described as the fairest of all beings ever to be born. The Lay of Lithien, a central saga of Tolkien’s legendarium, describes how she and Beren were able to capture one of the Silmarils from Morgoth’s crown.

House of Thranduil: Thranduil was the King of the wood-elves, that dwelt in Mirkwood. He is the father of Legolas Greenleaf, who has prominent role in The Lord of the Rings.

Such exhaustive heraldic devices conceived and played through various literary creations, leave the fans stunned by the sheer majesty of the work.

THE SILMARILLION

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:45:00 +0000

THE SILMARILLION

The Analysis. The Approach.

What is "The Silmarillion"?

The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works,

edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive, though incomplete, narrative that describes the universe of Eä in which are found the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth within which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.

The significance of The Silmarillion

Often referred to as "the Sil" by Tolkien-fans, it is one of the many influential works

of high-fantasy literature by the Professor. Many hard-core JRRT fans consider it to

be his greatest work, better than his most popular "The Lord of the Rings" and "the Hobbit". Tolkien himself considered the Silmarillion to be his most important work, with The Lord of the Rings being acting as a conclusion to the whole Middle-earth saga.The Sil is basically a creation myth and serves as a base for all the events taking place in other works like LOTR and The Hobbit. The Silmarillion covers lore of over six thousands years of Elven, Dwarvish, Nuemenorian, and Middle-earth history. Reading The Silmarillion is a bit more like doing anthropological or historical research. Want to know what is Middle-earth? Curious who and from where the Wizards came? Why are elves immortal while the men or dwarves are not? What are Balrogs? Who is Sauron? How orc came into Middle-earth?

If you are curious about all such things, then The Sil is the book for you.

If not, you should walk away.

How is The Sil different from LotR or The Hobbit?

First of all, it should be noted, that The Silmarillion is NOT a novel. It's a history or mythology or perhaps a mix of both. It has no particular protagonist you can stick out with for the whole. If you read it you would get the feeling of reading very minutely detailed Celtic mythologies. And that's what makes Sil so special. It is a source of enjoyment for the interested Tolkien fans even without having a well-outlined plot.

Secondly, The Sil is a much denser read than LotR or (of course) the Hobbit. The language and style are very much related to archived histories of the 12-13th century. That is one of the main reasons why it has not reached the same level of popularity as the other two

For non-English speaking folks, it could definitely be boring, especially those who go for findinga sequel of LotR. The Sil is NOT a sequel of LotR. It is just the starting point of Tolkien's whole Middle-earth legendarium.

Thirdly, many events and descriptions could be seen as been highly exaggerated. But we have to keep in mind that all mythologies of all the cultures in the whole world are exaggerated results of legends.

While reading Sil, think of it like this way:

Try to imagine that you are in Middle-earth and you are one of the elves or men, or dwarves or hobbits. Think that you are reading the history of the world you belong to. i.e. You are one of the free peoples of Middle-earth and you are reading it's history. That very much is the perspective from which The Sil has been written. And the pleasure of reading it increases several folds by this.

A Brief Synopsys of The Silmarillion

The Sil has been divided mainly into five sections:

Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akkalabeth and Third Age; in chronological order.

Ainulindalë: It tells of how Eru Illuvatar (God) created the land called Ea (earth) with the help of the songs of the Ainur (angels). One of the Ainur (Melkor) gets corrupted by his arrogance and becomes what can be called the antagonist of the Sil (for most part).

Valaquenta: The Ainur are sent by Eru to Ea to shape all things on earth. These Ainur are called Vala. Valaquenta introduces all the Valar, their spouses and the Maia (helpers of the Valar) alongwith their special characteristics

and abilities.

Quenta Silmarillion: Forms the main bulk of the book. It deals with the coming of various races like elves, dwarves, men and orcs on Valinor (land of the Valar) and Middle-earth. The main account follows the creation of the Silamrils, the most precious jewels on Ea, crafted by the greatest craftsmen of the elves, Feanor and the struggle to take them back from Melkor (later named Morgoth, who stole them). It also contains the story of Beren and Luthien, which was produced concisely as a beautiful song in LotR. It culminates after the destruction of Melkor.

Akallabêth: It deals with the events surrounding the land of Numenor, where the great men had established a realm. It tells much of the Dunedain and the first rise and defeat of Sauron, as well as the waning of Nimenoreans.

Of the Rings of power and Third Age: This is a crucial part linking to The Lord of the Rings. It goes into much detail about the making of the great Rings and Sauron's passing into the shadow world, as well as the origins of the Nazguls. It is a great account of the history of the One Ring till Isildur's death.

How to Approach The Sil?

A) Always remember that this work is a history, and NOT a novel. Names, places, events, etc. tend to appear quite often, and it's very easy to get as lost as Thorin and company in Mirkwood. Attempting to skim the book is a very bad idea. Instead, read at a relatively slow pace

(and NEVER when you are feeling sleepy).

B)Take notes as you read. This doesn't mean the kind of notes that you'd make for a test in collegel, but rather important names that you want to keep straight or remember. Perhaps you might make a chart or a list of the Valar, or your own "tree" to keep the various branches of Elves straight.

C) In one of the volumes of The History Of The Lord Of The Rings, Christopher Tolkien explains that his father worked on the manuscript of The Lord Of The Rings in "waves", constantly going back a few chapters and rewriting. This is a technique that I've found works well, especially with remembering exactly which Elf is the son of another Elf, or which Vala did what. This technique works I think, because like a history book each chapter builds material for the consequent chapter.

D) Having a comprehensive map of Ea never hurts, but it is not a necessity.

Influences

The Silmarillion is a complex work exhibiting the influence of many sources. A major influence was the Finnish epic Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo. Influence from Greek mythology is also apparent. The island of Númenor, for example, recalls Atlantis. Tolkien even borrows the name "Atlantis" and reworks it into the Elvish name "Atalantë" for Númenor, thus furthering the idea that his mythology simply extends the history and mythology of the real world.

Greek mythology also colours the Valar, who borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods. The Valar, like the Olympians, live in the world, but on a high mountain, separated from mortals;But the correspondences are only approximate; the Valar also contain elements of Norse mythology.

Several of the Valar have characteristics resembling various Aesir, the gods of Asgard. Thor, for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the physically strongest of the Valar.[28] Manwë, the head of the Valar, exhibits some similarities to Odin, the "All-father". Tolkien also said that he saw the Maia Olórin (Gandalf) as an "Odinic wanderer".

Influence of the Bible and traditional Christian narrative are seen in The Silmarillion in the conflict between Melkor and Eru Ilúvatar, a parallel of the polarity of Lucifer and God. Further, The Silmarillion tells of the creation and fall of the Elves, as Genesis tells of the creation and fall of Man. As with all of Tolkien's works, The Silmarillion allows room for later Christian history, and one version of Tolkien's drafts even has Finrod, a character in The Silmarillion, speculating on the necessity of Eru's (God's) eventual Incarnation to save humankind. Medieval Christian cosmology shows its influence especially in the account of the creation of the universe as the manifestation of a sort of song sung by God with which the angels harmonize until the fallen angel introduces discord. St. Augustine's writings on music, as well as the extensive medieval tradition of the divine harmony—more familiar to us today in the notion of the "music of the spheres"—served as bases for this telling of creation.

Celtic mythology show its influence in the exile of the Noldorin Elves, for example,

that borrow elements from the story of Irish legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Welsh influence is seen in the Elvish language Sindarin, that Tolkien gave "a

linguistic character very like (though not identical with) British-Welsh ... because

it seems to fit the rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers".

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Director: Peter Jackson

Cast: Martin Freeman ( Bilbo Baggins )

Gandalf ( Sir Ian Mckellen )

Thorin ( Richard Armitage )

Gollum ( Andy Serkis )

Ken Stott ( Balin )

Graham Mctavish ( Dwalin)

James Nesbitt ( Bofur )

Aidan Turner ( Kili )

Ian Holm ( old Bilbo Baggins )

With a triumphant return to Middle-earth, Peter Jackson delivers it once again!

It was exactly 11 years ago, when one of the greatest fantasies of all time was brought on the big screen by someone named Peter Jackson. The LOTR series not only went on to become one of the greatest blockbusters ever but also took Jackson to the pinnacle of success.

11 years since, nothing has changed. The Hobbit: An unexpected journey faced many obstacles before finally hitting the screen on 14^th December. Starting with director issues, lawsuits and opposition from animal right activists to the controversial high frame rates and finally the decision to split up the 300 page book into 3 movies.

All these controversies added to the negative reviews that came out initially. Most of these complained especially the HFR and the length of the film.

I viewed the film in 3D 24 fps format and hence cannot comment on the HFR. But one thing is definite that the film is never boring (in fact it’s quite the opposite).

Bilbo Baggins is a traditional hobbit with a distaste for ‘unexpectedness’. On the persistence of Gandalf the wizard, he is whisked off into a quest to reclaim the lost realm of Dwarves, Erebor. What follows is an extraordinary quest full of wolves, goblins, elves and the infamous Gollum. The fight, flight and respite formula introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring is highly effective here. The film also expands our knowledge of Middle-earth. The Shire and Rivendell are shown in much more detail than in LOTR.

Jackson’s ‘God’s eye view’ camera spanning the spectacular landscapes of New Zealand, mesmerizing performances by Freeman ( Bilbo), Mckellen(Gandalf), Serkis (Gollum) and Armitage (Thorin); and the right amount of humour ( which prevents the movie from being a bit shabby) culminates into a worthy prelude to LOTR.

Serkis is truly at his best and provides the best of Gollum. If this performance still doesn’t fetch him an Oscar, then Oscars should be disqualified.

Though with 169 minutes of running time (shorter than all of LOTR films) it covers the exact grandeur of LOTR and it left me wanting for more. The Hobbit is more true to it’s source than LOTR, and that can never be bad ( Some critics have even mentioned their disgust for the movie to be ‘ too true to Tolkien’s book!)

Overall, Jackson’s latest adventure to Middle-earth is as good ( if not better ) than it’s predecessors. I was doubtful about the movie’s pace before, but considering what Jackson has done with only a few chapters of The Hobbit and a lot still to come, the future of The Hobbit series should get even better. It is sad that the next film will arrive almost a year later, and then I will be waiting, hungry for more!

DIRECTION: ****

Director Peter Jackson has mixed the correct proportion of magic, humour and CGI, though some battle sequences need not be in slo-mo.

STORY: *****

Tolkien’s book is regarded as a classic tale. The material added by writers Jackson, Boyens, Walsh and del Toro only enhances the effect. However most of the dwarves lack character development ( which I presume will improve in the following films).

ACTING *****

Martin Freeman is perfect to play Bilbo Baggins and keeps the audience entertained with his comical expressions and slapstick humour. Sir Ian Mckellen, as always plays Gandalf eloquently and should at least be nominated for supporting actor for the Oscars.

Richard Armitage brings majesty and pride to Thorin Oakenshield. But the greatest performance of all is given by Andy Serkis. Gollum never looked this much better in LOTR. Here, we see a more “innocent” Gollum. The scene of the riddles is definitely the best of the movie.

ANIMATION: ***^1/2

The hobbit is full of visual effects and CGI animations. I must agree that Gollum’s look has much improved. However, Jackson’s decision to create CGI orcs may backfire. None of the orcs here ( except for Azog and the Goblin King ) are significant compared to the orcs in LOTR trilogy ( which were actually men in make-up and not CGI). However other animations, like the wargs, the trolls or the Necromancer are really wonderful.

SOUNDTRACK: ***

Howard Shore has won two Oscars for best original soundtrack for two of the LOTR films. But The Hobbit has a relatively less epic soundtrack compared to Shore’s earlier works. Most of the film contains repetition of ‘The Misty Mountains’ track with varying rythms. But the more enchanting ones are those taken from LOTR only.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: ****

The camera crew have done a wonderful job covering the mountains and plains of the Middle-earth we imagined. This film contains more ‘God’s view’ scenes than it’s predecessors.

OVERALL: ****^1/2

VERDICT:

The Hobbit is an enchanting adventure providing a lot for believers as well as non-believers. It is a must for fantasy-film lovers.

Durga Puja - An unique global festival of art ,culture and literature

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:28:00 +0000

The Pandal - the four-day abode of Mother Durga and her siblings

Taj Mahal in the street

Harry Potter's Wizardy School

A temple and a peep at the idols from a distance

Looks like an ancient temple but it's a 4-day make shift art work

All roads lead to Mohammad Ali park - a popular north-Kolkata puja

The giant Ox-head symbolising the Devil Mahisasura

An enchanting but painstakingly made interior of a pandal-I

An enchanting but painstakingly made interior of a pandal-II

A Buddhist Monastery - the home for Hindu Goddess

The famous art of Dhunuchi Dance - a fire dance before the idols in a dancing style (with the beats of Dhak and Kasor - not in the picture)

An usual late evening cultural show

Puja offerings - fruits are cut into pieces

A classical dance show in the evening - part of Puja entertainment for free

Audience at a cultural evening

Devotees just not always inside the pandal to show reverence to Goddess but also to admire the work of art scattered everywhere - someone picking up snap for posterity.

The pandal-hoppers at rush hours in night

Idols are ferried by porters into the transport van

The potters colony and the idols in the making

The two dhaki( drummers) and a kashor-player at the centre playing in front of a pandal gate.

Eyes are getting painted by the potters

I don’t know why the Writers and the Publishers galore and they become one of the focal points in the gala Durga Puja festival spread over five days of beautiful Autumn! I also fail to find logic why atheists in hordes come down to see the Mother power and stealthily offer a silent quick prayer.

The Mother Goddess and her siblings, folklore descend from Himalayas, stay in mythic paternal home amidst the glitter of fantastic newly worn street lightings; loudspeakers at every street corner blare popular songs; and the food stalls with new enthusiast teenage sellers out to earn a few quick bucks and a goodwill for well cooked popular hot jhal Alu-doom with accompanying Luchi , Ghugni served in sal leave, or Biriyani with Kasha-Mansa. Organiser’s booth just always adjacent to the mandap and the occupiers busy in talks as they keep a watch on the crowd that is moving and turn into a sea as midnight approaches. A few moving toy pheriwalas – the foot hawkers – one of them sending out intermittent queer sound by squeezing the skins of full blown balloons and an equally teasing shrill low voice call like a shark’s “b aaaaaaaa looooon” and a noiseless pause and again on a little higher B pitch“bbbbbbbbloonn”. Parents having a trying time to manage parse (somewhat full with Puja Bonuses) amidst so much provocations around to lose money, letting the kids forget hygiene and indulge in the forbidden greed of a foodie that Bengalis are known for. The city of six millions come down on the streets and move from one pandal to another – admire the crafts of artisans who silently worked for three months to a week( depending on Puja Budget) and put up unbelievable show of great art – Themes pandals..

While thousands of artisans across toil to put up fantasy Taj Mahal, a Gwalior Fort or a Dakhineshwar Kali temple, another hundreds and their family of clay artists, give up daily routines to complete the earthen idols. Organizers come down on the eleventh hour with big trucks and tens of helpers and hordes of cheer leaders to pick up the holy idols, now complete with color, ornaments and wearing and weapons.

While the land of kash phools blooms – the flowers announce the arrival of Sarat kal – the Autumn as the drummers:Dhaki and accompanying Kasor cross miles and hit the city streets and organizers gather for a demo and picking up the best at a bargain. Dhang Kur Kur ! Dhang Kur Kur! The beats of the drums and book lovers spread across the globe eagerly put the slippers on for enquiring the arrival of Puja Collections – some call it Sarodiya Collection hinting its arrival with beautiful Autumn nature in its splendour in rural Bengal. Late poet Jibanananda Das’s immortal lines – If I ever return, I wish to live here again in the rural Bengal….that’s the theme so dear to all writers who are rooted to their earth.

As the Mahishasurmardini day – the beginning of Pitri Tarpan -revivrates with the ancient Sanskrit slokas of “Yea Devi Sakti rupeno Sansthita Namastashay Namastashay Namastashay Namay NomoHo” , the writers smile , the publishers smile and the editors go on a long sleep and a vacation - the months of maddening follow up, keeping up with deadlines of first proof, the editor’s scissor cuts, and tackling the request from hundreds of fans who want to be author as well.

In this madness of joy and euphoria, here I present a thorough net-searched few facts about publications - that hit the stand a few days before the Puja and each family decide for a choice of Puja Publication.These are my Puja Freebies to WritersOwnHome members. A puja that all communities and all religions participate so spontaneously while the book stalls spring up - some set up by the Communists ( 150 stalls in Kolkata alone) who dont believe in the existence of God and yet again stalls set up by the religious sects like Bharat Sevashrarm, Ramakrishna Mission et cetra who draw religious inspiration from Shakti puja and mother Goddess. Wish you all my sincere wish for a happy and prosperious Durga Puja festival.

The famous pandal at College Square - reflection in the adjacent lake and the lighting make it look real.

Another pandal - a different look

Ak-chala - a traditional style of single frame idol placement - a happy family and mother - the protector

Modern style of idol making - each idol stand and present a different story

Theme Idols - look like standing inside an alien's living room and hailing from another planet

A Puja theme on a wall

A different style

The gorgeous ornaments

The Indian celebrity film artist is serving big round sweet meat Golabjamun to the guests in the family Durga Puja in Mumbai

Famous Bangla Music Band: Bhoomi hops and trotes from one city to another

Puja brings new Music CD releases

The procession of people from all walks of life as they approach near the famous and popular Puja mandaps

And finally - the spare time for an adda and the reading of new stories and poems in special Puja publications that hit the stand

First, some of the Bengali Online Magazines, many of whose Puja Special Issues one can read online and it is FREE!Some are Bi-lingual and can be enjoyed by a wider audience.Writers Golden Door is Open Here.Write a good article - a short story, a poem , an essay or even a novel. These are stepping stone of getting networked with writers, publishers.

http://www.parabaas.com/ [ one of the oldest mag ]
www.maadhukari.com/ [ bi-monthly ]
www.papyrus.sonartoree.com
http://sonartoree.blogspot.in/ [ interesting cover ]
http://www.kalimatirjhurogalpo.blogspot.in/
[ Jamshedpur old mag now hugely popular]
http://www.sonajhuri.com
http://www.kobitaogaan.com
http://www.shatorupa.com/
http://home.bascweb.org/ [ English – A Puja Organising Committeee in USA]
http://www.batj.org/Anjali.htm
[ Yearly Tokyo Puja Magazine in Bengali, English, Hindi, Japanese by Puja Organising Association]
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com [ Online Mag Section ]
http://www.syandanpatrika.com/ [ Agartala.]
http://in.asmania.org/
http://calcuttans.com/palki/ [ Bengali-English bilingual ]
http://www.ichchhamoti.org/ [ Children’s ]
http://coffeehouseradda.in/
http://diyala.kochiknacha.com/ [ Children’s ]
http://krishnokolee.blogspot.in/
http://www.bengalisinhyderabad.com/kolaj.htm [ Kolaj - Hyderabad's first Bengali magazine ]
http://www.kolkatabengalinfo.com/2012/04/chhelebela-bengali-magazine-online.html [ Chelebela - Online Subscription ]
http://tofudi.com/read/MTI4Njc3NA==/ [ mag KheyaTori ]
http://bengaliatbhopal.blogspot.in/2011/07/joydhak-online-bengali-magazine.html [Joydhak mag ]
www.kaurab.com[ a trend setter and huge fan following ]
www.kallol.com/ [ popular ]
www.banglabiswa.org/doc/BOB-Magazine.pdf [ United States ]
http://www.freewebs.com/khananer_ayojan/
www.littlemag.com/ghosts/antaradevsen5.html
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/puja-sonkhya/
http://www.calcuttayellowpages.com/adver/108702about-anustup.html [anustup mag ]
http://www.kobitaarkalimati.blogspot.in/ [ jamshedpur ]
www.boimela.in/ [ online Card payment]
www.boipara.com [ online booking ]
And the last but not the least - Ogrobeej [ A multi-continental hugely popular subscription based Bengali publication ]

Kolkata Book Fair Little Magazines List 2012 - many of them bring out Durga Puja Special issues. Here is the list.

Here are some of the Bengali hugely popular big scale magazines busy with Puja Editions - A devotee thinks the puja incomplete without managing to get at least one publication at home.

Anandabazar

Anandomela ( Children’s)

Desh

Suktara ( Children’s)

Prasad

Nobokallol

Nonte-Phonte( Children’s)

Sukhi Grihakon – Bangla Bartaman Magazine

Saptahik Bartaman Bengali Magazine

Aajkaal

Sananda

Guruchandali Patrika

Also can check

http://www.porshi.com/running_issue.php [USA]

http://www.guruchandali.com

http://www.bangalinet.com/durgapuja_saradiyapatrika.htm

http://www.bengalspider.com/resources/5459-Sahitya-Bhabna-Attractive-small-Bengali.aspx [Sahitya Bhabna from Asansol ]

http://debaratisblog.blogspot.in/2012/10/touch-of-sharadia.html

A few words about the various little magazines and not so little magazines who are still sticking out their head to announce - We Are Not Dead. Here is a small peek into the world that often is known through words of mouth than big time ads. [ The reference of the details below is from wikipedia ]

# Kabita Campus, New Poetry has begun to gain immense acclaim from the young contemporary poets of Bengal. In 2003 some poets of this genre have started a journal named Natun Kabita . Another new age poetry magazine in the same sphere is Boikhoribhashya..

# Little Magazine Library and Research Centre at Tamer Lane, Kolkata - keep record of any Little Magazine published around the world in Bengali. The publisher has to submit there a copy.

A few other prominent LMs are :-

Meghjanmo, Sanjhbati, Lalon, Joydhak, Nabamanab, Bodhshabdo, VAPRA, Pratishedhak,Abosardanga, Ashtray, Somoyer Shobdo,"ebRo khebRo rong", "resurrection", "duende" and Aahir were prominent in the first decade of millennium..

Also know about the following:-

§ Aadorer Nauka-Bengali little magazine

§ Baundule-Bengali little magazine

§ Aikya-Quarterly Bengali Literary and Cultural Magazine

§ Amritalok-An influential Bengali Literary and Cultural Magazine, Station Road,P.O.-Midnapore 721101 West Bengal

Crimson Feet Magazine - Bimonthly journal for writers and poets from the Indian sub-continent.
Duende - Bengali little magazine.
Ebro Khebro Rong - Bengali little magazine.
Guruchandali - Bengali e-zine
Graffiti - A Bengali little magazine that repeatedly promoted hungrialist movement & literature as well as postmodern literary movement, Graffiti has contributed a remarkable part of it in the field of translation & transcreation literature.
Haowa 49 - Quarterly Bengali Magazine of changing poetry and literary theories.
Joydhak - Quarterly Bengali Magazine for children- www.joydhak.com

§ Kaurab - Perhaps the most influential of the contemporary Bengali little magazines with both online and print editions. www.kaurab.com

§ Kledaja Kusum - an exceptional poetry magazine of West Bengal,10/1 S.B.Roychowdhury Rd. Nimta.Kolkata-700049.-www.kledajakusum.in

§ Kavya Bharati - An annual journal, The Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation .- www.scilet.in

Kritya- A bilingual journal of international poetry.- www.kritya.in
Maadhukari - Online Bengali literary magazine
Natun Kabita - The Bengali little magazine promoting the 'Notun Kobita' or new poetry movement, newest literay movement in Bengali
Nabamanab - Bi-monthly Bengali little magazine edited by Enamul Kabir.
Abosardanga - A contemporary Bengali Little magazine gaining immense popularity
Parabaas - a Bengali literary e-zine
Patrika - Online Bengali literary magazine
Pratishedhak - A new little magazine run by a young group of new-age writers in Kolkata
Purwai - London-based quarterly magazine on Indian languages
Somoyer Shobdo - Kolkata-based Bengali little magazine dedicated to fostering new talents. Edited by Argha Roy and Kumaraditya Sarkar
The Brown Critique - Literary quarterly for Indian writings in English.
The Journal of The Poetry Society (India )
The Little Magazine - English literary magazine
Ultodurbin - Tetra-monthly Bengali little magazine from Kolkata, India.
Utsab - Bengali literary magazine
Kledaja kusum - Quarterly Bengali poetry magazine.http://www.kledajakusum.in
Vapra - Bengali little magazine....
Resurrection - Bengali little magazine....
Purba (ISSN 2229 6344) - a literary and cultural magagine, started publishing from 2005 from Medinipur of west Bengal
Jachhetai-Bengali little magazine.Chinsurah.9339649976,9051329312
The Postcard—Bengali little magazine Quarterly Bangladesh

Keep Reading , Keep Thinking, Keep Writing, Keep Reviewing Others' Writing. :))

Copy right @Siddharth M 2012

Mr Bean - the Phenomena

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:11:00 +0000

Guest Column: Gautam M

Bean Episodes and Bean Movies

Mr Bean is like a fresh breeze from the river and a call to the nature - a desire for a simple life surrounded by simple people like Bean. On the hindsight, Bean is an ailment each one of us carries in our adult full-grown body – a trait of childish idiosyncrasies, in varying degrees. The character that was grown in British downtown, torpedoes British gentlemanliness and poke fun on the erstwhile world colonial ruler's etiquette and customs.

A scene from Bean's Holiday

Bean devises his own world of daily routines – carrying many a utility tools inside his plain coat and is never shy to experiment and pick up a few shillings by dancing on the downtown street or using his drilling machine making a hole big enough in the room next to his in a Hotel, to mischievously access a bathroom, as if a silent dignified (?) rebellion for the hotel offering him a room without an attached bathroom-cum-toilet. Often the modern gadgets play truant to the simple living style of Bean when he brings his first TV at home that relays images when only he is not in front of the TV or again, in the movie Bean, when he kicks and pushes a whole Turkey into the Microwave Cooker that bursts or in another Christmas episode( it’s my favourite too), when Bean loses his wrist watch inside the Turkey’s tummy and then ends up locking his head inside the same to retrieve the watch. The acting is so natural one forgets that it’s an acting but watching someone’s real life like a peep show.

Christmas : A Turkey struck on head

Whatever may be the background that gave the world a character bubbling with life – Bean, the Englishman of contrast - is so popular and his typicality in taking quicker turns to poke at the society where he lives and even poking at himself. That’s a humble man who carries on with his life the way he leads is what raises our brows with Ohhs! The style of this performer was inspired by Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati.

BACKGROUND : ORIGIN OF THE CHARACTER

The character was first tried and tested by the actor in 1979 in a Montreal Laughter Show, Canada where he wanted to present the English act before the French audience and to get a feel how the play would be received by non-English speaking audience. The response was good. And Mr Atkinson went on to sculpt Mr Bean – the character is Mr Atkinson’s baby though the scripts that we equally adore are mostly written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton(one episode). These names of script writers are worth a note of thanks from the Bean fans as well. What came out as a creative product that will become an all-time asset of a civilization - compassion, kindness, equality and struggle for survival as a hotly misused terminology? Bean, is the balm in this highly polarized and highly divisive world where equity, justice, money power and muscle power – all go hand in hand while Bean, the hapless,brings fresh air and poke funs at our own miseries.

Mr Bean in bed with only companion of life : a doll

MR BEAN CHARACTER TRAITS AND RECOLLECTION

Bean plays like a buffoon or a super-intelligence guy with his subtle tricks to let hell break loose in an fair or visiting a exhibition that has a shop offering a prize bet for throwing soaked sponge to hit the target: an old man’s protruded head, and the failed frustrated thrower loses his temper and begin picking up and throwing hard objects on display, targeting the anxious face just to win the bet – the sore point of betting competitions that make man insane; or yet in another movie, changing the speed level to high during a thrill ride in a fair as Bean needs much higher and faster levels of adventure or else he dozes off while co-passengers cheer and celebrate. An alien streak in Bean and the super intelligence which he keeps under wrap and leads an ordinary life.

In the episode The curse of Mr. Bean, Bean displays his liking to be a self-doer than a buyer of services and makes a sandwich sitting on a roadside bench where another gentleman was eating his ready-made sandwich. And Bean as usual, always likes to compete and display his queer innovative instinct in using a scissor to cut bread, socks for grinding vegetables inside and the shoes for smashing the leaves and making way into two bread slices to make his own sandwich. Perhaps, a silent protest against the mechanization of life with all ready-meals and time saving mechanized devises. Bean is just a next-door law abiding citizen who often becomes a law-forgetting citizen like a child. And, he never suffers from guilt, for doing all kind of silly mischief in the world and try to hoodwink the law at times. No wonder, Bean has majestically entered the dining rooms of the families where people can always try and discover some inner traits that we suppress in the common interest of the society, but often suffocate with too much rules chaining people and their lives and they are not yet free in a “free” society.

Mr Bean and a gentleman in a park:eating sandwich

Bean making a strange sandwich!

ACTING DISABILITY

Very few Bean fans knows about the speech deformities of Mr. Atkinson and the resulting inability to speak fluently. The speech weakness, this great man made his strength and an acting style evolved with total reliance on physical comedy with very few words spoken by Bean– even if he speaks he speaks very slowly.

“What’s your name, sir?”

A pause and then “BBBean …”( The B pronounced louder always) and a smile.

CAMERA ACTION

We raise a toast here for this great creator of character and the performer - Sir Rowan Atkinson, and the team of of co-writers for gifting a series that will remain etched as a pride possession in many home archives – the champion of simplicity and raw goodness…dropped like a flash of light on earth …CAMERA:ACTION: ….Mr Bean stands up and walks….

Bean, Christmas shopping and returning home driving car from roof!

The Hobbit of Tolkein

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:29:00 +0000

Reviewer: Siddharth

[ I am a teenager school going artist; I love to draws cartoons, writes poems on occasions and an avid reader of Sunil Gangopadhaya's Kakababu series, Satyajit Ray's Feluda series, Tolkein's LOTR-Hobbit Series and many more. But above all, I am a Tolkein fan. Join me to celebrate the launch of Hobbit with my book review of the same name.]

In the years gone by, till the 1920s, the world of English literature knew very few stories intended for young teenagers. There were many fairy tales for young kids, and a lot more for the older generations, but books for this reader group were far and few.

And it is at this phase of scarcity of novels, that J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the pioneers of modern fantasy novels, stepped forth.

Though The Hobbit was not his first book ( the earlier being Silmarillion, which was published much later), it was the creation which identified Tolkien as one of the distinguished writers of his time.

HISTORY

In early 1930s, Tolkien was pursuing a career in Oxford with a fellowship at Pembroke College. At that time , two of his poems had been published in small collections Goblin Feet and The Cat and the Fiddle: A Nursery Rhyme Undone and its Scandalous Secret Unlocked. By this time he had started his work on a new language, Elvish.

According to Tolkien, in early 1930s one day, when he was marking school certificate papers, he found a blank page. It suddenly came to his mind, what was to become The Hobbit’s first lines ‘ In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ He had completed the story by ’32 and lent the manuscript to friends and members of his writer’s group, including C.S. Lewis.

Cover of The Hobbit first edition ( designed by Tolkien himself)

One of these friends, Elaine Griffiths lent the book to Susan Dagnall, a staff of the publishing house, George Allen and Unwin. She was impressed by it and gave the book to Stanley Unwin. Stanley Unwin gave the book to his 10 year old son for reviewing. His son liked it very much and thus the book finally hit the markets on 21st September 1937.

OVERVIEW

The Hobbit is often considered as an introduction to Tolkien’s fictional ‘middle-earth’ and a prelude to Tolkien’s more famous work the Lord of the Rings.

In the fantasy world of Middle-earth, Tolkien has created many parallelisms with the 'real' world. Familiar human traits, both good and evil, thrives in the actions of the hobbits, elves, dwarves, goblins, wizards, dragons, and other more unusual inhabitants of this world. Tolkien himself goes on stating that such stories are important to understand and to get a clear vision of the real times we live in. While the adventure is an entertaining, well-constructed narrative, it is also an appreciation of the simplicity of life—good and regular meals, comfortable homes, songs and traditions, and the joys of companionship. In The Hobbit an unlikely hero learns that courage, honesty, and ingenuity counts far more than physical strength.

A map of middle-earth, drawn by Tolkien for The Hobbit

Much of the evil that the forces of good must overcome in Middle-earth are fantastic beings: an all powerful dragon, dumb trolls, cruel goblins, and horrific giant spiders. The kind of evil that they represent, especially greed and vengeance, is quite familiar to all readers. It also shows how malicious evil can be, by luring the leader of the dwarves Thorin to fall in greed and in the process almost destroy his companions. It is Bilbo's carelessness for treasure and his desire to “ have a puff of smoke inside his home”, combined with his sense of duty , that unites the protagonists against a common enemy.

SETTING

The story begins and ends in The Shire, in the Village of Hobbiton, a fictional place which resembles a medieval village unspoiled by modern inventions. In one major way Hobbiton differs from a real world village, even one in the Middle Ages: it is inhabited by hobbits, creatures shorter than even dwarves who prefer to live in hobbit-holes rather than in houses above ground. Geographically, Middle-earth resembles modern earth, with its terrain, seasons, and natural beauty. It is the inhabitants of Middle-earth who add the touch of fantasy.

THE CHARACTERS

Bilbo Baggins:

He is the main protagonist and the title character. It is mainly due to his simplicity that he defeats greed which ensnares the companions in his quest. Also Tolkien found his ideal hero in Bilbo. Bilbo is a hobbit and thus much shorter than humans, elves, goblins and dragons. But Bilbo manages to complete his quest not by his physical strength, but by his courage and cleverness. He is easily identifiable with the common man, as he loves food, drinks and security and his home.

2. Gandalf:

Gandalf is one of the most mysterious characters of The Hobbit. At the start of the story, he literally appears out of thin air, and frequently vanishes during the quest only to return at times of peril. A very powerful wizard, he is the chief instigator of the quest and almost forces Bilbo to join the company.

Gandalf is both inspiring and reckless at times. And obviously, he is an unshakable wall against evil, and yet he seems to have an almost godlike knowledge of every place in the world.
Gandalf can be viewed as a stereotypic figure of a fantasy wizard, long beard, gleamy eyes, pointed hat on the head and staff in the hand. However what separates Gandalf from the rest of the characters is his all knowing wisdom along with a good sense of humour.

3. The Dwarves

Thorin Oakenshield: He is the royalty, the leader of the quest, the chief of the dwarves.
His character is simply defined by two words: arrogant and greedy. He first dejects Bilbo as an unwanted burden. However as the story unfolds, His attitude towards Bilbo changes and they develop a good friendship.
Fili and Kili: They are the youngest dwarves in the company and like jests.
Oin and Gloin: Both are elder dwarves. Gloin is the father of Gimli, one of the protagonists in The lord of the Rings.
Dwalin and Balin: Balin is the cousin of Gimli and is the eldest of all the dwarves in the company.
Ori, Dori and Nori: They are siblings are relatively minor characters in the book.
Bifur Bofur and Bombur: Bifur and Bofur too are minor characters. However, Bombur has a significant role. He is excessively fat and lazy and creates several hardships for his companions.

4. Smaug: The main villain. He is a dragon several thousands of years old. He guards what was once a house of treasure owned by Thorin’s ancestors. Tolkien gave him humane characteristics. Unlike in most stories, Smaug can speak, and is very shrewd as well as clever. It is this treasure, that the dwarves set to retrieve.

5. Gollum:

An immortal character created by Tolkien. Though in this book he is mainly depicted as a villain, however in Lord of the Rings, he is shown with much more sympathy. In this book, Gollum’s origins are not mentioned. He is present in only one chapter of the book, which is the turning point of the whole story. Bilbo encounters him in an underground cave and gets into a battle of words with him. It is here, that Bilbo retrieves The One Ring, the central theme of The Lord of the Rings..

Bard of Esgaroth: He is another mysterious character. He is one of the heroes as he slays the dragon Smaug. Later, he becomes the King of Dale and helps the dwarves in the battle of five armies.

Minor Characters:

There are several minor heroes and villains including the Chief Orc, The King of Wood-elves, Beorn ( a shape-shifter),trolls, wargs and eagles which play influential roles in the story.

THE PLOT:

I won’t give up the whole plot as it may spoil the read for those who haven’t read The Hobbit yet. The Plot begins like this:

Bilbo Baggins is a traditional hobbit, who likes the uneventful ways of his life and hates adventures. One day, a mysterious wizard, Gandalf arrives at his door and tells him of an opportunity to go on an adventure. At first Bilbo dismisses the idea. The next day, due to Gandalf’s handiwork a band of dwarves along with Bilbo arrive at Bilbo’s home for dinner.

Bilbo is forced to please the guests. After dinner, the dwarves begin a conversation about a treasure and the inclusion of Bilbo in the quest as a burglar. Bilbo denies the offer, but when the dwarves speak of his cowardice, Bilbo joins the party. The leader of the dwarves is Thorin oakenshield, a royal dwarf. According to him, several years ago a dragon named Smaug had attacked the kingdom of his forefathers and hence captured it. Now, Smaug guards the same treasure. The thirteen dwarves are on a quest to retrieve that treasure.

The next day the company set off for the quest with Bilbo regretting his decision. What follows is a magical adventure through several different regions with a wide variety of characters and situations which include the heavenly abode of Rivendell, the Misty mountains, Mirkwood forests, The city of Dale and Iron hills.

SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

Although there is violence in several sections of The Hobbit, it does not become central to the plot. Both the trolls and the giant spiders talk of eating the dwarves, but no reader expects them to succeed. The emphasis is on the comic aspects of the two rescue scenes. Tolkien's sense of poetic justice turns the quarrelsome trolls to stone and has the stinging spiders wounded by Bilbo's newly named sword, Sting. In the first attack by the goblins the magic of Gandalf's wand and sword take priority over the killing of goblins. In relating the final fight with the goblins, the great Battle of Five Armies, the narrator calls it 'a terrible battle,' the 'most dreadful of Bilbo's experiences,' but he does not show much of the fighting as Bilbo himself is knocked unconscious by a falling stone.

In most fantasy tales, the forces of good and evil are expected to enter into physical as well as psychological conflict. Some amount of violence is, therefore, essential to the plot, but the author does not overdevelop this element. The three heroes of the book—Bilbo, Gandalf, and Bard—all stand out in their efforts to prevent internal fighting among the groups that represent the 'good': dwarves, elves, and men. At the end the alliance of the forces of good in mutual support allows them to defeat the forces of evil.

AWARDS AND ADAPTATIONS:

On first publication in October 1937, The Hobbit was met with almost unanimously favourable reviews from publications both in the UK and the US, including The Times, Catholic World and The New York Post. C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien (and later author of The Chronicles of Narnia between 1949–1964), writing in The Times reports:
The truth is that in this book a number of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar's with the poet's grasp of mythology... The professor has the air of inventing nothing. He has studied trolls and dragons at first hand and describes them with that fidelity that is worth oceans of glib "originality."
Lewis compares the book to Alice in Wonderland in that both children and adults may find different things to enjoy in it, and places it alongside Flatland, Phantastes, and The Wind in the Willows. W. H. Auden, in his review of the sequel The Fellowship of the Ring calls The Hobbit "one of the best children's stories of this century".
The Hobbit was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction of the year (1938). More recently, the book has been recognized as "Most Important 20th-Century Novel (for Older Readers)" in the Children's Books of the Century poll in Books for Keeps.

The first motion picture adaptation of The Hobbit, a 12-minute film of cartoon stills, was commissioned from Gene Deitch by William L. Snyder.
The BBC Radio 4 series The Hobbit radio drama was an adaptation by Michael Kilgarriff, broadcast in eight parts (four hours in total) from September to November 1968.
The Hobbit, an animated version of the story produced by Rankin/Bass, debuted as a television movie in the United States in 1977. In 1978, Romeo Muller won a Peabody Award for his teleplay for The Hobbit. The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to Star Wars.

Presently, Peter Jackson, the director of the hugely successful Lord of the Rings series is directing a three part Hobbit movie. The First movie, The Hobbit: An unexpected journey is set to release on 14th December, 2012. All Hobbit fans are eagerly waiting the release with fingers crossed.

The LOTR vs HP

noreply@blogger.com (gm) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:22:00 +0000

Reviewer: Siddharth Maitra

When J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was published, it immediately achieved the highest standard of fantasy in the mid-1950s. Every fantasy novel that has been published since owes something to it; in some the influence is quite clear, and in some a little less. But since 1998 ,J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books came as a new challenger for the LOTR. Figures say it all. Over 400 million copies sold and translated into 67 languages, they are clearly the most sold fantasy novels ever written. Vastly different stories they may be, but the competition is yet valid.

Though everyone has different tastes and perspectives, the following is an unbiased, detailed comparison.

The comparison is divided into six sections:
1. Story
2. World
3. Characters
4. Language
5. Originality
6. Special

In each category the two series have been given marks out of 10.

1.STORY

The LOTR is widely considered as an epic while the Harry Potter books are an epitome for children-literature. The story of both the series is quite similar: an orphan boy/hobbit who has been entrusted with the task to destroy the Dark Lord of their time ( Voldemort in HP and Sauron in LOTR). However, there are innumerable unexpected twists and turns in both of them.

Tolkien had a lot of experience as a war veteran in World War I as a result of which he crated the middle-earth and wrote the battle sequences so well. However, LOTR is based more on descriptive passages than conversation which may make the series look a little slackened at the middle. The LOTR series begins with an usual story. Four hobbits must take the One Ring to Rivendell and escape the Ringwraiths at any costs. However, as the novel broadens, the plot thickens into an impossible quest: to destroy the One Ring by entering the very country of Sauron-Mordor. The number of characters, as well, increase from four to more than twenty! After various adventures, escapades and some gruesome battles the reader meets the most unexpected twist at the very end!

The HP series starts off as the muggle orphan Harry enters the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Here he learns how his family was killed by the Dark Lord Voldemort. The subsequent books saw the introduction of various enchanting spells, creatures and of course magic. However the tone of the story became darker from the fourth book and onwards. However, J.K. Rowling’s flaws in the plot led to a lot of loose ends in the 5th and 6th books where she tried to broaden the plot, which however she explained in the last - 7th book. Each book can be considered as separate as each book consists of a similar pattern and different story: Some new creatures and some new spells and at the end a confrontation with Voldemort or his servants in any form. In overall, both the stories, though have some noticable flaws in the plot, nevertheless are quite excellent. My rating on story line comparison would be:-
Harry Potter : 9/10
The Lord of the Rings: 9/10

2. WORLD

The Harry Potter stories are so lively (and that’s why popular) largely because they take place in a world very like our own. However, LOTR takes place in Middle-earth, is similar to the world we KNEW, but still is hugely different. In fact, it is Middle-earth that makes LOTR so enjoyable: the races, the valleys, the rivers the mountains, the kings and queens and elves and dwarves and especially the race we know as Hobbits. Also, Tolkien drew a very detailed map of Middle-earth. So if you lost your path in the novel you can check up the map! In short, it is the richness and the vastness of the world that is the biggest reason for the story’s success; while the Harry Potter stories have a very easy to understand world, and one that therefore is very much easier to pretend you are a part of. But as whatsoever be Mr. Potter’s world, it pales against the richness of Middle-earth. My pick would definietely be LOTR – the rating is:-
Harry Potter: 7/10
The Lord of the Rings: 10/10

3.CHARACTERS

The protagonist::
Frodo Baggins, the main protagonist of LOTR is a 51 year old hobbit when he leaves to destroy the Ring. In no way imaginable is he like an ideal hero: he is shorter than a dwarf (as most hobbits are), much weaker physically than the other protagonists like Gandalf, Samwies, Merry, Pippin etc. His foremost quality is his mental strength, his determination and his purity and resistance to the power of the One Ring. Though Tolkien has presented the inner conflict of Frodo very brilliantly, the character of Frodo remains two-dimensional.

Harry Potter is an 11 year old boy when the first HP book sets off. The HP series is more about the coming of age of Harry and his efforts to destroy Voldemmort. His main qualities are bravery, determination and his love for his friends - Rowlings’ foremost developed character. Harry’s inner conflicts, anxieties, emotions all are brilliantly showcased and he appears more as a three-dimensional figure to the reader. My thums up for Harry Potter:-

Frodo Baggins: 6/10
Harry Potter : 8.5/10

Sidekick:

Samwise Gamgee is Frodo’s entrusted sidekick in LOTR. He has all the qualities of a hero: he is dead loyal, very brave, strong, skilled in combat (he defeated a giant spider once). But these are not the qualities that make Sam as an interesting figure. He is one of the characters who appears quite ‘human’ to the reader. According to Tolkien, Sam’s character was based on country farmers who are simpletons but are brave too when they need to be. In the fierce enemy field far away from village, Sam longs for his house in The Shire, the garden he tends to, the woods he loves, the country fruits even when death is looking into his eyes. Thus, Samwise Gamgee is one of the crafty creations of the highest order in LOTR.

Ronald Weasely or Ron,is Harry’s best friend. He is depicted as a goofy, cowering and sometimes jealous wizard grown in one of the most ancient but poor families of the wizard world. Though Ron’s character is moulded effectively but it does not makes any long-lasting impression on the reader.
Samwise Gamgee: 8/10
Ronald Weasely: 6.5/10

The Wizard:
Gandalf and Dumbledore!

It is the clash of the titans. Both are my favourite characters in the respective series.
Gandalf is a member of the Istari and is perhaps 2000 years old when LOTR starts. However even after he dies while fighting with a Balrog, a giant monster, he gets resurrected, which is why he becomes less humane.

Dumbledore however, only about 250 years old is a little more complex character than Gandalf. He is mysterious, powerful and never reappears after his death. Thus Dumbledore has a slight edge over Gandalf, on parameter of believability.

Gandalf: 8/10
Dumbledore: 8.5/10

Overall , above scores make HP having an edge over LOTR.

Harry Potter: 23.5/30
The Lord of the Rings: 22/30

3. LANGUAGE:

In this section, Tolkien obviously wins. He was a master philologist (study of languages) and a mature and renowned author. The descriptive passages of LOTR make the reader visualise the surroundings easily and thus makes us comfortable with it. In addition he composed numerous wonderful poems and songs in English as well as in other tongues throughout the novel. In addition to this, Tolkien has created a whole new language and a history for middle-earth! This achievement cannot be surpassed by many celebrated authors of human history.

Rowling’s language is ordinary which is why, the HP series is not considered as a classic literature. One of the main criticism HP faced was it’s easy language.

Harry Potter: 5.5/10
The Lord of the Rings: 8/10

5 ORIGINALITY:

Originality is one such factor in which LOTR clearly has an upper hand. It is claimed that LOTR, which was published back in the 1950s, has influenced each and every fantasy published since in one way or another. Tolkien derived some of the ideas he used in LOTR and the prequel The Hobbit from old Finnish legends like the Kalevala.

HP on the other hand has been influenced a lot by LOTR, whether Rowlings admits it or not. No doubt, the concept of a wizard world and a school of wizardry is unique but after these, HP’s uniqueness fades. But HP is not only influenced by LOTR, but after viewing the following paras, you’ll agree that a lot is copied from LOTR itself.

1. Harry Potter is an orphan who is raised by his uncle Vernon. Frodo Baggins is an orphan raised by his uncle Bilbo.

2.Description of Sauron and Voldemort are similar: they are the Dark Lords of their time, who were defeated once but still live on as a shapeless spirit.

3.Cloaked beings whose presence instills fear:
Nazguls in LOTR
Death Eaters and Dementors in HP

4.Harry is attacked by giant spiders in The chamber of secrets.
Frodo and Sam encounter a giant spider in The Two Towers (LOTR book II)
The idea may have been taken from Tolkien’s other work The Hobbit, where Frodo’s uncle Bilbo has to fight off hundreds of giant spiders.

5.Both Frodo and Harry have a gangrel creature at their service-
Dobby in service of Harry and Gollum in the service of Frodo.

6.In both, there are objects which have to be destroyed in order to destroy The Dark Lord- horcruxes in HP and the One Ring in LOTR.

7. Description of Gandalf and Dumbledore are very similar.
Both are wise, very aged, have long white beard, are one of the most powerful wizards of their time, one of the key protagonists.

8. Both HP and LOTR contain an antagonist with the prefix ‘Worm’:
Wormtongue in LOTR and Wormtail in HP.

9. Both stories involve a basin in which one can see the past.

Thus on the basis of the comparison, we see that LOTR influences other novels while HP itself is influenced.

The Lord of the Rings: 9/10
Harry Potter: 6.5/10

SERIES/ STORY/ WORLD/ CHARACTERS/LANGUAGE/ORIGINALITY/OVERALL

LOTR 09/10/ 22/08/09/ 58/70

HP 09/07/ 23.5/5.5/6.5/ 51.5/70

CONCLUSION:

Harry Potter is a cleverly written, well-developed series, but The Lord of the Rings, due to it’s uniqueness and ingeniousness of Tolkien, is an epic which will withstand the test of time.