Joanne Katherine Rowling is the author of the best selling Harry Potter series and has taken the world of fiction by storm. When asked what was it that inspired her to write the Potter series, the millionaire novelist replied by saying that a matured picture of Harry just came to her mind! The Potter series initially was targeted to capture the imagination of young minds, but surprisingly it became just as popular with the older generation as the younger one. The author has another feather to add to her literary cap….the word ‘Muggle’ (meaning non magical people) has recently been added to the Oxford dictionary. Six books have been written till date and the fans are eagerly waiting for the seventh one. The books focus on Harry Potter, an orphan, who lives with muggles and suddenly discovers that he is no ordinary boy, but a wizard. The books take you through the life of Harry Potter as he meets interesting and dangerous people as well as creatures. Creatures like dragons, goblins and elves come to life in this enchanting and enthralling series. So then, are we, the students of NITHAM magical wizards or mere muggles? That remains to be seen….
For the students of NIT Hamirpur, the first train journey is always a memorable one. The would be freshers can be found thinking pensively aboard the Una- Himachal express which departs from platform 10, Old Delhi station at 2310 hrs. The sophomores, pre-final and final year students can be found laughing, singing and talking excitedly about the varied experiences in the holidays. A similar scenario can be found in the magical world as well. The Hogwarts express leaves Kings Cross station at 1000 hrs departing from the magical 93/4 platform under similar circumstances. As the Una express comes to a halt in the quiet, neat and lonely Una station, the Hogwarts express terminates in Hogsmede. Refreshments aboard the Hogwarts Express are taken care of by the witch with the trolley. We NITians , however have to settle for Una dhabhas(beware of the spicy gobi!).The young wizards are transported to the Hogwarts castle by invisible creatures called thestrals. Well, the students of NIT need to be contended with cab drivers playing (ahem!) interesting Punjabi songs. It is a competitive world out there with all of us aiming for the top. All of us have undergone rigorous examinations to get into NIT, not to mention AIEEE and the tedious registration process. Students are then allotted various branches. All this is taken care of by the sorting hat in the magical world. Young wizarding minds are sorted into houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin) based upon their capabilities by the talking sorting hat. This is followed by the grand banquet consisting of varied dishes, but as NITians, Rajmah Chawal is our best bet. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts usually delivers the welcoming speech. This is done by the worthy Director during the orientation of the freshers. Students of Hogwarts look forward to the precious seven years ahead and similarly the students of NITHAM look forward to their engineering life.
For the first few days (for the freshers), Kailash Boys Hostel is a maze with its mind boggling hallways and staircases. One would climb down two flights of stairs from the ground level and find himself again at level zero! Same is the case with the young witches and wizards of Hogwarts who find it difficult to maneuver through the spiraling stairways and fake doors in the Hogwarts castle. As the year progresses on, students of both communities (magical and muggle) come across various illuminating and creative characters. There are also these imaginary swimming pools that exist only in the NITs’ Marauders map and signboards that lead absolutely nowhere ( like the one near juice bar pointing towards the ‘Library’).Surprising, there is a lot of similarity in the type of teachers in both the worlds. They usually come in three varieties i.e the good, the bad and the ugly. From Mad Eye Moodys with affinity towards pdf files to men with weird suitcases to women who move cheese all the time, these people truly transcend dimensions. These inmates seem to be running the asylum. As the year progresses, we come across various subjects like the history of magic with extremely boring teachers. Not to mention the dementors that suck out all the happiness out of the air. There are also these unforgivable curses. The first one is the Avada Kedavra(death curse) which translates to getting a year back. Next is the Cruciatus curse (a curse that makes you suffer a lot) which means a supplementary in a subject. Finally there is the Imperious curse (a curse that is used to control people).Well now….we are indeed restrained both by our parents as well as out teachers to some extent.
The students of Hogwarts spend their free time strolling on the grounds or by taking a quiet walk alongside the lake (which has a giant squid!). In the muggle world also people can be found going for long and pleasurable walks. A game called “Quidditch” is very popular among the magical community. It is a game in which everyone flies on broomsticks such as the ‘Nimbus 2000’ or ‘The Firebolt’. The game has seven players on each side. It has three chasers, two beaters, one seeker and one keeper. The three chasers constantly pass the ‘quaffle’ (similar to a flattened ball) and score , the two beaters constantly try knock the players off their brooms. The keeper has to prevent the chasers from scoring. The game usually ends when the seeker catches the golden snitch (a tiny fast flying golden ball) and the team with more points wins. We the muggles need not get disappointed. We have Counterstrike to boast about which is a rave in most of the hostels. Its a game in which two teams (terrorists and counter terrorists) battle it out between themselves. Each arena has two bomb sites ‘A’ and ‘B’ where the terrorists can plant their bomb. It is up to the counter terrorists to prevent the terrorists from fulfilling their objectives by eliminating them. If one is not careful he could be a victim of a dangerous ‘headshot’ from interesting characters like ‘Expect Mercy’! With varieties of arenas such as the dust, nuke, aztec(just to name a few) and a wide range of guns like the nitehawk, maverick, AK47, counter strike truly is the ‘Quiddich ’ of the muggle world. Apart from this, there is also the Triwizard Tournament (sports meet, Nimbus and Hill ‘Ffair) in which students enjoy and participate actively.
Days turn into months and months swiftly into years. A fresher ends up in the final year before he knows it! Its time to give the O.W.Ls’(Ordinary Wizarding levels) and NEWT(Nasty and exhausting wizarding tests) which translates to placements and interviews which everyone eventually has to face. Every final year student certainly wishes that he/she had a ‘time turner’ so that he/she can go back to the past and re-live those glorious four years of engineering life with his/her friends. Its time for the young witches and wizards of NIT Hamirpur to go out to the real world to prove themselves and face the challenges the world outside throws at us. So then, are we witches or wizards? After having numerous magical, wonderful and memorable experiences in the college, the answer would definitely be YES! We are indeed witches and wizards with the experience and the determination to succeed in everything we do. All the best to all in the magical community (and muggles) out there, the worlds are ours to conquer!
For the students of NIT Hamirpur, the first train journey is always a memorable one. The would be freshers can be found thinking pensively aboard the Una- Himachal express which departs from platform 10, Old Delhi station at 2310 hrs. The sophomores, pre-final and final year students can be found laughing, singing and talking excitedly about the varied experiences in the holidays. A similar scenario can be found in the magical world as well. The Hogwarts express leaves Kings Cross station at 1000 hrs departing from the magical 93/4 platform under similar circumstances. As the Una express comes to a halt in the quiet, neat and lonely Una station, the Hogwarts express terminates in Hogsmede. Refreshments aboard the Hogwarts Express are taken care of by the witch with the trolley. We NITians , however have to settle for Una dhabhas(beware of the spicy gobi!).The young wizards are transported to the Hogwarts castle by invisible creatures called thestrals. Well, the students of NIT need to be contended with cab drivers playing (ahem!) interesting Punjabi songs. It is a competitive world out there with all of us aiming for the top. All of us have undergone rigorous examinations to get into NIT, not to mention AIEEE and the tedious registration process. Students are then allotted various branches. All this is taken care of by the sorting hat in the magical world. Young wizarding minds are sorted into houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin) based upon their capabilities by the talking sorting hat. This is followed by the grand banquet consisting of varied dishes, but as NITians, Rajmah Chawal is our best bet. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts usually delivers the welcoming speech. This is done by the worthy Director during the orientation of the freshers. Students of Hogwarts look forward to the precious seven years ahead and similarly the students of NITHAM look forward to their engineering life.
For the first few days (for the freshers), Kailash Boys Hostel is a maze with its mind boggling hallways and staircases. One would climb down two flights of stairs from the ground level and find himself again at level zero! Same is the case with the young witches and wizards of Hogwarts who find it difficult to maneuver through the spiraling stairways and fake doors in the Hogwarts castle. As the year progresses on, students of both communities (magical and muggle) come across various illuminating and creative characters. There are also these imaginary swimming pools that exist only in the NITs’ Marauders map and signboards that lead absolutely nowhere ( like the one near juice bar pointing towards the ‘Library’).Surprising, there is a lot of similarity in the type of teachers in both the worlds. They usually come in three varieties i.e the good, the bad and the ugly. From Mad Eye Moodys with affinity towards pdf files to men with weird suitcases to women who move cheese all the time, these people truly transcend dimensions. These inmates seem to be running the asylum. As the year progresses, we come across various subjects like the history of magic with extremely boring teachers. Not to mention the dementors that suck out all the happiness out of the air. There are also these unforgivable curses. The first one is the Avada Kedavra(death curse) which translates to getting a year back. Next is the Cruciatus curse (a curse that makes you suffer a lot) which means a supplementary in a subject. Finally there is the Imperious curse (a curse that is used to control people).Well now….we are indeed restrained both by our parents as well as out teachers to some extent.
The students of Hogwarts spend their free time strolling on the grounds or by taking a quiet walk alongside the lake (which has a giant squid!). In the muggle world also people can be found going for long and pleasurable walks. A game called “Quidditch” is very popular among the magical community. It is a game in which everyone flies on broomsticks such as the ‘Nimbus 2000’ or ‘The Firebolt’. The game has seven players on each side. It has three chasers, two beaters, one seeker and one keeper. The three chasers constantly pass the ‘quaffle’ (similar to a flattened ball) and score , the two beaters constantly try knock the players off their brooms. The keeper has to prevent the chasers from scoring. The game usually ends when the seeker catches the golden snitch (a tiny fast flying golden ball) and the team with more points wins. We the muggles need not get disappointed. We have Counterstrike to boast about which is a rave in most of the hostels. Its a game in which two teams (terrorists and counter terrorists) battle it out between themselves. Each arena has two bomb sites ‘A’ and ‘B’ where the terrorists can plant their bomb. It is up to the counter terrorists to prevent the terrorists from fulfilling their objectives by eliminating them. If one is not careful he could be a victim of a dangerous ‘headshot’ from interesting characters like ‘Expect Mercy’! With varieties of arenas such as the dust, nuke, aztec(just to name a few) and a wide range of guns like the nitehawk, maverick, AK47, counter strike truly is the ‘Quiddich ’ of the muggle world. Apart from this, there is also the Triwizard Tournament (sports meet, Nimbus and Hill ‘Ffair) in which students enjoy and participate actively.
Days turn into months and months swiftly into years. A fresher ends up in the final year before he knows it! Its time to give the O.W.Ls’(Ordinary Wizarding levels) and NEWT(Nasty and exhausting wizarding tests) which translates to placements and interviews which everyone eventually has to face. Every final year student certainly wishes that he/she had a ‘time turner’ so that he/she can go back to the past and re-live those glorious four years of engineering life with his/her friends. Its time for the young witches and wizards of NIT Hamirpur to go out to the real world to prove themselves and face the challenges the world outside throws at us. So then, are we witches or wizards? After having numerous magical, wonderful and memorable experiences in the college, the answer would definitely be YES! We are indeed witches and wizards with the experience and the determination to succeed in everything we do. All the best to all in the magical community (and muggles) out there, the worlds are ours to conquer!
