Harry Potter – A billion $ boom

Harry Potter… Finally i had to tolerate him .

Yeah tolerate is the perfect word i would use. I had evaded him till date but as a muggle could not escape his magic forever. I know he has a great fan following, children and adults swear by him, he is the new age GOD. Credit to Rowling for being able to ride waves of success all over the world till date but what’s the difference? It’s has turned out to be another billion $ startup that too out of a single employee.

Recently when i had to finally give in to the pressure to watch Potter in the movie ‘The Order of the phoenix’ at Satyam Cineplex Delhi, i realized that he is no less than God for kids. The ticket vendors were dressed like witches, the whole place was decorated with brooms, yeah brooms and everyone was so happy. One of the guys was so happy he was flying on the brooms in the intermission [see the pic]. Trust me he would never pick up a broom ever in life to clean his house, but Harry made him ride the broom. Every single guy was trying to impress his girl more and more discussing Harry one or the other way. Looking into their girl’s eye they would say – You read this/that, you know Harry wears this, i finished this book in one day, i stood all night on the road to buy that book… and everything they said was Potter way. Man girls are impressed by witchcraft too nowadays, so next time you wanna impress HER talk Bengal ka kala jadoo (Bengal’s black magic) as that is famous too, Sufi baba’s and what not, i am sure she will be impressed. Such has been the effect of potter, he rules kids, college dates, parents have to bear him as kids would kick them if they hated Harry. He has created a billion $ industry from books, toys, clothes to movies.

Although i was and would never be impressed by Harry for what he is but would be thankful to Rowling for creating a billion $ brand. She did all this without much physical resources, labour, factories, any venture capital or seed funding, public listing etc. which is great. Just pen and paper, Dude !!! is all she required to create a billion $ enterprise and everyone from the movie maker to the broom maker earned money. The point to note is that witches, magic have such great effect on people that money falls through the roof for them. That is why black magic, superstition and nukkad babas are so famous in India as this is another unorganized billion $ industry. They are not doing anything good or bad but they too exploit the same way through their own real life Voldemort’s, Dumbeldore’s. I know we all hate the village magic when shown on news, read in newspaper or see some of our friend’s following it but Harry escaped with billion $ and are you sure he did no harm ?

A book or two was ok but seven damn books and he is still alive although he was suppose to die as told by shutterbugs means real business. Not that spiderman, batman or superman could be a part of this case but Harry has brought into light the business which is practiced in society. Truly speaking the only thing i gained after watching the movie was that witches, spells, magic and third world are bound to engage people and will continue to make $$$.

So as per the current trend you are an informed individual if you know Potter’s latest release, your girlfriend is impressed if you can speak out all his tricks in front of her but you swear that you don’t believe all this and the ordinary man on the street is a fool because he wearing five stones to get blessings of his ancestors and keep his family witches at peace. So, if Harry can manage to pick pockets of well educated people, it’s damn easy for the baba’s to have their own fan following. So, the baba’s and the black is magic is here to stay as it’s one the most easiest way to mint money. The baba’s may not be as glorified or well marketed as the nice white round specy Potter has been but that doesn’t mean that education would wipe out baba’s from the system. Witchcraft, superstition, magic are here to stay as entertainment for some, as a religious practice for some and as a business for some.

So don’t be amazed if you see a real life Harry fighting Voldemort in public because Harry is still alive, amazes muggles and i am not sure if the buck stopped at 7 but i surely believe it’s time for another billion $ boom.

Fix for the Datefield issue in flex 2.0

There seems to be an issue with the <mx:DateField> component in Flex 2.0. The issue is that when you choose todays date i.e. the current date which is highlighted grey in the DateChooser again the selected date clears out and you get a null as the selected date. Even if you select any other date two times in the chooser its becomes null and the text clears out. I am not sure why on earth Adobe is clearing out the date. Let the user select any date he wants to and let programmer’s brain do the rest . This is an issue and the workaround i coded for the above is as follows.

Let’s take an example:

<mx:DateField id=”dfStartDate” selectedDate=”{DateRange.getDate(xxx)}”
editable=”true” change=”updateStartDate(event)”/>

private function updateStartDate(event : CalendarLayoutChangeEvent) : void {
if (event.newDate != null) {
var dateNew : Date = new Date(event.newDate.getFullYear(), event.newDate.month, event.newDate.date);
dfStartDate.selectedDate = event.newDate;
}
}

This function gets the changed date and sets it back to the dateField so that we do not get null on getting the selectedDate and also the datefield does not clear out.

But the problem i am facing now is whenever the user changes the date the text in the datefield shifts left for no good reason and the date text is not readable. i have to again focus in the field to make it readable. Please suggest a workaround.

Aaah !!! i finally managed to fix the date field width issue by setting the width to 75 i.e. just set the width=”75″ or greater and the value will not shift to left.

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

Kites !!! i love them, am crazy after them. Even if i am down with fever 102 Celsius i would be ready to fly kites, such is my passion for them. It may sound exaggerating but when the D day came for flying kites in Delhi – 15 Aug. i never slept the whole night before and prepared and devised strategies for the sky wars next day. I was so damn crazy it brings a smile on my face every time i remember it. Had i been so crazy for studies i would have been a NASA scientist by now.

Frankly speaking the only reasons why i initially chose to pick up The Kite Runner were: my passion for kites, i was a kite runner too and Afghanistan from where my two good friends came. None of them are radicals, they are well settled businessmen now . I had never heard of Khaled Hosseini before. And it turned out to be a great journey.

Its an amazing book starting with the cool, serene surroundings of Afghanistan, hovering around the war and ending in San Francisco, US and the author manages to run his own kite in the end. Very simple asian english, no twsits and turns and Amir recites the story of how Afghanis faced the tumultuous events, the war, life as a refugee in the US and what guilt can do to you? Another great point in the backdrop is the Afghani culture you get to know, very caring, respect and care for all their peer nationals in the US unlike the other nationals you come across in the US.

So if you wanna know kites, Afghanistan, the war, and how a refugee stands up and finally runs a kite in the US… go on and read it.

More apt info – Wikipedia – The Kite Runner

Happy Reading

-vips