Two Magicians

Finishing HP7 on Monday night (actually, Tuesday morning) means you are about the 1.6 millionth person to do so. And writing a post on it means it is going to be the 5.1 millionth review on the 'net.
I put the blame squarely on the marketing wizards of Indiaplaza, who claimed a same-day delivery and delivered it at about 4 p.m. on 22nd. I was itching to try out the Crucio curse on them!

The way I saw it was that two bands of wizards were fighting their last battles on the most hallowed (sic) portals.
M/S Potter, Granger and Weasley were fighting at Hogwarts. M/S Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid were doing the same at Lord's.
Both were against old foes. Great expectations of magic were inevitable. And the setting was not only momentous but the last one possible.
On two occasions each, they looked terribly close to pulling off a fantastic charm - and disappointed terribly. A whole lot of stuff happened - without rousing too much excitement - and just fizzled out. And finally, a rank outsider stole the show (or at least, salvaged it)!

There were flashes of brilliance in the cricket - Sachin's first innings, Ganguly's second.
The book also rose to the hype of the occasion...
* "Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" Harry asked. "He can get along without me for one night. You are more important." (Page 44)
* "Wands are only as powerful as the wizards who use them. Some wizards just like to boast that theirs are bigger and better than other people's." (Page 337 - Whoa Ms Rowling, what were YOU thinking when you wrote that???)

Anyway, you end up feeling a little hollow when you realise three great wizards played their last innings at the Lord's without distinguishing themselves at all.
And three super-famous wizards did not live up to their hype either.

Goodbye Harry Potter, we will still miss you. But not because of Book 7.
Just as we will miss Sourav Ganguly for the 1996 Lord's Test, not the 2007 one.