platfrom nine three fourths at kings cross
Friday, August 27, 2004
Platform 9 3/4 at Kings cross
As I write this… I am standing at king’s cross station in London…in front of the announcement board… it is 10.09 a.m and I figure out that my train to Norwich via Ely is at 10.45 am and the platform announcement has not yet been made.
(I can see a board across which says platform 1-4 (up arrow) platforms 5-7 (->) and platforms 8-11 (down arrow)
…Platform 9 ¾ kings cross ..does it exist .. may be not but platform 9 may be … that is where they probably shot the film …Should i go around and check it out…
I have a valid ticket to Norwich and my train is a good 35 minutes away…
I walk across to the platforms and follow the arrow signs platforms 8-11 (down arrow)
Kings cross station is a big station … as big as VT(CST) a little more sohisticated, clean but very similar in looks. The typical british architecture… the colour of those ancient stones, the wooden pillars and the ornate Victorian wood work on them... if you take a while out from the haste that engulfs you at CST station ... you will notice all of this….kings cross is very similar.
Minus the crowd ( could compare to VT on a Sunday ) and the stains of Pan adjoining the walls at the corners and the sultry Mumbai weather … everything else is so similar.
But platforms 8-11 are a little ahead … they are parallel but slightly ahead … something like the Santacruz stn platforms for fast trains .. if you know what I mean.. does’nt matter …that is not important...
I walk past the edge of platform 7, the arrow to the right says left luggage, lost property and platforms 8-11 ( right turn)
I take a right turn…. I see a ticket counter … I am not sure if I can walk past .
As long as I am not caught….who cares…
Silly me … I was well into my adulthood when I was introduced to the world of Harry potter … not a 6 year old … but then I guess certain things you take fancy to.. leave an imprint in life … no matter what your age is …I can’t help it if J K Rowling did not write when I was a 6 year old.. can I …
As a 6 year old I grew up believing that girls performing at the circus are the ones who have been snatched away from their parents when young and trained by the circus manager to perform all those dangerous things like riding on a rope and trapeze artistry …
My mother told me this to warn me not to go astray in crowded public places . Such was the impact of what she told me ...that I always clutched her fingers tight when we navigated through crowded market places , melas or temples.
I grew up believing that circus managers are always on the prowl to catch little girls from crowded places, kidnap them and them train them for circus. How else could you explain such pretty fair skinned girls doing all such dangerous things . For many years my heart went out to those girls performing at the circus … I could fancy them separated from their parents... their mom and dad not finding them and they slaving it out for the circus manager in far away cities.
Not until I saw this serial called circus on doordarshan where Renuka sahane and Rama vij play the role of circus girls many years later. They had fathers, mothers and lovers and I was a little disappointed at this potrayal which was contrary to what I grew up believing in .
BTW Circus was shah rukh khan’s second and proably last assignment on the small screen before he moved on to the big screen to eventually become the badshah of bollywood.
So I do believe that Harry potter after spending his summer vacation at privet drive .. comes to king’s cross station and takes the Hogwarts express from the 9 ¾ platform. JK rowling told me so.
I am walking towards platforms 8-11 …
Actually … platform 9 ¾ is a piece of fiction by J K rowling and there is no reason to believe it exists . The books are awesome , and J K Rowling is today no more a struggling single mother but a multi miliionnaire and that is all there is to it …
No…. what the hell… I have time to kill and so what .. let me claim ignorance if the TC stops me … after all they are so nice out here and not rude like the hawaldar back home.
I take a right turn as indicated by the arrow to platform 9-11 and what do I see...
PLATFORM 9 ¾
I am delighted, excited and awestruck…
IT IS AN OVERWHELMING FEELING…I certainly did not expect to find platform 9 ¾
There was a Chinese family clicking photographs of their little son in front of platform 9 3/4.
Harry potter in china !!!… I am told they have it in Chinese…possible… I think I have seen a hindi version selling at the platform bookshops near churchgate stn .
I clicked for them a photograph on their digital camera … and tried speaking to them… they spoke sparing English … or probably could not understand mine…
I wrote on a piece of paper ….
Can u e-mail me this photograph .. I want to tell my little niece in India that platform 9¾ is real ….
Jayanthi.gopal@uk-tcs.com is my email address.
Thanks very much – Jayanthi .
The man took a look at it … said ' no sorry '… am not sure if he meant he cannot send a photograph or that he cannot read English…. I hope it is the latter.
How I wish I had a camera. To tell little jaanu back in India
Dear jaanu,
I have’nt met pussy cat in London …
I have’nt met the queen either …
for that matter I have’nt met HARRY POTTER as yet but I think I am very close …
I am not sure if Santa claus is real …
I am not sure if wee willie winkie is real …
for that matter I am not YET sure if Harry potter is real … but Platform 9 ¾ is REAL…
It is 10.38 on the indicator board and my train to NORWICH is at 10.45 from platform 7.
May be next time I will wait for the train to HOGWARTS…. They don’t seem to announce the train to Hogwarts on the customer information board….
Or may be muggles don’t get to hear it….
************************
If this blog does not make any sense to you then you are one of those ignorant / illiterate / non-believing muggle … I would strongly suggest you pick up a copy for Harry potter ( preferably the first one HP and the chamber of secrets) and get baptised into the world of HP and his friends .
You will then understand why I was overwhelmed when I spotted platform 9 ¾ At king’s cross.
For some lazy ones that I know who read this blog but do not have the patience to read the books … click here for some background to platform 9 3/4 king's crosshttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/21/1056119515771.html
If you get interested and pick up a potter book I will be glad… I am not an agent of J K Rowling … but the books are awesome… If you are’nt the one who is comfortable with the british accent I would suggest don’t watch the movie … it is the book which is a treat … yes… watch the movie to visually understand the significance of platform 9 ¾
… but honestly the book is better .
(I can see a board across which says platform 1-4 (up arrow) platforms 5-7 (->) and platforms 8-11 (down arrow)
…Platform 9 ¾ kings cross ..does it exist .. may be not but platform 9 may be … that is where they probably shot the film …Should i go around and check it out…
I have a valid ticket to Norwich and my train is a good 35 minutes away…
I walk across to the platforms and follow the arrow signs platforms 8-11 (down arrow)
Kings cross station is a big station … as big as VT(CST) a little more sohisticated, clean but very similar in looks. The typical british architecture… the colour of those ancient stones, the wooden pillars and the ornate Victorian wood work on them... if you take a while out from the haste that engulfs you at CST station ... you will notice all of this….kings cross is very similar.
Minus the crowd ( could compare to VT on a Sunday ) and the stains of Pan adjoining the walls at the corners and the sultry Mumbai weather … everything else is so similar.
But platforms 8-11 are a little ahead … they are parallel but slightly ahead … something like the Santacruz stn platforms for fast trains .. if you know what I mean.. does’nt matter …that is not important...
I walk past the edge of platform 7, the arrow to the right says left luggage, lost property and platforms 8-11 ( right turn)
I take a right turn…. I see a ticket counter … I am not sure if I can walk past .
As long as I am not caught….who cares…
Silly me … I was well into my adulthood when I was introduced to the world of Harry potter … not a 6 year old … but then I guess certain things you take fancy to.. leave an imprint in life … no matter what your age is …I can’t help it if J K Rowling did not write when I was a 6 year old.. can I …
As a 6 year old I grew up believing that girls performing at the circus are the ones who have been snatched away from their parents when young and trained by the circus manager to perform all those dangerous things like riding on a rope and trapeze artistry …
My mother told me this to warn me not to go astray in crowded public places . Such was the impact of what she told me ...that I always clutched her fingers tight when we navigated through crowded market places , melas or temples.
I grew up believing that circus managers are always on the prowl to catch little girls from crowded places, kidnap them and them train them for circus. How else could you explain such pretty fair skinned girls doing all such dangerous things . For many years my heart went out to those girls performing at the circus … I could fancy them separated from their parents... their mom and dad not finding them and they slaving it out for the circus manager in far away cities.
Not until I saw this serial called circus on doordarshan where Renuka sahane and Rama vij play the role of circus girls many years later. They had fathers, mothers and lovers and I was a little disappointed at this potrayal which was contrary to what I grew up believing in .
BTW Circus was shah rukh khan’s second and proably last assignment on the small screen before he moved on to the big screen to eventually become the badshah of bollywood.
So I do believe that Harry potter after spending his summer vacation at privet drive .. comes to king’s cross station and takes the Hogwarts express from the 9 ¾ platform. JK rowling told me so.
I am walking towards platforms 8-11 …
Actually … platform 9 ¾ is a piece of fiction by J K rowling and there is no reason to believe it exists . The books are awesome , and J K Rowling is today no more a struggling single mother but a multi miliionnaire and that is all there is to it …
No…. what the hell… I have time to kill and so what .. let me claim ignorance if the TC stops me … after all they are so nice out here and not rude like the hawaldar back home.
I take a right turn as indicated by the arrow to platform 9-11 and what do I see...
PLATFORM 9 ¾
I am delighted, excited and awestruck…
IT IS AN OVERWHELMING FEELING…I certainly did not expect to find platform 9 ¾
There was a Chinese family clicking photographs of their little son in front of platform 9 3/4.
Harry potter in china !!!… I am told they have it in Chinese…possible… I think I have seen a hindi version selling at the platform bookshops near churchgate stn .
I clicked for them a photograph on their digital camera … and tried speaking to them… they spoke sparing English … or probably could not understand mine…
I wrote on a piece of paper ….
Can u e-mail me this photograph .. I want to tell my little niece in India that platform 9¾ is real ….
Jayanthi.gopal@uk-tcs.com is my email address.
Thanks very much – Jayanthi .
The man took a look at it … said ' no sorry '… am not sure if he meant he cannot send a photograph or that he cannot read English…. I hope it is the latter.
How I wish I had a camera. To tell little jaanu back in India
Dear jaanu,
I have’nt met pussy cat in London …
I have’nt met the queen either …
for that matter I have’nt met HARRY POTTER as yet but I think I am very close …
I am not sure if Santa claus is real …
I am not sure if wee willie winkie is real …
for that matter I am not YET sure if Harry potter is real … but Platform 9 ¾ is REAL…
It is 10.38 on the indicator board and my train to NORWICH is at 10.45 from platform 7.
May be next time I will wait for the train to HOGWARTS…. They don’t seem to announce the train to Hogwarts on the customer information board….
Or may be muggles don’t get to hear it….
************************
If this blog does not make any sense to you then you are one of those ignorant / illiterate / non-believing muggle … I would strongly suggest you pick up a copy for Harry potter ( preferably the first one HP and the chamber of secrets) and get baptised into the world of HP and his friends .
You will then understand why I was overwhelmed when I spotted platform 9 ¾ At king’s cross.
For some lazy ones that I know who read this blog but do not have the patience to read the books … click here for some background to platform 9 3/4 king's crosshttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/21/1056119515771.html
If you get interested and pick up a potter book I will be glad… I am not an agent of J K Rowling … but the books are awesome… If you are’nt the one who is comfortable with the british accent I would suggest don’t watch the movie … it is the book which is a treat … yes… watch the movie to visually understand the significance of platform 9 ¾
… but honestly the book is better .
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