Next week, on Children’s Day, Harry Potter aur Paras Pathar will be published. And the Hogwarts Headache will afflict thousands more in Hindi translation. Some days ago, The New England Journal of Medicine published an unusual letter. A doctor from Washington wrote in to report that a large number of children are complaining of a mild headache; and after much investigation, he hypothesised that the epidemic could be safely attributed to the weightiness of J.K. Rowling’s fifth submission, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, longest in her series so far at more than 800 pages, and heaviest at more than 1.5 kilos. But is it really that simple? Is it just about the book’s bulk? Could the headache not be a symptom of a deeper malady, a Realtime Anxiety? Could it be the ailment of our age, as we race to participate in major cultural events as they happen? As technology and a deeply integrated entertainment industry collapse time and distance, books, films and sports events are made available to more and more in distant parts of the globe at the same time. This summer, a record 8.5 million copies of Phoenix went on sale on the same day, from Canberra to Cardiff, New Delhi to New York. As that chaotic day closed, the reading public was split in two: those speed reading through the book, and those merely watching the hysteria. It was not so much that you wanted to read the book, you had to read it then — a week later there’d be something else. So it’s been this week, with The Matrix Revolutions opening in theatres around the world within hours. It’s almost as if the narrative it about all of us in distant lands watching the film together, not what the Wachowski brothers have to deliver on Neo’s semi-philosophical adventures. As The New York Times reckoned, “If you open on 10,000 screens, the opening weekend has to be the only thing that matters.” And really, so it is each time the India XI show up for a match. Even as you gravitate towards the television screen you know that Sachin’s straight drive comes with a best-by date. Day after there’ll be another match, but a live telecast is a mass ritual few can decline, the sense of immediacy is overpowering. Perhaps this is our new matrix, this grid of rapidly unfolding live events. It’s fun, but this hurrying does leave us with a slight headache.
