What it's like not being a Potterhead

To be honest, a decent portion of my life was spent trying to get familiar with the charm of the series without reading or watching the Harry Potter series. Though many reasons behind the failure are unknown, one of them, to me and many, is surely the fact that it is overhyped. Here's what life is like through the eyes of someone who is not a Potterhead.

YOU CANNOT JOIN THE HP CENTRIC CONVERSATIONS

You know what it's like to have the company of your phone when such conversations erupt around you, pushing you out of the ring. It is like a blessing. Surfing the internet is better than just listening to some people talk about a completely different world that's not going to be a reality anytime soon. Though I failed miserably, I tried to Slytherin to the conversations sometimes with my little HP knowledge, which is, Voldemort is the one without a nose.

YOU RECEIVE SHOCKING STARES

Be it your peers or younger cousins who have already planned their visit to Hogwarts, you are sure to be met with an open-mouthed reaction. Once you say you have never read or watched Harry Potter (or even if you have that you aren't a fan) your Potterhead acquaintances will ambush you and try to extract from you the reasons as to why you never took the initiative and disliked it. Then they will bombard you with questions you can never answer and requests you can always deny. Like, "You should read the books. They will change your life." As for me, I thought for a minute or two when I got such requests about giving it a chance, but I never got that involuntary feeling to be a part of the universe.

YOU ARE CLUELESS ABOUT THE HOUSE YOU BELONG TO

Well, you know houses exist in Harry Potter partly because of the internet and partly because of the known people who ask you about yours. You are never thrilled by the prospect of belonging to a specific house and relating to their characteristics.

YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR PATRONUS

Like being unaware of the house you belong to, you don't know what your Patronus is. Even though you don't know what a Patronus is, it's totally cool in a world that believes getting a letter from Hogwarts is only a placebo.

YOU FIND THE ABNORMAL OBSESSION AMONG FANS ANNOYING

There are people who like Harry Potter for the worldbuilding. There are people who just LOVE it. Then there are people who find it absolutely necessary to obsess over it everywhere — be it by flaunting their fake Hogwarts letter or by fawning over the never ending illustrated editions of the same damn book. The third group is very annoying. Their immoderate level of obsession is what keeps many at bay from the HP universe.

We, the non-Potterheads, have always been guaranteed that we will fall in love with the Harry Potter series. We have often been asked to give it a go. But we probably will never be fans of it. The feeling maybe is not meant to exist, just like Voldemort's nose.

Tarzan lives in the jungle in hopes that no giant corporation will destroy its peace. By trying to reach out to him, you shouldn't too.