In ‘Fantastic Beasts and where to find them’ movie, Newt Scamander says to Jacob Kowalski, “My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.” Kowalski follows the magical people throughout the movie and is part of their struggle to reign in all the beasts that spilt out of Scamander’s briefcase.
Once the mission is over, Scamander erases all the bad memories of non-magical citizens of New York as they had witnessed the Global Wizarding War in the movie. Well, that’s all the small details of fan fiction of the famed Harry Potter series.
The good thing about magical movies like Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts is that, however big the invisible dark forces like ‘You-know-who’, Mr. Voldemort or Mr. Grindelwald is, there is always hope that the good forces will slay the dark forces and all bad memories will be wiped out in a bright new universe.
It’s a beautiful memory charm that makes you forget parts of your recollections that you need not recollect. Non-magical people or Muggles often have their memories modified so that they don’t remember their tryst with the magical people and become terrified of a magical world possibility
We wish desperately for the same in these trying unparalleled times. There is light at the end of the long dark trying tunnel, however long the tunnel may seem.
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The lights are shining
The Earth is slowly opening its doors once more, albeit cautiously. Dubai and other emirates have reopened.
Now we need an Obliviate charm from God’s magic wand to reduce our paranoia and fear of stepping out and resuming our new normal life.
The onus to win this battle against virus rests on each one of us. We should shine as light warriors with our carefully donned superhero face masks (yes, please stick your selfie smile on the mask, if you must), gloves, and small bottles of sanitisers or soaps. We are all responsible, together.
Getting back to correlating with the movie, after the last magical creature is reigned in and after finding out that it was indeed Grindelwald in disguise that instigated this war of terror, Kowalski, he asks to be administered the Obliviate charm.
It’s a beautiful memory charm that makes you forget parts of your recollections that you need not recollect. Non-magical people or Muggles often have their memories modified so that they don’t remember their tryst with the magical people and become terrified of a magical world possibility.
Fantasy to pull through the reality
Life can be compared to these magical realism stories. The world was going on absolutely normal and suddenly it was as if we were thrust into the midst of a science fiction or a world war kind of movie when corona captured our world.
Who would have ever believed last December that school grounds would remain silent on working days without little feet running pitter-patter?
Who would have guessed that we would remain homebound for so many days straight, not stepping out of your front door even once? Who would have thought that all office work could get done staying at home?
In magical realism, one often wonders, if we actually fell asleep and walked out of our dreams to live this life. Or was it the other way around?
We lived and dreamt of our dreams in our sleep. The what-is of such a possibility is endless and it’s like Alice walked into Wonderland or the Pevensie children walked into Narnia in The Chronicles of Narnia.
In a faraway world, I wish for a magical charm where we can be ‘obliviated’ to forget this coronavirus episode and get on with our lives like before. Now, where can we get that elusive memory charm from?
Let’s stay close with our hearts while maintaining safe physical distance, channel our inner ‘Obliviate’ charms and march on towards the future with safety measures positively in place!
Feby Imthias is a freelance writer based in Abu Dhabi.
