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I am 17 going on 18...

...I'll take care of you' says Rolf to Liesel in the Sound of Music. At the same age Harry fights Voldemort and Eragon flies all over Alagesia. Percy,Annabeth and the others are off fighting some monster or God and I'm...a schoolgirl, studying for some exam or the other.
On my sixteenth and seventeenth birthdays, it struck me that I was the same age as the heroes I grew up reading about. I was Amy's age when I first read Little Women. Now I'm older then Meg. Back when I was seven, I saw  fifteen year old Julian (from the Famous Five) as the responsible one, the adult.
At seventeen, it dawned upon me that I needed to change my perspective. In a way, it made me sad. Firstly, if the characters are younger than me, it's hard to idolize them the way I did before.Secondly,(although just a little) it made me wonder what I was  doing with my life.
The first  fantasy novel I read was Harry Potter (has anyone else waited in a queue at six in the morning to collect their pre-ordered edition of the Deathly Hallows?). If anyone had asked me if I believed in magic, I would've scoffed at them, but there was a tiny part of me that waited for my eleventh birthday, hoping against hope that I would  receive my own letter.
A few months ago I asked myself  'Well  Ananya, if  you could somehow be transported to one of the worlds that you dream of, which one would you choose?'
I'm not particularly fond of violence, and my friends will tell you how (not) fond I am of taking risks and acting on an impulse. I would probably be quite miserable in the worlds of my heroes. I figured that I was probably better off without Voldemort, Galbatorix and Kronos. So, Harry, Eragon and Percy, I leave these villains to you and your friends. I think I'm quite happy fighting the JEE and the boards with mine. Who knows? That story might be in a book one day too.
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