Jamshedpur, Dec. 8: Seventeen-year-old Rakesh Gulati is out on a mission. He is speeding down the road on his bike, when his cellphone beeps. Rakesh reads the SMS, which a friend has sent, and zooms off to a bookstore.

You don’t need to be a Hogwarts pass-out to figure what got into Rakesh — it’s Potter magic. The youngster was headed towards the nearest bookshop to grab the last two copies of Harry Potter aur Paras Patthar — the Hindi version of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Copies of the Hindi translation of the first in the Potter series, which was released in Delhi on November 14, reached the city this morning and were flying off the racks in no time. “We got 20 copies of the Hindi translation today and most of them have been sold out,” said Bimal Agarwal, proprietor of Agarwal Book Store in Bistupur. People had been calling up days in advance to book their copy, he said, adding that the phone still hasn’t stopped ringing. Agarwal has requisitioned for a second consignment. Priced at Rs 165, the Hindi version has 283 pages and 18 chapters. “It is cheaper than the English editions. The latest English edition of Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix is priced at Rs 795,” he added.

Wasava Singh’s, a bookstore, at Bistupur also requisitioned the Hindi edition of Harry Potter. “We have requisitioned the Hindi edition but it is yet to reach us,” said Charanjit Singh, proprietor of the shop. Singh said they the consignment would arrive in four to five days.

Agarwal said he had requisitioned 50 copies but only 20 arrived. The consignment arrived from Patna late last evening. “My regular customers had been enquiring about the arrival date of the book for a long time. I personally called up some of them who rushed here to get the copy. The response for this book is as good as it was for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” Agarwal said.

He said since the book is not very costly, parents too are happy. “Some Hindi medium schools too enquired about the book. We are sending our representative to Delhi tomorrow to get more books,” Agarwal said. It wouldn’t be wise to solely depend on the consignment that is supposed to be transported here from all the way from Delhi, he added.

There is an air of excitement regarding the book, among the Hindi readers, especially youngsters. “I have read the book. It kept me spellbound with its unexpected twists in the tale,” said Mohuli Choudhary, a student of KMPM Inter-college. Only one of the five Harry Potter books written by Rowling has been published in Hindi. The Hindi books have been published by Manjul Publishing House, Bhopal, and translated by Sudhir Dixit.