HEARTBREAK CLUB: (From left) Rishav, Vedansh, Muskaan and Khushi at their Salt Lake home on Thursday evening. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

For four young muggles, between ages 8 and 11, the meaning of the word bandh went from holiday to heartbreak on Thursday.

The gang of four from a joint family in Salt Lake was raring to go for a Friday afternoon show of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at City Centre. But now, “for some political problems” — that’s how one of them described the bandh call — they will have to change their precious plans.

“We were waiting for this Friday for two months to catch Harry Potter in action,” said Muskaan Soni, 11, looking as downcast as her brother Rishav, 11, for whom it was to be a birthday treat. “We were all so excited, but now my birthday plans are ruined,” rued Rishav, who “loved” the last Potter film, Order of The Phoenix, and can’t wait to see the sixth film of the series.

Their cousins Khushi, 9, and Vedansh Jhawar, 8, are equally disappointed. For Vedansh, a bandh used to be “just another holiday” when he is “forced to stay at home because the roads are blocked and schools are closed”. But Friday’s bandh to him means something that has denied him the chance to watch his Hogwarts hero.

The siblings’ mother, Rinku, is trying hard to console them with Harry Potter goodies like T-shirts and pouches which she had picked up when Sorcerer’s Stone was released. “I fished them out to pacify them but I guess they won’t smile till they go for the movie on Saturday,” she shrugged.

“It’s hard to please us muggles,” declared Rishav. “If I had a wand like Harry I would just wave the bandh away.”

If only.