Isn’t it comical!

‘Comic books helped me to define myself and my world in a way that made both far less frightening. I honestly cannot imagine how I would have navigated my way through childhood without them.’ – Bradford W. Wright, Comic Book Nation

A lot of us would vouch for that statement!

My first encounter with comics was the glossy Sunday Times of India. It felt so good to touch that paper, almost rich.

I loved ‘Beetle Bailey’ and the sarcastic humour of ‘Garfield’ who personified laziness. At times I hated the droopy eyelid cat which I guess was probably out of my dislike for cats. ‘Hagar the Horrible’ was also fun. I loved the conversations between him and ‘Eddie’ and the regular bickering of his wife ‘Helga’. Poor Viking! Reading Sunday Times was a ritual with the entire family. Each one waited for his/her turn or an opportunity just to snatch the paper when the other wasn’t looking. Our animal instinct bubbles at times.

‘R.K Laxman’s’ humour on politics and current affairs were my only updates on the subject J

As kids, we used to subscribe ‘Champak’ because it was just Rs.5 and had more stories than ‘Tinkle’ which used to be Rs.10. The middle class mentality usually takes over in these cases and we’d prefer ‘Zyada aur Sasta!’ any day (even today J). ‘Tinkle’ was borrowed from our neighbour who always insisted that we read the book in her house and not take it to our home. We weren’t too fussy about the place where we read, as long as we did. J 

Most of the ‘Champak’ stories revolved around ‘Cheeku’ (Rabbit), ‘Meeku’ (Monkey), ‘Appu' (Elephant) and other talking animals. Each of the story had its moral contribution to the kids (like me!) reading them. Believe me, never once did it felt like preaching. It was so good and entertaining! The best part was the values were instilled without much effort.

I could never get over ‘Shikari Shambhu’. He was the luckiest chap! I don’t ever recollect any picture of him where we could see the colour of his eyes. And oh! I loved the adorable and stupid ‘Supandi’ screwing up things and being foolish because of his sweet and simpleton nature.

Revelled each time ‘Tantri the Mantri’s’ plan of getting rid of ‘Raja Hooja’ was foiled and it backfired on him!

I occasionally read ‘Chandamama’ and ‘Panchatantra’. ‘Chacha Choudhary and Sabu were good enough for an International acclaim. These were the only comic which I read in Hindi. My favourite line from these, ‘Jab Sabu ko gussa aata hai to Jupiter pe jwalamukhi fat-ta hai!’ I’m sure ‘Chacha Chaudhary’ had a hidden computer under his ‘pagdi’. His logic was super!

From there on I went international and took to reading ‘Indrajal’ comics which featured ‘Mandrake’ and ‘Phantom’. This was my first interface with jam-packed comic digests which went on and on.

‘Mandrake’ and ‘Lothar’s’ magic tricks did not quite interest me and hence I moved on to ‘Phantom – The Ghost Who Walks’ and fell for him instantly. ‘Devil’ and ‘Hero’ remained my all time favourite hero buddies.

‘Richie Rich’ who owned awesome stuff was always a like a dream. A theme park, lot of gadgets, an entire toy house to himself! Wow! ‘Casper’ and ‘Wendy’ would feature as guests in these books. And both adorable too!

Well, isn’t there a similarity between ‘Richie Rich’ and ‘Casper’? If I were to shed Richie’s clothes and hair, he would look exactly like Casper!

I read ‘Harvey Comics’ and ‘Indrajal’ comics during the period I was admitted in hospital for various illnesses. About three or four times during my secondary school. I know, it sounds unbelievable, a lot of my colleagues did not believe it too till I made them hear my mom. Being admitted so many times is not something I’m proud of but I guess that was the only time I began reading ‘Indrajal’ and ‘Harvey’ comics.

And I’m happy that I read!

Penny for your thoughts!

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, We make our world - Buddha (563 BC-483 BC) Founder of Buddhism.”

There is a lot of anxiety in the air with sprinkle of uncertainty and incertitude.

Countless thoughts are crossing each other intersecting their paths, colliding with each other, some ignoring the other, some intruding upon the other. It somehow never seems to stop.

At times one cannot fathom the twist, turn, road, lane, gully, highway, expressway, route that thoughts take as you age.

Thoughts – sometimes, never under our control. It flows and explores as it wills. Wanders along the unknown path, comes back home when tired. Rejoices when it goes back in time and meets old memories, gets excited on a beautiful prospect. It dreams its own future and walks as far as it can into the future. Splits itself into millions under strain and anxiety. And becomes one when the mind is asleep or the heart is at peace.

Cheers to the ever meandering thoughts without which life would not be.

A pledge to myself

The following pledge popped up while I was working on my computer.

It’s psychic because it is exactly the thought running through my psyche and displayed in my some of my actions since past couple of months. I wish I’m able to practice it whole-heartedly for life.

“I'm poisoning myself and my world. By polluting rivers, oceans and the soil with toxic waste.

Waste that is produced, consumed and disposed off by no one else, but me. 

And nature has its way of making things come a full circle.

So these poisons end up in our bodies through water, soil and various other means, resulting in every living species having at least 700 man-made chemical contaminants in their bodies.

But now I won't keep quiet.

I won't destroy myself and my world.

I will reduce, reuse and recycle.

I will only buy products that I require.

I pledge to do my bit for a toxic-free future. My future.”

 GreenPeace

My First Love Affair – My School Textbooks

‘Let books be your dining table,

And you shall be full of delights

Let them be your mattress

And you shall sleep restful nights’

I think my first love with books began with the school textbooks. Aah! I know it sounds boring, but it wasn’t. Our English, Hindi and Marathi Bal Bharati texts had so many illuminating stories to tell. Some nice poems as well which I remember till this day.

I still recollect how we would devour the books till all the interesting stories were read. And all this happened in a couple of days from the purchase of the books. I would even complete the stories from my sister’s textbooks and she is 4 years older than me. She would read mine to go back in time.

There were some good one’s like the ‘the Duck and the Dachshund’ – an emotional story about friendship between a dog and a duck; ‘A letter from Mussourie’ – a letter from an elder sister to her younger sister describing the picturesque beauty of Mussourie and the clouds which she had experienced and realized it was mist; ‘Visraloo Vinu’ – a forgetful boy who once forgot to sow the seeds and continued to water the flowerbed till his teacher pointed it out to him.

Stories about ‘Sikandar aur Porous’ and ‘Shaikhchilli’ was also enjoyable.

And then there was this extremely hilarious poem amongst the stalwarts like William Wordsworth; W.B Yeats, Robert Frost, John Keats and W. Shakespeare.

It began something like this, ‘Okee Pokee Chinga ma ring; 18th wife of the mighty king’. That’s all I remember of the poem and how I went in splits when my sister was reciting it for her exams.

I wish I had paid more attention to the classic poems then. Sigh!

The only prayer song I know completely apart from ‘Our Father in Heaven’ is ‘Prarthana’ and started like this, ‘Hey bhagwan, mujhe is duniya ki seva ka vardaan do…’ This was the first chapter in the 6th standard Hindi text book; which I tend to recite unknowingly whenever tensed.

As I grew up, I enjoyed reading my History texts which had inspiring anecdotes and narrations about Indian history, freedom movements, sacrifices, famous leaders and martyrs, losses and victory. With each story I became more Indian and a patriot in every sense.

More than anything I loved the action, adventure and most of all rebel. I love rebellions! :)

And of course who can forget the famous slogans which erupted in the streets in captive India (and in our semester exams:) ‘Simon Go Back’; ‘Tum Mujhe Khoon Do main Tumhe Azadi Doonga’; ‘Inquilab Zindabad’; ‘Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna’, ‘Ab hamare dil mein hai’.

The world history was as interesting and adventurous especially the chronicles on American history, Boston tea party, the cause and culmination of World War 1 and 2 being most interesting feature of the entire book.

Geography grew interesting when it spoke about various regions like Tundra, Coniferous forests, and Grasslands like the Savannas, Prairie. The books would describe the culture, habitat and food habits of various tribes and nomads like the Bedouins, Eskimos and Masais.

Oh! It was so beautifully described that I wanted to meet the Masais who drank a particular insect’s blood. It was all so fascinating.

But that was it. Parents and teachers don’t expect fascination; they expect good marks.

That’s where the problems begin; I somehow could never remember much of what I had already read :) 

I simply enjoyed.

About Me!!!

I'm an Enthusiast and love to have fun always, whether at work or life. People usually associate the following phrases with me, "full of energy"; "excitement"; "laughter" and "always smiling" :) Though old age and maturity are catching up too soon… I can be brutally honest but the intention is always good. Best friend to my friends, whenever and wherever. With me it’s like…. What you see is what you get. I have a set of wacky parents and a nice sister, not sure if we complement each other too well. But we get along nevertheless. I have a creative side to me which usually is displayed in my work, photography and origami. I love to read. Could take it up as a profession! But not sure if I would be able to do justice to my love for books… I love the nature and want implement means of living a luxury eco-friendly life. I’m also a travel enthusiast and want to explore as many places as I can in my lifetime. I hope to add value to the less fortunate and help live a better life. Music is the soul of life and I’m a music junkie. This blog is primarily dedicated to me! :) After all, we all need to do something for ourselves as well. It includes (will include) snippets about my life, thoughts, friends, people, associations, travel, nature, eco-friendly ideas, my creations, and everything about me!