Its mid night and can't sleep, suddenly my thought takes me to writing a blog, i thought of writing few days back about a nostalgic episode.
Recently, on a personal visit to my Aunt's house in Amritsar, I was reintroduced to something i cherished as a child. During my stay there, my teenage cousin volunteered to offer her study cum play room to help me deal with my state of mind. I was particularly feeling low and sad compounded by ill health and needed my privacy. Late in the night, when i couldn't gather myself to sleep, I looked up at a shelf neatly lined up with books.
Suddenly, my longing eyes chanced upon Archie's digests and it took me back to my childhood. As a child, i think half of my pocket money was invested in comics and prior to the pocket money stage, my parents made sure that I caught fancy to reading at a very early age. I remember my dad getting tinkle, chanda mama comics twice a month and later on preferences changed to Chacha chaudhry, Motu-Patlu, Champak etc.
The first slang words in my lingo came thanks to Archies, Richie-Rich, Asterix and Tintin. Frequent trips by my grandfather to Russia ensured a steady supply of Svetlana's folklore and Vladimir's heroic tales.
I had such a penchant for comics and story telling that at a very young age, i started writing stories of my own in class tests but moral of my stories matched the moral of the original text stories and my teachers always admired my creativity.
Chacha Chaudhary in Hindi is my all time favorite. The famous quip: Chacha chaudhary ka deemag toh computer se bhi tej chalta hai brings so much nostalgia with it. Still remember rocket the dog, Saboo the hunk and the round and saree clad chachi with her rolling pin.
Archies took my fancy to Riverdale American High school and somehow my loyalty always remained with Betty and hated Brunette heiress Veronica. In times of doordarshan, I learnt about Smooch and Smack from Archies. Asterix was very interesting and obelix was my favorite character because it reminded me of my obese but favorite cousin.
These days, I see kids taking more to Internet and online gaming, wonder the comics will remain in vogue forever. Request all of the readers to keep this world alive and encourage the next generation to take to these..Even to this day, comics are so entertaining and help bring the child out in us. Chacha chaudhary and champak with its fables is to be credited for my story telling creativity and interest in reading.
And chacha chaudhary will always remain my favorite comic in Hindi and Archies in English. Which one is yours?
