Associative Nostalgia - III ... Children's Comics

This is an attempt to write about the more beautiful things that thankfully exist on earth; after what had been a series of serious posts.

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Tinkle, Chandamama (not strictly a comic, but still...), Amar Chitra Katha, Champak, Billoo, Pinki, Chacha Choudhary (whose brain works faster than a computer), Mandrake, Chacha Bhatija, Gokulam, ...... and the universal Tintin, Asterix, Richie Rich, Casper, Archie (and the Little Archie ones..; never really liked them though), ......

The one thing that is common to all of them, is that they would remain beautiful no matter how old, matured and worldly the once-upon-a-child becomes. Each comic has its own USP. Each is colourful. The good and the bad exist (as real as it can be). It is always the triumph of the good over the evil. The characters are as real as real life ones. Of course, in some of these, like Champak and some stories in Tinkle (Kalia the crow, Kapish, etc.), the characters happen to be animals. Who cannot but remember the Jataka Tales of Wisdom and the ready wit of Birbal and Tenali Rama brightly captured as comic strips. Amar Chitra Katha does cover many topics ranging from fables to biographical accounts of the historical greats to spotlight on Indian culture to what not.

Such simple children's comics do have valuabe lessons for us, no matter how old we are. I recently came across a Mathnawi by Rumi which was similar to a tale from the Panchatantra. The lessons remain the same, but in different forms and languages. It is not a shame to continue to read these comics. They often bring a smile onto us. The very Obelix and his cravings for wild boar, the Thompson and Thomsons (one with and without the "p"), the gifted language of Captain Haddock, Cacophonix and his musical abilities, the duel between Fullyautomatix and Unhygienix, the intelligence of Asterix and our very own Chacha Choudhary (both happen to be short persons), ....

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The truth is a big circle and at times a paradox too. A person is always in search of the truth, and more often than not, he/she comes back to the same point of departure. This is to remind us.. We have come from the earth and we would go back to the same. So, when we are here, it would be best for us to love the beauties that the earth has to offer us in so many forms; without any pride and prejudice, whatsoever.