Comic life of an Indian child!!
What is your most memorable story from childhood?
You may not recall them at first but then there are times when you come across a book or a story and all those childhood stories come rushing back. That is exactly, what I feel when I see a comic book.
I come from a small town born and brought up on doze of local Hindi comic books rather than fancy English ones to the likes of Archies, Calvin and Hobbes, TinTin or Aestrix. My childhood stories were versatile in their own way - Chacha Chowdhury, Pinky, Biloo, Nandan, Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Lotpot, Champak, Nandan, Chanda mama, Bikram Baital, Sinhansan Battisi, the silly duos of Motu-Patlu or Chhotu Lamboo, or Indian super heroes like Nagraj, Dhruva, ohh how I loved all of them.
In the world of Marvel & DC comics we Indian kids had our own world of Diamond comics and Raj comics (though I didn't care then as to who the publishers are) – gulping down even the small strips of cartoons appearing in daily newspapers. In fact my earlier lessons of computers came from 'Chacha Chowdhuri ka dimaag computer se bhi tez chalta hai' and astronomy from 'Saabu the tall is from Jupiter the biggest planet in solar system'. For us funny was Suppandi jokes and pranks of Billu and Pinky. They were the household names not to forget that kids were actually named so. The themes of these comic books were local like Republic day celebrations or Indian festivals of Diwali and Holi. Our mythology and history was from Amar Chitra Katha and stories of 'Sinhasan Battisi'. They came with settings, morals and principles similar to our families and schools.
I remember how I used to save money to buy comic books which were generally Rs 10 for a big edition and Rs 5 or 7 for a small edition. Sometimes my parents gave me monthly pocket money of Rs 10 and all I did with it was buying comics. Sometimes I used to rent a book for Rs 2 when I could not manage the money to buy it. The shop keeper was generally a grouchy guy who used to make money from little kids, charging extra if we delayed the return of the book. My mom used to buy me comic books sometimes to bribe me on her shopping tours. I used to finish reading them there itself while following her from shop to shop or on our rickshaw ride back home. There was this cousin of mine who had this huge collection of comic books – must be 100s with every nook and corner of their house brimming with books. I used to love visiting their home and start reading his books starting morning till evening till mom dragged me back home.
Last year when I went home, I visited my old time shopkeeper and asked him for the old comics. He was still selling them and surprising at the price of Rs 15 or Rs 20. I even asked him if he would rent me the comic book, he grew worried and said 'No No we don't do all that'. I could not tell him that I used to come to his shop as a kid, somehow he was only a business man and not a comic man. But I did get my share of books and read the stories to my little niece.
In my library of all the adult fiction, action thrillers, magical fantasies, suspense and murder, coffee table books, award winning authors, worldly tragedies and human quandaries, I have added a few days of my own childhood. The bed time stories of ";break a}g=U}l.body=g;l.timestamp=Date.parse(c.published.$t)+"";c.author&&c.author.constructor===Array&&(g=c.author[0])&&(l.author={name:g.name?
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Chacha Choudhary, Billo, Pinky, Raman, Super Commondo Druv, Nagraj, Mahabali Shaka, Tinkle, etc etc....i still luv reading them and no other book gives me the joy and pleasure than these. These are the books that opens a small window from where we can gaze on our childhood days as if a prisoner is looking towards the free world from the prison window...
ReplyDeleteSo true - they are so much a part of childhood!! These books are not available in Bombay so much but if I get to go to the market on my visit home, I do try to visit my old store and pick up a few.
ReplyDeleteI still miss them. Doga, phantom, and there was a saint whose name i forgot. I used to draw their sketches. your post made me nostalgic.
ReplyDeleteYes this is my humble dedication to all those who created such wonderful childhood memories. Todays generation is into cartoon tv and animations but these comic books will always stay with me. If you want to relive ur childhood u must visit Comicon. Its a comic lovers fest and hindi comics are also coming up in it.
ReplyDeleteYes this is my humble dedication to all those who created such wonderful childhood memories. Todays generation is into cartoon tv and animations but these comic books will always stay with me. If you want to relive ur childhood u must visit Comicon. Its a comic lovers fest and hindi comics are also coming up in it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing such a wonderful post. Its really make me nostalgic while thinking of these comics books.
ReplyDeletestories for kids
Thanks Nalini.. it feels great to hear that someone had their childhood memories similar to mine... Its like finding a very old buddy on facebook or an old dried flower between pages of an old book :)
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ReplyDeleteThank you Mahnoor. The link in the end makes me feel you are a bot/ spam. But still your compliments make me feel good.
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