“Those amazing stories the beautiful colours!
Sit and read them to quickly pass hours!
Read em when you are healthy or sic!
Not your routine book but a good comic!”
I have always been a comic book nerd! The only distraction I had while growing up were the comic books and novels! I would itch to read and finish them but it was a strict no during exams! Now while now world over comics like DC and Marvel are the famous ones; we had Tinkle and Amar Chithra Katha for one group while the other section of people who mainly read Hindi comics, the most famous were Chacha Chowdri and Nagraj!
read on!
Now while I occasionally also had access to comics form Disney and Marvel, those were rare and expensive!
The KV crowd had its own collection! They were mainly by a creator called Pran! If my memory serves right, he had created so many famous characters like Bittu, Pinky and his most famous character of Chacha Chowdri!
Now Chacha and Chachi were amazing characters who were rooted and very simple! The trademark which used to come as an Asterix in the comics was that Chacha’s brain or DIMAK was faster than a computer! So whenever he is faced with a danger his brain gets activated and he comes up with an amazing idea! A big secret which everyone finally gets to know is that Chacha had a twin brother who I think was called Chajju Chowdary and he used to use him to thwart enemies! The plots were simple and were reminiscent of the Panchayat series! Incidentally the same person who played Pradhan also played Chacha Chowdhary in the Tv adaptation!
His chief friend and body guard was Sabu! Now Sabu was not from Earth but from Jupiter|! yes! And when Sabu used to get angry, a volcano used to erupt somewhere on Earth!
I would not be caught reading Chacha Chowdary but in secret I would have read a lot! The best series was when the arch nemesis of Sabu called the RAKA comes! There are a whole series of Raka! I remember how he cannot be killed so they would either send him to space or bury him deep inside! Such fun stuff!
There was also a very tiny guy in the comic who also used to do fun stuff! Sometimes even the Chachi is shown to be as clever as the Chacha! It was a wholesome entertainment for everyone!
But if you liked action then there was another character who had all the characteristics of a super hero! He was called the Nagaraj! Now Nagraj was an “icchadhari” snake or someone who can change his shape! When threatened he would shoot snakes! They were like spider bombs but had live snakes! He had some magical strength which made him heal fast and there was a whole series of storylines which were based sometimes in the present and sometimes in the past! There was also one crossover in which Nagraj saves Superman and Spiderman! I am sure Stan Lee would be thrilled!
Most of the North Indian railway stations would have these comics and the range used to be less than ten rupees unless it is the digest! In the south you used to get more of comics like Champak and ACK
Of course later on with their pan India presence, Tinkle and Amar Chithra Katha comics became more popular! Those days Tinkle used to come every month and I had friends who used to collect each and every copy! I used to feel Tinkle was childish! It was funny and educational though! The regulars like Shikhari Shambhu or Tantri the Mantri or Suppandi! Then that clever crow! It was really nice in the beginning but I felt the later issues became dull and bland!
Finally my favorite ones which I still read and luckily even my daughter likes are the Amar Chithra Katha! Our introduction to our Puranas were mainly from the stories of ACK! The major digests and big books like the Mahabharata Series and the Ramayana series are really well written and popular! In fact the Mahabharata series was actually 100 or so comics and I used to get one every other month! Of course it was a big satisfaction when during my adulthood I finally got the whole series in the list and read it completely! I still have those books and they are really good! Many of the famous ones are well researched and presented in a good format which would appeal all ages!
Starting from single stories to big books ACK has really made a good impact on the Puranas education in India. In fact they have amazing series even on so many other great leaders and incidents. Even now whenever I am free and in the mood for a light reading I do not mind reading an ACK! Of course now I don’t read the hard copy and only the soft copy version but still!
Of course movies by birthday celebrity Kailasam Balachandar is not for those who read comics!
Ok now, do some light reading and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!
ramadocblog 