Nostalgia. Originally the word meant to signify a serious medical disorder inflicted on a person when he longs for his native land, it ofcourse has a significantly more "milder" connotation today. Sharing one's own nostalgia is tricky business, however.

It is tricky for several reasons, it can probably not be completely shared, it is born out of the life that I lead earlier, it was what I experienced in past and it is not entirely clear that it would generate in you a similar kind of bitter sweetness that it does in me. On that cautionary note, I realise that for a lot of you these images don't make sense, but for me and I hope for many of you too, it will bring back those old days (good or bad, I don't know, that was the best that we knew then) when we were growing up in India, when there was but one TV channel and we knew the entire show timings schedule verbatim (I can still remember when many of the shows played), when we learnt a major part of our history and mythology through the wonderful comics of Amar Chitra Katha, where the antics of Supandi and Chacha Chaudhary, though exactly opposite in their cerebral capabilities both delighted us.

Giant Robot

From what I remember, this show used to come on Saturday evenings and involved a Japanese kid, who had this ultra cool watch, using which he could control, you guessed it, the Giant Robot. The Giant Robot (who now when I look at him looks like a pharaoh ? ), had this utlra cool, rocket type propellers on his back so it could fly. I remember me and my brother jumping all over the place when the kid gives him a command to fly/get activated, screaming on the top of our voices, Giant Robot is coming ..

Vikram aur Betaal

This program also used to come on Saturday evenings. Arun Govil a.k.a maryada purushottum "Ram" himself, played Vikramaditya who had to take Betaal, the wily ghost to a destination without speaking at all during the journey. Betaal always used to tell him a story, which would end in the form of a puzzle and ask Vikram to choose the correct alternative. The stories were rather interesting and this serial was probably inspired from the series in Chandamama.

I especially used to like the opening music of the serial. Just a few days back a friend and me, were shouting on the top of our voices, singing "Vikram aur Betaal" over a bridge here in Boston. Yes I am crazy like that.

He-Man

This is used to be on every Sunday morning. This was the bestest cartoon ever. An "ordinary" prince finds a sword, which if he aims towards the sky and announces "I am He-man, I have the power" transforms him into the most powerful man in the universe, He-man. He and his friends are perennially fighting the evil Skeletor and his cronies. With so many interesting characters with their own little quirks (like having 360 degree vision (Triklops) , to know magic (Orko), to be able to ram into anything (RamMan) ), it provided enough imagination fodder to feed the mind of a 10 year old.

Amar Chitra Katha

I suspect for millions of Indian children, including me they have been the biggest source of knowledge of Indian mythology and history. Between the time when we were not yet ready to read extensive treatises on these topics but we had started to read, this was an ideal tool to whet our imagination and quench the inquisitiveness that starts to permeate within us during those ages.
The have also spurred research.
For who want to relive their past ACK reading experience or want to brush up their Indian mythology here is a link to the complete Ramayan in ACK.



ACK also published Tinkle, a sort of comic children's Reader's Digest with several interesting short stories in a comic form with some classic characters who reappeared in stories in every other edition. Who can forget Supandi, Shikhari Shambu, Ranjha, Tantri the Mantri , Kalia the crow, Hodga and so many more.

Chacha Chaudhary

Disclaimer : Chacha Chaudhary comics had a poor man's feel about them. The cartooning (by Pran) was not by any stretch of imagination art, and the stories too, largely nonsensical.
Chacha Chaudhary was an old man with a razor sharp intellect (or as the comic's oft repeated tag line, "chacha chaudhary ka dimaag computer se bhee tez chalta hai" ), who lived with this giant import from the planet Jupiter, Saboo. Together brain and brawn they solved every problem that came their way.
Simplistic that they were, I still read tonnes of them during my vacations. They were a super easy read and were entertaining I guess at times for their sheer implausibility.

There were several other comics which were pretty popular. Indrajal comics had Phantom, Mandrake and Bahadur (see comment from Gautham for more on him), Tintin and Asterix ofcourse and the ubiquitous Archie comics. Wondering what captures the imagination of a young kid in India today, while I croon this :)..

Yeh Daulat Bhi Le Lo, Yeh Shohrat Bhi Le Lo,
Bhale Cheen Lo Mujhse Meri Jawaani,
Magar Mujhko Lautaa Do Bachpan Ka Saawan,
Woh Kaagaz Ki Kashti, Woh Baarish Ka Paani

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