COMICS-NOSTALGIA

My grandma has been wanting to throw away some stuff from the store-room in order to accommodate the ever-swelling 'junk' that each household magically keeps producing at a steady and unstoppable pace. I was given the duty to clear away some old boxes that apparently contained things from my childhood.
Upon opening one of the boxes, I found a bundle of comic magazines. Comics are how I had been introduced to the world of 'Reading' and I have always been fond of them.
I very fondly remember the times when I used to devour these comics at a rate faster than than I used to gulp down food.

FLASHBACK: imagine the following in a crackling black and white movie frame:
I am all set to journey to my grandparent's place in Bhopal, from Coimbatore (a 20 hour journey). My excitement of visiting my beloved grandparents is peaks with the fact that I will get to read comics on the train. Now, in 'those' days, I was allowed to afford the luxury of a comic if and only if we were travelling by train (my parents later confessed that the comics kept me from jumping out of the train at every station that the train stopped).
So there I was, entering the railway station...one hand being held firmly in the confident but relaxed grip of my dad and the other swaying happily by my side like a dog's wagging tail. I knew the exact location of the book-store in the railway station and prided myself at being able to get to it even blindfolded. I knew that the train would arrive only half an hour after we had stepped into the station (which I thought the train did on purpose by the way). So I started looking in the direction of the book-stand. My dad sensing my desperation to hold a comic in my hands, smiled down at me and took me straight to the book-stall.
I happily bought myself a Tinkle 'digest' and two Chacha Chowdhary comics.
Ah! I was feeling like a king now, clinging on to the comics like they were worth more than my life. The rest of the journey I do not remember too well....it's all hazy with me buried into the comics and noticing almost nothing else.

OK...Now you can come back to the present day...full-color picture in HD ...

Chacha Chowdhary and Tinkle. :) who doesn't remember them? They've been one of the most important memories  of every child who grew up in the 90's. Quite honestly, these comics were some of my most treasured posessions till a very long time. They were almost like my best friends. The Chacha Chowdhary comic's  trademark one liners 'A volcano erupts in Jupiter when Sabu gets angry', or 'Chacha Chowdhary's brain works faster than a computer'  were their unique-selling-points. Every child loved these characters and even sometimes wished to be as intelligent as the Chacha himself. Then there was Tinkle with its 'Tantri the Mantri'  with his ever-failing plots to assassinate or get rid of his king (which rhymes really well btw) and 'Suppandi'  the simple village-lad with his never-ending goof-ups. The jokes at that age seemed so funny but now seem to be pretty lame and I chuckle to myself thinking 'how did I find these jokes even funny?' Then there were numerous other comics from the 'Diamond comics' (which were quite a rage in the 90's) stable like  Billoo, Captain Vyom,  Chotu Lambu which were also quite popular.

Anyway, the fact remains that these comics definitively occupy a vast part of my childhood memories and I will always be fond of comics no matter how old I grow. Only now, the comics have shifted to the more radical and 'cooler' super-hero genre. :D Everytime I see a Chacha Chowdhary comic or a Tinkle Digest somewhere, It unknowingly triggers a wave of nostalgia as I find myself back on a railway station as a 11 year old waiting for my dad to buy me my 'treasures'
:)