My Dad introduced me to the world of comics (or graphic novels) when he bought me a comic book "Chacha Choudhary and Gabbar Singh". The book opened up doors of matrix to the fantasy world. I was never been fascinated towards anything like this before. My growing up days revolved around Indian superheros; Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Parmanu, Tiranga, Bankelal. The globalization in comic world introduced me to the American superheros; He-Man, SpiderMan, SuperMan, BatMan, Phantom, Mandrake, Buzz Lightyear, Flash. All these super heros looked cool in their designer costumes. They have super powers. They supported righteousness and in every epic battle of good vs evil they come out triaumph. With time the villians too started becoming super villians and it required one or more super heros to come together and fight the super villain. Many super heros coming together to fight a super villain was no less than an epic and it used to drive me crazy to get a hands on the book.
It was like re-living those childhood days again when I walked into the theatre screening Marvel's new movie : The Avengers. Though I have watched most of the comic themed movies rolled out of hollywood studio, The Avengers featuring many a super heros fighting a super villian was again no less than the epic, which used to drive me crazy...
During my childhood days, I used to wrap the red towel on my back and jump from stairs pretending to be Superman. I used to raise the wooden stick and shout "By the powers of Gray skull" and thinking of getting transformed like He-man. I used to call my 3 wheeled bicycle "Bat Mobile" after Bat-Man's car. My drawing book carried the numerous sketches of the super heros. I always had this secret fantasy of becoming the Super Commando Dhruv when I grow up. Why was I drawn to these super heros? Because I knew... Super heros underneath the designer costume are people just like you and me. Batman is Bruce Wayne. Spider Man is Peter Parker. He-Man is prince Adam. Hulk is Dr. Bruce Banner and Iron man is Tony Stark and so are others. Then what sets them apart? Like you and me they too have both good and bad sides. The acrobatic flips, the super powers, the martial arts, the gadgets, the super acumen or the costume does not alone make them super. They need to fight against their dark side before fighting the wicked villain to come out victorious, thats what makes them super. "With Power comes responsibility" and they live up to that responsibility by being on the side of good even when evil is so compelling to join hands with. They too have fears, fears of losing their loved ones but their faith in a greater good and raising above their fears is what sets them apart.
Today it looks out of fashion to put your underpants over your trousers to be a super hero :) So I have satisfied myself with a monotonous non adventure IT job. But I do have a super man logo T shirt incase of emergency :):) The flip side of being adult is that you know super heros are fable and they only exist in imagination. But if I have to believe Bat-Man's words... "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do defines me."
So I do... & I try to do good. I believe that elevates me to the league of super heros!!! Isn't it?
Today it looks out of fashion to put your underpants over your trousers to be a super hero :) So I have satisfied myself with a monotonous non adventure IT job. But I do have a super man logo T shirt incase of emergency :):) The flip side of being adult is that you know super heros are fable and they only exist in imagination. But if I have to believe Bat-Man's words... "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do defines me."
Good read :)
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