Chacha Chaudhary, Indian comics and connection

“Main book shop par khada hoon, kuch chahiye aapko? (I am standing at the book shop, do you need anything?)” asked my dad on phone, calling from New Delhi Railway Station, about to board his train in few minutes.

“Ho sake to ek Chacha Chaudhary ki comic le aana, bachpan mein aap mere liye bahut saari lekar aate the, kai saal ho gaye, koi si bhi le aaiyega (If possible please bring one Chacha Chaudhary comic, when I was a kid you used to bring lots for me, several years have passed, kindly bring any one of them)” was my reply, getting emotional remembering the times.

My first memory of self-reading a book happens to be Chacha Chaudhary comics. I was quite fascinated by the colourful images on them and the accompanying text laced with wit and victory. Whatever be one’s age, every human likes to laugh, and apart from my family members and the angel-like Asha Talwar madam in school; Chacha Chaudhary comics kept me happy. They were easier to read than books prescribed in school, and offered generous doses of laughter.

My parents tell me I was able to read complex Hindi words such as अंत्रिक्ष at an early age because of those comics and I would spend more time reading them than prescribed school books. I believe that the comics, conceptualized by Pran ji and published by Diamond Comics, were done in such a way that it was hard to put them down. They emphasized morals, values, and solving problems around us while laughing. It was in Chacha Chaudhary comics that I first read about Computers, even though I hadn't seen them in real life.

Today I am a Computer Engineer. I am a staunch believer of ethics and solving problems around us without taking life seriously. In hindsight maybe the seeds of that were grown during my childhood.

It’s not that I read Chacha Chaudhary comics throughout my life. I assumed there's an age after which one should stop reading comic books. So after giving them up, I progressed through an education system where I had to cram up stuff just because I’d get good grades and make it to college (no school book touched me emotionally, and what helped me sail were some really great teachers). In college I studied so that I would get a job that would help me earn money, and again no prescribed text book had an emotional impact on me. When in job I went through a lot of external reference material to increase my knowledge, but again there was no emotional connect.

And thus I started to wonder if there really was an age to stop reading comics.

Few months ago, I discovered a web-comic on Facebook called Garbage Bin. Created by Mohd. Faisal, they made me revisit my childhood days and appreciate the wonderful time given to me by my family, teachers, and class mates. After many years I experienced emotional connect. I appreciate Faisal for doing a tremendous job, and I know I am not the only one complimenting him.

Comic by Garbage Bin

It was due to Garbage Bin that I thought of having another go at Chacha Chaudhary comics, and thus when I got the opportunity to avail one, I jumped at it (also there was an emotional reason involving father-son childhood memories). Going through it, while I did go into a time wrap, even recollecting nearly all the strips having read before, my mind was having thoughts that many things now would not be possible in real life, and the content while nostalgic did appear somewhat unrelatable for my age. But there was something very peculiar that struck me.

I wondered if our education system could learn something from comics. The enjoyment in reading good comics is much more than reading about stuff such as electrons that we cannot see but have to visualize. Almost all of our prescribed text books in professional courses do not emphasize importance of human values but comic books like Chacha Chaudhary do. I learned more about Indian History by reading Amar Chitra Katha instead of the books prescribed in school, and there must be many more who learn quickly by reading comics over text books. They are easy to read but the process of creating comics wouldn't be smooth, and I feel all great cartoonists deserve respect.

 

Via Burning Bright

Irony of our society is that if I have a kind hearted cartoonist friend who makes comics, works incredibly hard at it, does a tremendous job and I appreciate his work; he might not get the kind of respect that another friend of mine would get who is earning tones of money thanks to his educational qualifications, his hard work be praised but I wonder how happy he really is with his life (you might be able to relate to this).

This makes me appreciate Jaspal Bhatti ji's family for letting him leave his financially secure Government job so that he could realize his true calling as a humorist starting with drawing cartoons for newspapers. I wonder if he would have become India’s top most satirist had he not drawn cartoons.

Via The Tribune

I leave you with few memorable things I remember from Chacha Chaudhary comics.

1. Chacha Chaudhary’s brain worked faster than a Computer. His real name was Chotu Chaudhary and before getting married was a topmost boxer.

2. He had an identical twin brother named Chajju Chaudhary.

3. The mere thought of Sabu makes me think of volcanoes getting erupted on Jupiter whenever he got angry.

4. Chacha Chaudhary’s ace nemeses were Dhamaka Singh and Gobar Singh. Their physical prowess never won against Chacha Chaudhary's analytic powers.

5. Sabu’s ace nemesis was Raka who got introduced in 100^th edition of the series and subsequently he was repeated in every 100^th edition except maybe the 700^th one and his character was terminated in 800^th one (unless another comic came up that revived him but am sure they wouldn't have let him continue forever).

6. Chacha Chaudhary's sidekick in first few series was a vertically challenged sidekick named Tingu Master and in later ones a faithful dog called Rocket who was adopted from the streets.

7. Chacha Chaudhary was perhaps the only comic character that Indian families would ask their kids to model themselves on when they grew up.

Photo of Sidak Singh by Arjun Suri Photography

(All images by Diamond Comics except wherever specified. To know more about Pran ji, creator of Chacha Chaudhary, kindly refer the following links - here, here and here.)