The Indian Comics

The day began just like a typical vacation day. I woke up at a time not perfectly suitable for a breakfast and was going through the usual chores at a speed befitting of a snail. There was an air of lazy hapiness all around me. Disintrestedly i switched on my computer . And while i was about to watch Lord of the rings part1 for the 39th time my eyes fell on a documentory tracing the origon of DC comics. It looked interesting so i began watching it . After 24 hours and three viewings of the documentory here i am with no choice but to pen down my thoughts.




The documentory was an absolute delight. It just did not stop at tracing the origon it went on to elaborately explain the changes that DC went through and the social as well as phsycological reasons behind that. I was unfortunately exposed to these comics very late; after i completed my school and so while my friends were busy chatting with their present or potential girl friends i was lost in the world of comics and novles much to every one else's ridicule. For guys like me this documentory was like salvation . It made you feel proud that the years you spent were not wasted on some random cartoon picture on a colored paper. That what i read was something special and by reading it i became a tiny part of that something special. Anyway as always is the case after this sudden burst of happiness a wave of sadness hit me when i compared it with the Indian Comic books.





Indian comics does not stand anywhere close when compared to their foreign counterparts. I posted this as a status message on facebook and got a very intresting reply by one of my friend Vaibhav Kediya. He talked about how a comic series carries a brand equity that is conspicuous in its absence in the Indian counterpart. This was a very valid point when it comes to the sales of the comics but i was not born with the fittest of the bussiness brains nor do i have that gifted knack of putting my finger on the pulse of the common people.





So keeping these frailities in mind i will just discuss whats wrong in the Indian comics contentwise. The general opinion seems to be that the Indian Comics lack the detailed graphics that the american one has. Most of them have not probably read a single Indian comic book in a long long time. As a self confessed die hard fan of comics i am yet to miss even a single comic of Super Commando Dhruva and i will stick out my head and say thet in the last two to three years the graphics and illustrations have been at par if not better than the likes of DC , Marvel etc.

The reason which i would like to give is based on my sister's reply on my fb status "Lack of character devlopment". My sister reasons that since most of the characters have been lifted off straight from soewhere else their character devlopment has not taken place . While i do not doubt that the lack of character development has been the biggest problem with the Indian comics i do not particularly agree with the explanation behind.

Even if most of the characters are rip offs a lot of work has been done to usher them into Indian enviornment. And i think one of the biggest character of Raj Comics "Naagraj" is actually pretty origional. And if my memory serves me right there were a lot of comics in the series trying to trace back his origon such as "khajaana" etc and there were also comics dedicated to scientific explanation of his powers such as "snake park".

The reason i believe for the lack of character development is Indian adults absolute denial of a kids emotional intelligence. While they will sometimes over accomodate the fact that Indian kids are intelligent ( I have read a Nagraj comics titled "Raj ka Raj" when i was in class 5 . In the comics Nagraj slows down the radioactive reactions inside the mutant with the help of heavy water (D2O). In another comics "dracula" Super Commando Dhruv suffers because he fails to take into account the static charge present on the Earth's surface Anyone who has done a physics problem where one has to always neglect the charge present on earth's surface will understand it)

The problem is that they absolutely have no connection with the day to day life . Instead of the thin line thats normally present there is a 12 lane highway seperating right from wrong in these comics. All the super heroes have a set of principles which they always follow . Not once will be a super hero caught in a moral conflict as to what s right and what is wrong . The most intresting and fascinating of all concepts "the concept of the greater good" is conspicuos by its absence in the Indian comics.

Moreover the super heroes are always good and villians are always bad. They do not have villains like double face who is constantly at battle with himself as to choose his path. Every indian super hero is as sure as the superman . There is no spiderman with an ever compelling urge of hanging his suit and spend rest of his life with his girlfriens as Peter Parker.

Its not just the comics though a glance at Indian kid movies will tell you that story is the same . In fact much worse . Most movies even dont take into account the intelligence level of kids. People fail to understand that kids are innocent but that does not mean that they are dumb nor do it means that they are ignorant ; definately not in the age of internet .

The reason to their failure to adapt can also be attributed to the carrer driven society . In abroad people have the luxury of pursuing their passions. So the first generation who was fed the comic book diet introspected about what was wrong with them and then joined the industry to make changes. Meanwhile that generation in India included guys like me who will write a blog and then will join a multi national company because a comic book industry will never give them the amount of money that they can earn elsewhere.

Slowly though the thinga are changing . The new generations being "economically relaxed" (i coined it) do not share the burden of inferiority that was evident in their previous generations. They are setting out to pursue their passions. The latest movies directed by young blood are a testament to that. The kid movies too are slowly evolving . "Stanely ka Dabba is probably the first kid movie where the kids are intellegent without compromising at all on their innocence. Not even Vishaal Bhardwaj was able to do that in yesteryears "Makdi".

I hope the trend catches up and go strong and the effect spills onto the comic book industry as well . Till then we will keep on discussing "why did batman did not kill joker to avenge robin's death "

IIT JEE

i began the day with my usual resolution of loosing 5 kgs in a day by running more than 100 km. And again the lure of a soft bed and a good cooler destroyed my well researched and totally pragmatic plans . Bored and loving every bit of being bored i sat on my computer . While checking my facebook account hoping against hope that some hot girl must have sent me a friend request, my eyes caught glimpse of a headline in the paper showing how today is actually the D-day.
Interested i began reading it only to find out that it was about IIT-JEE results which judging by the way the article was written , was the single most important event in the human history .

Anyway just like everyone else almost each eand every year i too always end up knowing someone who has glued his ass to a chair in some random location at Kota for 7 hours a day over a period ranging from 1 to 3 years.

As shakespere died a long time and assuming that internet is not accesible from up above i now state my next line. "To call or not to call" is the question. I generally follow the Manhoman Singh's policy on this matter : "choosing to take no action is also an action"

My point is that if the bloke really got a good rank he will call me and if he did not get selected there is no point rubbing it in by calling. Most importantly though by choosing not to call you save your mobile balance.

This time though i met the guy at facebook. He informed me of his rank. It was around 4700 out of the total of 9000 people that were selected . I was about to say congrats but thankfully due to my inability to adapt to anything new i possess a torotoise like typing speed and his next message alreay arrived before i could send mine. It said

" meri to halat kharab ho gayi hain"

The tricky part though is that it seems to be the general opinion. When called he was not in a mood to talk. Gloom seems to surround his home too. 5 years back when i was about to join my college the number of engineers that this country was producing was equal to total population of New Zealand. I havent googled about statistics now . I dont have an affinity for big numbers . Numbers with more zeroes than gray cells in my brain. But i guess the new zeland must have made way for a much bigger country now.

Now that i am done with the stastics i will throw you the impact. The exam i am talking about here is the top most priority for each and every one of hose forming that big number with zeroes more my gray cells. The guy gets 4700 rank . For a minute assume he is not in India and is actually living in a country somewhat bigger than New Zealand. He is now among the top 5000 people of that nation.

And yet he is sad. Why? i know the kid. i dont think he knows a lot about research and i am equally sure he hardly has a deep interest in science and technology . He took it for the same reason i sat in that paper 5 years ago. He sat in the exam for the same reason 99.99 % of the total JEE aspirants sit in it for . They are good at maths, they are good at science , their parents have heard from their friends that arts is taken only by idiots so there is hardly anything else to do. And yet they all are sad . Why? What difference will it make if they do not qualify or qualify at a lower rank?

Is it the package. You got to be kidding me. Can they really start worrying themselves sick for the money they will get after 6 years . Are the kids really that money minded today . Does it even matter that his starting package would be 3 lakhs instead of 6 lakhs after 4 years of college.

Come to that i know it matters a lot to final year engineering students but really think about it Once they are placed in the company five years down the line will it really make that big a difference that they earn x lakh rupees less than their collage room mate

We see guys hanging themselves because they dont get a job. We see guys hanging themselves because they have to repeat a year. We see guys (includig me) catching depression like its common cold. i today saw a guy trying to
control his tears for only being a lowly 5000 among lakhs of students. And then we ask ourselves is there a way out, is there a solution?

But do we even know the question thats haunting them . i have been through all these stages but when i look back the entire behaviour pattern seems so illogical. And this from guys who prides themselves on their logical capablities. i am trying hard to come up with right qusetions but i am failing.

Maybe my vision is being clouded by my own personal involvement, my own personal experience . Maybe someone from outside someone with totally objective viewpoint will ask the right question and then maybe .....maybe we will come with a solution. Till then its tears and ropes.