TINKLE-THE AWAKENING!!!

Ok...savour this:
A servant and the master of the house decide to play cricket because the master has a holiday and has nothing better to do.The master decides to bat and the servant has to bowl to him.He hits a huge shot and the ball goes far off.As the servant runs to the get the ball back, the master's wife shouts and tells the servant to go get some vegetables from the market. Forgoing the ball, servant follows her order and goes to get vegetables.The master meanwhile keeps running so much so that when the servant returns, he's completing his 100th run and..."Thats a centuryyyy"!!!! -THE END
Senseless? Amusing? Pukey? Well it can be all of it but this is what I read today in Crossword bookstore, from my favourite comics "TINKLE" albeit attracting stares from chotu kids and their moms. I just used my holiday to go back to my "Reading-tinkle-in summer vacation" days and Boy did I love it!! I was an avid reader of Tinkle and I got a chance today to lay my hands on it and I enjoyed it immensely!

During childhood, I read it just to pass time and for entertainment. But today as I read it, I realized how important this comics is for a child during his "growing up" days! The reason I tell this is because I found in the book, all the elements required for a child to imbibe in himself.

Check this story out:

A man buries some gold coins in the forest as he has no safe place in his hut to keep them. Some days later when he digs the same spot, Lo! Behold! the bag of gold coins is missing.He complains to the king who assures him that justice will be delivered. He asks his trusted minister to investigate the forest land where the coins were buried. The roots of the trees there called "ARKA" roots had medicinal properties. King ordered his men to grab every physician of the village to his palace as he felt one of them must have used the roots. On interrogation, one of the physicians admits prescribing the medicine to the village money-lender. The village money lender is summoned and he says,"Following the physicians advice, I asked my servant to get the roots". The servant was summoned and he admitted to finding the bag of gold coins and stealing them.
Wow! What a story! I loved the logic that was displayed in narrating this story and this is what we sub-consciously imbibed in ourselves in childhood that maybe helps us now. For those unfortunate ones who did not read TINKLE, I am sure there must be something else that would have influenced your thinking in some way or the other.

Kalia the crow which showed the triumph of good over the evil by wit, Suppandi who amazed everyone with his innocence and dumbness and some informational articles like "Meet the Hippo" etc all in one book....Wow!

So, my reading session which started with a book titled "What your CEO wants", ended with Tinkle and I am so thankful to my pair of eyes that spotted it!
It just never fails to entertain...and today, it did something more!! Awakened me! :)

LM "RIP": Let Me Rest In Peace !!

Funny thing happened today morning....Neighbour of mine came to ask for "Mumbai Samachar" which is a regional newspaper.Supposedly today's copy wasnt delivered to their place. Finding the newspaper & giving it to him was simple. But, a tougher job awaited me. He had undergone a cataract operation recently and couldnt read clearly...So, he wanted me to look at the "Obituary" page and then in a particular caste section called "lohana" and tell him who has died!!!! :) I obliged and read out the entire paragraph which stated atleast 50 relatives of the deceased, alongwith time of death and the time n venue for funeral etc. He expressed sorrow and condolences as if I have lost someone and went away saying ," She was a very nice lady, a famous doctor's wife.Sad" . I just stood there bemused!!

If I am not mistaken, this is a daily ritual for him. A very simple question engulfed me, "How can someone start their day reading the Obituary page on daily basis?"
Just realised, theres nothing different I do.Naxals kill, Taliban kill, Lovers kill, parents kill,underworld kills, some plunge to death,some drown to death, some hang to death...and it all makes it to the so called "Non-Obituary" pages and ultimately thats what I read. Rest of the mortals (no pun intended)are categorically placed in the section designated to them!

So, as such, the only difference between my neighbour and me is he voluntarily reads about deaths while I am forced to. I believe, the "Obituary" page should be made optional and not be a part of the daily. It should be charged extra for to deter people like my neighbours who make people like me read aloud about someone's death and go back heaving a sigh of relief thinking "Wow, I am abreast with all the recent happenings"!! Baah...