Amarchitrakatha and my younger cousin

“Bhaiya, who was this hero named Karan who fought so well. And who was Vikram and what was the vampire named Betaal doing to him all the time?” these and many other volleys of queries were fired on me by my 9 yr old cousin from US. I had to diligently explain to her the complex yet uplifting tales of Hindu mythology and our very own superheroes and heroines. This made me take into cognizance a laudable attempt by a group of business savvy consultants’ plan to revitalize the Amarchitrakatha and Tinkle comics’ brand. The move is a welcome one, more so in the face of the assault of Pokémon, Harry Potter and Spiderman fed younger generation of ours. I also happened to read about Richard Branson’s Virgin comics having lately launched Indian superhero and heroine themed comics named Saadhu and Devi.
This is a great way to make the coming generation aware of our rich and awe inspiring literary heritage, with its larger than life heroes and role models. I remember the times when I read Nandan and Chandamama very fondly. Geodesic group owned Chandamama may be in for a cool makeover, but Champak, Nandan and many other magazines have simple vanished into the thin air. Looking at my younger cousin, and taking my other cousins of the same age group as a sample size, I wonder what a divide is there between us and them in form of sensitization to the cultural diversity. As far I remember, there used to be serials like Alif Laila and Chandrakanta in our growing up years. Though related to mystery, they were much better than today’s’ mind numbing array of Song Talent hunts and the ubiquitous K factor drilling poison in the fertile minds of younger generation, who have no choice but to watch them at the prime time hours (and thus gets to like them too!)
Reading the Upanishads and Jatka tales make us wise in more than one way. The morals in the Panchtantra are engraved in our hearts till this day. I wonder why no corporate house has gone for making it big in infotainment domain such as this one, where one gets satisfaction of recreating cultural icons and hero/heroines and present them to the youth, who will need them more than ever as they move from the present cross roads and confused identities of Indian or Hindu to a next, more mature level. After all, Vikram Baital is an old, and thoroughly hindu legend composed in Sanskrit, and is the germ which culminated in the Arabian Nights, and which inspired the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius, Boccacio's "Decamerone," the "Pentamerone," and all that class of facetious fictitious literature