Celebrating Holi!!!!

With Holi just around the corner, and a long weekend smiling at us, our happiness knows no bounds! But how DO we celebrate the festival of colors??? DUH!! With colors of course!!

Today we are celebrating World Water Day wherein Twitter and FB are uploaded with words of wisdom like Save Water, and we are killing the planet and so on! However, exactly 2 days later the same twitter and facebook will be bursting with people drenched in colored waters ‘celebrating Holi’ totally forgetting the words of wisdom shared 2 days ago!

I mean who does not love colors, but is it necessary to drench ourselves in colored waters looking pink or green for the next week just to prove we had fun?

Believe me I am not the Grinch who is trying to steal Holi from the merrymakers! I am just trying to say, enjoy with dry colors and let the water be for other essential purposes like drinking and bathing and watering the plants and other food sources.  

Article initially published here;  http://itemmom.com/celebrating-holi/

Image courtesy: www.festivalofcolorsusa.com

Ageless Comic book Men & Their faithful friends

Yes! I read comic books… a lot!!!!!  I’ve been reading them since I learnt how to read.  

Some of these characters seem like old best friends who were a part of my formative years. Maybe that’s why I like magic and supernatural compared to the real mundane world; or may be just that I have lost my marbles… Not sure though!

Anyhoo, I was cleaning my book box the other day and I revisited this world of my childhood comic books and I realized I still loved each character just as I did back then. Now that we have been blessed with Google, I started to read up on the characters and realized most of them are as old as our grandparents.

Tintin & Snowy

Herge` has created one of the most iconic characters of the comic book world.  On Jan 10th 1929, reporter Tintin and his favorite canine partner Snowy appeared in in the children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle wherein they set off on an adventure to the Soviet Union. As of today they are 87 years old and still evergreen amongst old and the young.

Asterix, Obelix & Dogmatix

This tremendous trio (along with the other characters) was born on 29th October 1959 in the French weekly magazine Pilote. In the very first issue ‘Asterix the Gaul’, the creators René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo introduced the Gaulish village folks and their arch nemesis – The Romans!!!

Mandrake the Magician

Mandrake the Magician is an all American, suave crime fighting dude who uses his magic for the good of mankind and fighting evil.  Created by Lee Falk, Mandrake went into publication on June 11, 1934 making him all of 82 this year.

Phantom, Devil & Hero

Another crime fighting costumed Hero created by Lee Falk, The Phantom debuted as a comic strip on February 17th 1936. Unlike other fictional costumed heroes, the Phantom has no superpowers and relies on his strength & intelligence to defeat his enemies. Like the Mantle of the Bat, Phantom is an idea and not just one person. The current phantom is the 21st Phantom who has dawned the skull ring and mask. He has 2 faithful friends watching his back during his crime fighting; a Wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero. All of them turned 80 in 2016 

These fictional grandpas rock hard till date!!!!!