Cartoons that were idiotically boxed in my childhood

Eight years...uhhh...seven..hmm six... no, I think eight is right.
Yes, its been eight years since I sat animatedly to watch cartoons that ran on my idiot box. I must have been 14 and yet I was still obsessed with Tom and Jerry, Flintstones, Jetsons, Scooby Doo. Today, I realise that age is getting on me (22 being close on heals), I try best switch my remote — err..before a midlife crisis — to the POGOs or Cartoon Networks of our times from my daily Sitcoms and news trash, but, to my dissapointment all I get to see is some Japanese cartoons (Shing-chang, Pokemon, Doremon and all that jazz), which I personally feel is NON-SENSICAL TRASH dumped to a lull group of X-BOX and Play-station obsessed kids.

Yes, I do miss some of my favourite cartoons and am sad that none of it is being fed to the present generation and beyond. And so, this overtly magnanimous ego of mine...deflates...refuses to switch to cartoon channels for now, but instead opts for the better option to vent my cartoon woes...Ah...well you know...MY BLOG...My beshtest friend...
So here it goes, the list of my favourite cartoons that were idiotically boxed in my childhood (in no lovable order)

DUCKTALES



Uncle Scrooge McDuck and his three great-nephews Dewey, Huey, Louie were the most loved foursome among my friend circle. We used to love the cartoon to the core and most of my girl and boy friends would specially drop by to my house daily, only to catch up with the next episode together.
The most fascinating element in this Walt Disney production was the GOLD ELEMENT..yes..wait I am getting there... I loved watching Uncle Scrooge swim in his "gold coin-pool" hidden in the circular round locker inside his dollar-signed office building.
Scrooge was probably the richest duck in town, but woah, the greedy uncle wanted more, so the cartoon script was a twist from the Bollywood one-liner... A total paisa dekh tamasha dekh (original being Paisa phek tamasha dekh).
Well, most of the times, the episodes were all about shielding Uncle Scrooge's wealth from the Beagle Boys and the devilishly beautiful Magica De Spell. It was an out an out chase for the "big-bucks".
Uncle Scrooge, who hated his naughty little great-nephews in the begining of every episode and constantly cursed his nephew Donald for making him their foster parent, virtually made them participants in his "save my money game." So, in the end they were one big happy family, saving us kids aka my friends a beautiful smile.

SCOOBY DOO



Scooby doobie Doo WHERE ARE YOU? You got some work to do now.... hmm...I can still sing the song for you. I have fond memories of this cartoon in particular, especially because it was one of mine and my brother Saby's most loved cartoons. We were one of the biggest fans around, probably because its eerie feel and prudish spookiness and the silly ghost-busting brigade i.e. Shaggie and Scooby Doo followed by Freddie (who was always on the driver's seat in the Dream Machine car), the hottie Daphine and Velma (intelligent, smart and daring of the lot), excited our ghostly sensibilities.
I remember Saby play Freddie and me Welma, to add to the romantic touch, my brother's pupply-love would play Daphine. We would re-run the entire show daily after watching it, that was the extent of our craze. It was fun, how we would keep guessing who the real ghost was till the end of the cartoon, though often it was more than obvious. Yes, but Scooby Doo had a standard story line which would end by unmasking the mysterious ghost.
The most adorable characters of them all were Shaggie and Scooby Doo the hungriest of the lot. They would salivate on burgers and ice-creams and the scooby snack ofcourse.
The "Dream Machine" gang would only have to feed scooby snacks to Shaggy and Scooby Doo to persuade them to disguise and confront the ghost face to face.
Somewhere in between we also had Scooby's nephew Scrappy Doo but well he did not fit the bill or for that matter the "Dream Machine team".
This Hanna Barbera production was such a big hit, that the cartoon was followed by two Hollywood movies, one a sequel to the other. There have been several versions of the Scooby Doo cartoon ever since...but none could beat the original. Interestingly, the original run was in 1969, i.e. over FOUR decades ago, but good cartoons die-hard and so has Scooby Doooo..

CAPTAIN PLANET



"With your powers combined, I, am Captain Planet?" Yes, Captain Planet...this is the only action cartoon I never had qualms about watching with the boys. The script goes like this....five ordinary people are gifted with the rings of elemental power Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Heart by the Earthy Spirit Gaia. These five come from different parts of the world and unite to form the "Planateers" who have been destined to Save Planet Earth.
Individually, their Earthly energies helps keep away the enemy from harming the environment, but, when the enemy overpowers, they combine their energies by placing their rings forward and calling out to our very own CAPTAIN PLANET. And as the song goes, Captain Planet...He's the hero, gonna bring pollution down to zero. However, Captain Planet is weakened when he comes in direct contact with pollutants.
The beautiful Earth Spirit Gaia protects these planateers and regularly briefs them on the next environment-protection assignment while also informing them about the doers of such crime.
Gaia is my favourite, because she was absolutely mystical. The best part about this Ted-Tuner production was that it was fun yet informative at the same time. It helped young kids like me become more environmentally concious.
Yes....The Power is Yours....

TOM AND JERRY



Tom and Jerry nahin dekha to kya dekha. Yes, this cartoon cannot "just" skip your mind. Originally created by William Hanna and Joesph Barbera for MGM Productions, Tom and Jerry is the story of a blue-grey housecat (Tom) and a brown mouse (Jerry). Supposedly living under one roof, Tom and Jerry replicate the real-life enemity between mice and cats. But what it offers, is out and out non-sensical, hysterical, power-packed comical violence dramatically toned with endless battles and chases. The mouse triggers, the cat is triggered and the never-ending chase continues...unfortunately poor Tom never manages to catch the menacing Jerry. In one or two of the cartoons they patch up and vow friendship only to become fierce enemies in the next. Interestingly, Tom also dies is more than three of the cartoon shows, but, again, he never really dies, he comes back to haunt lil Jerry.
All cartoons however run high and dry without other characters who help make it big, Spike (the bulldog) and his sone Tyke, Quacker, Mammy two shoes (the African American housemaid - known for kicking Tom out of home often), Nibbles (the little orphan mouse), the gold-fish are some of these.
My favourite cartoon from among the series is The Night before Christmas.
I AM A LUCKY ONE THOUGH, I don't need cartoon channels to view re-runs, I have my prized Tom and Jerry video cassette-collection, which I turn to whenever I need to lift my mood. And don't be suprised....the first Tom and Jerry Cartoon was screened in 1940...and the series alone have one seven Academy awards. So, you know that no one outgrows watching the cartoon, and no other cartoon has been able to beat the Cat-Mouse duo.

OK... I LOVED MANY MORE, BUT THESE WERE FOUR OF MY FAVOURITE. I have decided to pen only this much before you get bored any further. But, I cannot do without mentioning them, so here it is
Johnny Quest, Flintstones, Richie Rich, The Jetsons, Tale Spin, Swat Cats, Alladin, The Little Mermaid, Pink Panther, Popeye, The Perils of Penelope Pistop, Top Cat, Cat Dog, Courage the Cowardly Dog... I think this should suffice, Poor little kiddies are missing so much these days

STILL HOPEFUL

It was my first oppurtunity as a voter, I was excited that I would no longer be a mute spectator but a participant in the government making process. The whole "responsibility-towards-the-Nation" thing had seeped into me to such an extent that I personally went an applied for mine and four of my other family members' names in the electoral list early in August 2008. I wrote about exercising voting rights in my blog, in magazines, in the newspaper I work etc. My cousins mocked at my excitement and found my reasons to vote very lame.
However, somewhere post the attacks the energy of participation dwindled. I did not want to preach, i did not want to ridicule, I did not want to act...I simply did not want to do anything. I was neither an optimist nor a pessimist, I simply did not want to do anything.
Come elections, working in the news room did some good to me. The daily reports from our political reporters, editing those copies and news packages gave me a brief idea on whom to vote and not to. But since I simply did not want to do anything, i did not bother to check if my name had come in the electoral list...instead I moved on... speaking to friends on the poor state of political affairs in the state, the wannabe PMs, the daily menacing smses from PRs of political parties.
"What a sham," I thought.
To add to this, Congress MP' Milind Deora was standing from my constituency. What a sham again? My family has been a Congress supporter for decades now, but, hey, Deora's "indispensable work" as he claims in the last 5 years did nothing to magnetise me. I did not wantto vote him.
But somewhere, the feeling of parting with responsibility was making me guilt laden.
again but I wanted the Congress, less because of my family ties and more because i wanted Dr Manmohan Singh.
Unlike Advani, he may not seem to be a "desperate seeker of power" but his sombre approach to accusations from the Opposition is electrifying. I agree that during Singh's reign security has been at loose ends, but I also know that if we have the BJP worse is expected. Despite BJP's Hindutava agenda, Godhra and Babri Masji as track record big corporates still vouch for BJP... Again such a sham?
However, I was a little let down by Congress' very poor weapon to attack their OPPOSITION...that is "Kandahar". The Congress should have realised that every government has its own set of problems to tackle. If BJP had Kandahar, then the Congress had 7/11, 26/11, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi serial blasts and more. If BJP released a terrorist, Congress failed to tackle the terrorist...By digging up Kandahar to counter-attack their "failed to act on terror" flaws, Congress did not only behave prudishly but also dissapointed several of its voters....who were expecting some strong war of words...and war politics...perhaps they could have spoken of how Manmohan Singh's government tackled the Global Recession. That was a remarkable feat...
Unfortunately, India for the last decade or so has been sitting on the lap of uncertainity. And the government is not doing better any to reassert this claim.
Sometimes I strongly feel that I want Manmohan Singh more because I don't want BJP to come to power. So I voted for Milind and so I want Singh badly. But I am still hopeful that Congress realises its flaws and works on core issues that are affect the nation instead of building allies outside the country. I voted....I voted because I am STILL HOPEFUL

And it was good

The romantics made rose of it,
The little-jewels made gold of it,
The flirts made a mock of it,
The animals made hunger of it,
The cartoonists made potrayals of it,
The psychos made craze of it,
The strong made weak of it,
The haters made venom of it,
The drinkers made relief of it,
The instruments made music of it,
The foodies made taste of it,
The doctor made treatment of it,
The scientist made subject of it,
And This girl made love of it...
And it was good

WHY I ALWAYS LOVED PLAYING FOR WEDDINGS?

As a child, I always felt that I was deprived of a fair share of weddings.
For someone who grew up seeing her parents wedding cassette almost every week, reel life weddings were almost an aberration from the real ones.
I saw weddings in movies, in photo albums, on television....well almost everywhere.
However, since my family lived in Muscat, far from home... I did not get to see a single wedding until I was 11. And probably at the time, I was anxiously waiting to be part of a Catholic wedding. Then, finally one day i got to see my first catholic wedding. I was part of the Children's choir in Church and the couple wanted us to sing.I remember sitting for the practices, my choir trainer was teaching us this beautiful hymn called, "Set me like a seal"...it was a solo and the moment I heard the song I hoped that she'd invite me to sing a solo for her. The next day while we were practising, she asked those interested in singing the song to come forward. For the first time in my life, I took some courage to raise my hand.
What followed was beautiful... I got to sing that song from one wedding to the other. So much so that when I came to Mumbai, and started training with this small youth choir...I taught them the song too.
The most beautiful part of Christian weddings has always been the choir, the music and the energy which helps brings two people in unision. Now, after singing for over 15 weddings and playing the keyboard for over eight weddings... I have always wondered how many more in the kitty
Another interesting thing about my life is that everytime, I hear a good piece of music... I keep it aside...probably wondering if I can use it for my own and then another wedding party approaches and I push the piece ahead so that theirs only becomes special.
Because what keeps my love for weddings alive is the aile, the wedding couple, the bride shimmering in white, the congregation, the instruments, the music and the wedding choir.
I recently played for a wedding of two couples and I think the choir was just close to perfection...and yes, Set me like a seal..was still one of my favourite hymns there

FIFTEEN THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ME

1) I love to clean my house... I honestly think I am a reincarnation of some Kantabai or Kamlibai. I hate dirty rooms and really get irritated when I see untidy people. Unfortunately, I am surrounded by them 24X7 and there is nothing I can do about it. Cleaning your cupboard, doing your bedding and washing utensils are some of the best de-stressors. They actually help you tidy up the brain. But yes... I have never tried my cleaning antics in the toilets... I leave that for other people. So, on a really good day if I am doing nothing I take a cloth and begin dusting....Gosh, what a de-stressor??

2) I love drinking coffee... During my exams I had this bad habit of having four mugs of coffee daily. One even before brushing my teeth, second after brushing my teeth. The other post lunch and one more post dinner. It honestly never kept me awake but i always felt it did wonders to my brain. Yes but i am not an addict, I quit coffee many a times only to return to it when I am really depressed or think that my brain needs some more greasing.

3) I think men who flirt are really uncool... Well, my friends think they are CHARMINGGGGGGGG... well, they might just be. But a man should try the next best thing to woo a women. Its another thing that men have always thought twice before flirting with me coz of my don't-bother-too-hard attitude. The thing is that its rare that a man uses his intelligence prowess to make a woman go weak in her knees...wonder why? And even if they do, they are not better than the ones who flirt. GOSH!! I think i hate men.

4) I am generally grumpy...Ok! I know it is a very bad habit, but i frown more often than i smile. I get up with a frown, i sleep with a frown, i work with a frown and blah blah blah! Its another thing that I think i look great when i smile and people often tell me to do that...since it makes me look more pleasant. Yes and whenever I do manage to smile I am framed for life and then I happily put up these pictures on Orkut, Facebook and on chat rooms as my display picture. Ahaan!! but the one on my blog is not at all deceptive. Note: Look at the picture carefully...its the grumpy me. Keep Smiling and try hard to keep making me smile :)))

5) I love chocolates but will never buy them... This is a big problem with stingy people like me...oops i forgot to mention how stingy i am...probably it will mention it in the next pointer. My favourite is Galaxy...hmmmmmmmm...man that chocolate makes me go tizzy...don't get it in India though. It would be over my dead body if i had to part with my chocolates...sometimes I do...but only for my brothers. Yes, but i wont go all the way to buy myself a chocolate. All the chocolates i have eaten till date have been gifted...however, I do buy myself Rs 5 worth Dairy Milk or Five star chocolates at times. Oh! I forgot, I also have this fettish for five star...if I remember when I was in school I would distribute big bars of five star chocolates to my classmates. I think I shifted to toffee distribution just when i felt that my classmates were expecting a lil too much.

6) I am really stingy... This word is an understatement. In college i did not go beyond a Rs 4 vadapav and now while i earn I think 10 times before buying something. And even if I do buy something I crib about how much money I possibly spent simply buying it when there were better options. Same goes to eating, I dont think i could possibly spend much on food. I know how guilty i feel if my bill exceed Rs 200....yeah i know I am bad at this.

7) I love my family and have a best friend called Tess...I know everyone gives the same old jazz. But i cannot live without dad, mom and my naughty lil brothers. We all fight and we fight really bad at times...but in the end we are just one big family. And though the "I-love-my-family-thing" stands on the top of my priority list, i thought i should include it somewhere in the end so that it does not bore people.
MY best friend TESS: Yes, this was the only place where i never mentioned her. If a person knows me, she/he has to know Tess. Not that its a must and all...its just that she loves poking in everytime. So, if I get a friend callin me after ages, the first or for that matter the last think they ask me is, "Oh! So how is Tess?" Ok guys, I know she has these cute lil name TESS and all...and I know that you know that she is my best friend...but did I ever ask you to mention her name so often. Won't deny that she is adorable...like an older sister, who tries hard to make me smile, showers me with chocolates and also reminds me that I need a Prince Charming in my life...but blah blah...sometimes she just goes overboard and tries to drill names of some guys into my head. She is crazy, I tell you and she makes me feel like a dim wit at times coz she is really good with men and words...I am not...even if I am...i refuse to entertain it when unecessary. But Tess I really love you and you are like family to me

8) I never had a fling and have had only 3 crushes till date... ;( Ok I am not indulging in Name Droping...it wouldn't interest you anyway, until and unless you are assuming that you among the three...don't bother....these 3 guys dont know head or tail of my blog. I know its sad to have only had 3 crushes but its very rare for me to like someone. I have had my set of infatuations like "Oh my God!! that guy is really hot" but couldn't really categorise them as crushes.
I had my last crush like two years ago and the one before that five years ago and the other like seven years ago. Blaah...they all reside in different cities today... and thats just about it....I really dont care about these crush feelings anymore. And until and unless you still feel you are among the three...you are happy to feel so...no harm

9) I make my expressions clear with the eye...If i can't look at you in the eye and talk to you then there is something terribly wrong with you. Either, I think you are just too boring or that you are just making me feel very uncomfortable for reasons I do not know.
If I look at you in the eye and talk to you, like a proper stare, then I really hate you from the core of my heart. If I look at you casually, then you don't have to bother...you are my loving friend and I really love you.

10) I inadvertently use a lot of pink daily: Honestly, I am not a pink person and neither do I feel that it looks good on dark skin. My favourite colours are "black and white"...possibly cause that is the story of my life at present. But, yes getting back to the point.... I have a lot of pink... pink soap, pink shampoo, pink towel, pink scrunchie, pink homewear, pink perfume (Colour ME - Milton and Loyd).... also my room walls are painted in pale pink. Pink... tooooo much :)

11) I've had several pet names: The most popular being Baby Darling. Till I was eight everyone called me with the name...later, when I was no longer fit for one I got names following "their love" and "my size" .... like janu, jaan, jaanu, janey, jen, moti, battu, batati (potato)....

12) My close circle of friends: I have a group of close friends... who i remember in both my happy and sad times and I love them all to the core. Yes, I have had my share of misunderstandings and fights with them, but the fact is that they bring a smile on my face. Most of us don't talk often, but when we do, its like a house on fire...List goes (using initials for some or their nicknames)....Tesso, Nish, HZ, Sharine, Deba, Nads, Bless, Sania, Yash, Misbah, Sobs, Andy, Lisa... (basically all of em know a lot abt me)

13) I weighed 92kgs when I was 15: I thought i should keep it as a big secret for a long time. But now things are so different that I feel that I rather flaunt my once-obese-self. It just makes for an interesting read, considering the fact that I still say i didn't do a thing to loose all that baby fat.

14) I can't keep secrets about my personal life: Yeah its a truth... I can't keep secrets, half the world knows everything about me and all my stupid secrets, probably this is why I am writing such a blog too... Ahaa...but except for my best friend everyone knows the half-truth.

15) I love comments... whether good or bad... I just love getting feedback about everything in my life. So you know what you have to do next :)
Keep smiling and keep dreaming
JANE BORGES