Have a spare winter afternoon? Good! A comfortable, cozy bed? Splendid! A sweet little company – say of around 10 to 12 years of age? Perfect!
Now we are ready to start ….Lay down together, cover yourself upto waist, then take out … Oh! Sorry, I forgot! We need another thing – indispensable in fact – Bill Watterson’s book called ‘Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes’. Armed with all these now you can lose yourselves in an hour full of chuckles and tickles – in short most satisfying wholesome entertainment.
I know there are some frowns(from those who are uninitiated to the deadly duo) and a few knowing smiles(those who are already a part of Calvin & Hobbes fan club). Rest assured, you are not going to be disappointed whichever group you belong to. Popularity of Calvin & Hobbes comic strips is already legendary – its fans range from eight to eighty, scholars to vagabonds, reader of philosophy to appreciator of slapstick comedy.
A six year old child with explosive vocabulary and his play mate(a stuffed tiger) – these are the main ingredients of the recipe. The child’s parents and a friend who happens to be a girl(not a girlfriend, mind you) almost completes the cast. With these limited resources the author creates a magical world. From first to last you will empathize with the child and his frustrations at the world around him for he is giving voice to your own unexpressed(or even forgotten) disappointments. Sometimes he will go over the top but even then you will feel like applauding rather than criticizing. And then there are his imaginative escapades – sometimes he is a valiant spaceman at others devastating T-Rex(just to give couple of examples) – you too will be carried back to your daydreaming days when the world at large seemed to have conspired to ‘get you’ and you, the lone man(or woman) standing, are valiantly meeting all adversaries singlehandedly. Frequently, there will be philosophical anecdotes – moments of truth which the perceptive eye of a child catches oftener than our logical mind.
Few lines about the side cast. The parents play their part to perfection and sometimes they get to deliver smart one-liners but oftener they are outwitted by their six year old menace and then, exasperated, they are left to wonder whose chromosomes are at fault. Then there are babysitter named Rosalyn(some of the most titanic battles are fought with her), Teacher named Mrs Wormwood(often condemned to play the role of monster alien), a school bully(all brawn and no brain) and the school principal. But it is ultimately left to a cute little girl named Susie to occasionally give our hero hiccups but then he gets back with some innovative lunch packs.
By the time you have finished, wiped out your moist eyes(from rows of laughter), left the bed and decided to give some attention to other practical affairs of life, I am sure you are thoroughly refreshed. The child with you too must have had a grander time and would definitely urge for a few more minutes of joint of shared reading. Try to give him or her those minutes(and need I mention, yourself too) for such minutes are much more precious than ones spent in front of laptops or flattering your bosses.