#003. Premchand and some more Hindi links.

This one for my friend Rakesh. Earlier planned to add it later. My favorite Hindi writer since 1978.

Premchand (1880-1936)

the man...

His real name was Dhanpat Rai but he is famous with his pen name of Premchand or Munshi Premchand. He was born in Pandepur, a village near Banaras (now Varanasi). His father Munshi Ajaib Lal was a clerk in the Postal Department. Premchand was just eight years old when his mother died. His grand-mother took the responsibility of raising him, but she died soon after that. Meanwhile his father married again and Premchand was left without the love of his father too.
He was married when he was 15 and was in the 9th grade. His father also died and after passing the intermediate he had to stop his study. He got a job as a teacher in the Primary School, after a series of promotion he became Deputy Inspectors of Schools. In response to Mahatma Gandhi call of non-cooperation with the British he quit his job. After that he devoted his full attention to writing. His first story appeared in the magazine Zamana published from Kanpur.

his novels...
Before Premchand; Nazeer Ahmad, Sarshar and Mirza Hadi Ruswa have written novels in Urdu. But Premchand has a unique place when it comes to Urdu novels and short stories. He emphasized in presenting the realities of life and he made Indian Villages his center of writing. His novels describe the problems faced by the villagers and poor and what could be the solutions. How the priests, local business folks (mahajan) and the landlords were exploiting the villagers. He also emphasized on the Hindu-Muslim unity. His famous works include Gau-daan, Maidan-e-Amal, Bay-waH, Chaugaan etc.

short stories...
It would not be wrong to say Premchand as the Father of Urdu Short- Stories. Short stories or afsana was started by Premchand. As with his novels, his afsanas, also mirrors the society that he lived in. With a break from the past his characters are not all good or bad but somewhere in between. His characters are based on real life people and as in real life sometime we see a good side or the bad side of the person.
Premchand's style of writing is simple and flowing some of his works shows very good use of satire and humor. His later works used very simple words and he started including Hindi words too to honestly portray his characters. In the later stages of his life He turned his attention to Hindi and now Premchand is claimed by both Urdu and Hindi literature as their own. His famous afsanas are qaatil ki maaN, zewar ka DibbaH, gilli DanDa, eidgaah, namak ka darogHaaH, kafan. His collected stories have been published as prem pachisi, prem battisi, wardaat, zaad-e-raah etc.

[Based on Urdu Adab ki Tareekh by Azeem-ul-haq Junaidi published by Educational Book House, Muslim University Market, Aligarh 200202 INDIA]

Premchand's Short Stories & Novels

Check other Hindi Links, add today for all Hindi lovers.

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The Marvel Girlfriends

This is not the first time I have remarked on this, but when you look at the Silver Age DC they were miles ahead of Marvel in terms of their treatment of women.

Look at the Silver Age DC girlfriends/love interests and their occupations:

Flash: Iris West, newspaper reporter
Green Lantern: Carol Ferris, aircraft plant executive
The Atom: Jean Loring, defense attorney
Hawkman: Hawkgirl (Shayera Hol), policewoman

Now let's try the comparison with Marvel:

Hulk: Betty Ross, daughter of a general
Spiderman: Betty Brant, secretary
Thor: Jane Foster, nurse
Iron Man: Pepper Potts, secretary
Daredevil: Karen Page, secretary

Are we seeing a trend here? I don't even know if Betty Ross had a job in the old Hulk stories; wasn't she more or less a housekeeper for her father? I left Aquaman out of the mix because for some odd reason his Silver Age adventures did not start with a romantic interest; it was not until Aquaman #11 that Mera appeared on the scene. And you can make a case for talking about Sue Storm being a scientist, although it might help if Stan and Jack had shown her mixing up some chemicals in her spare time instead of trying on new clothes and hairstyles.

All the Marvel heroines performed one valuable function; they made excellent hostages. Let's consider Jane Foster, for example:







Now it is not entirely fair to criticize this as sexist; it's also provides strong motivation for the hero. Hostages help balance out the power differences between superheroes and the (often non-super) villains. And it's not as if only women were used in this way; Jimmy Olsen and Robin often found themselves kidnapped as well.

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#002. Asterix & Tintin (Comics & Books)

UPDATE:

31/01/2008: 3 more Tintin files added today.


Total 76 comics and books in English. In fact there are 75 books, but one in two parts.



Asterix and Tintin (download links)

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#001.Why decided to start a new blog with already distributed books & comics? This post is dedicated to all comic lovers of INDRAJAL Comics.

Four-five years ago tried to find some favorite books and comics, but in vain. Two months ago, again decided to search, find out that many were available and now links are lost. Since last 2 months, I am on forced vacation. Till 15th Jan 2008, I will have a plenty of times. Initially I was collecting all possible books for myself which I want to read. But now wish to help to those people who gave a lot of time in searching like me. If I able to spread my favorites to 100 people, THE HARD WORK of those people will never be lost who scanned or uploaded for OTHERS. These books and comics will return back to the net, again and again for it lovers.
In childhood most part of the money spent on books. CHAMPAK, PARAG, CHANDAMAMA and NANDAN were bought for me by parents. But it was not enough for me. The very first comic was Phantom (Indrajal-1977). Parents were not agreeing with my choice for comics. But I spend all my pocket money on it. My collection is lost forever, but thanks to the following blogs, I’m recollecting again, not only for myself but for my twins too. Some are not publishing; some are not available everywhere.
Visit to encourage their GREAT EFFORTS:
http://thecomicproject.blogspot.com/
http://indrajal-comics.blogspot.com/
http://comic-guy.blogspot.com/
http://anupam-agrawal.blogspot.com/
http://mandrake-comics.blogspot.com/
http://thephantomhead.blogspot.com/

I’ll add links to sites from where you can take it yourself. If there is need, will rearrange them in one folder, but after sometimes with the kind permission of the CREATORS. Try to help to all fans, to find the book in shortest time. Time is the most valuable. Let’s use every saved second in reading or passing with the family and friends.
First post is for them who want to collect published copies of INDRAJAL COMICS as soon as possible. But for new one you have to go to the above one.

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You Can Learn A Lot From Comics

Sometimes even I'm surprised at what turns out to be well-grounded. I was reading Atom #10 (Dec 1963-Jan 1964). The second story in that issue is called The Mysterious Swan-Maiden, in which Jean Loring is required to act as defense counsel for a swan.



Now looking at it, I thought that citation looked ridiculous, but when I typed it into Google (and Google corrected a minor error by asking if I wanted "fitzh abr barre pl 290"), I was taken to this page from a book on Privacy and the Constitution, where indeed the topic of animals being guilty of crimes is discussed:

The reader will see in this passage, as has been remarked already of the Roman law, that a distinction is taken between things which are capable of guilt and those which are not--between living and dead things; but he will also see that no difficulty was felt in treating animals as guilty.

Gardner Fox (who wrote the story) obviously knew his legal precedents! I should add that this discussion comes in a section on liability (i.e., torts), and that animals can not really be brought to criminal trial; that's a little bit of literary license.

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Yet More DC Scientofascism

I've talked a number of times in the past about the weird scientific fascism that many DC comics of the Silver Age appeared to endorse, as well as the odd conflict between DC's apparent reverence for science and its decidedly ambivalent attitude towards the products of that science. Here's another classic and bizarre example, from Adventure Comics #267 (Dec 1959).

The Legion of Super-Heroes (making their second appearance) have apparently taken up residence in Smallville. They perform a few heroic maneuvers, but treat Superboy coldly. Eventually the mayor of Smallville decides there's no need for the Boy of Steel, and Superboy tearfully leaves Earth. While in space, he comes across a horde of super-beings, all headed for one planet, which turns out to be a planet devoted to a tribute to Superboy himself. However, when he arrives:



Sentence first, trial afterwards, eh? A page or so later, they explain the reason for imprisoning him:



Just imagine the uproar if an administration tried to institute preventive detention, based on the fact that you're going to commit a crime five years hence. But, you know, it's just scientifically logical. Provided, of course, that the "futuroscope" works, which, of course it doesn't.

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The Second Origin of the Second Two-Face

Two-Face was one of Batman's better villains. Harvey Kent (later changed to Dent) was a handsome District Attorney in Gotham City, with a penchant for prosecuting mobsters. When he prosecuted Boss Maroni, the mobster scarred the left side of the DA's face with a vial of acid. Driven mad by his sudden bizarre appearance, Kent became a lawbreaker, using the "two" theme in his crimes. In keeping with his dual nature, Two-Face had a silver dollar with two heads on it, one of which he disfigured. He would flip the coin and if the good side came up, he would donate the proceeds to a charity, blending in a little Robin Hood with the obvious Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde characterization.

But Kent eventually repented his evil ways and with the help of his fiancee and a plastic surgeon was able to resume his prior life. The saga was told over a series of stories appearing in Detective Comics #66, 68 and 80. Two-Face was clearly a popular character, and yet the editors seemed reluctant to disturb the happiness of the Kents. There was one story after those with Two-Face, but it turned out to be the Kents' butler, wearing a mask.

In Batman #68, a new, real, Two-Face was introduced. As it happened my introduction to this story came when it was reprinted in Batman Annual #3, which is effectively the only appearance for either of the Two-Faces in the Silver Age (yes, I know about the World's Finest issue, but that was Batman dressing up as Two-Face). In the story, Paul Sloane is a handsome actor, portraying Harvey Kent on a Hollywood TV set, when something goes terribly wrong:



It's a memorable moment, and so when a friend of mine showed me his copy of Batman #68, I was looking forward to rereading it in the original. I was startled to discover that the above scene does not appear there. Instead there's this:



Note also the black and white image as viewed from the TV in the original versus the color image in the latter; another difference between 1963 and 1950. I remember the first time I saw a color TV at about 1962 being completely blown away by the idea that they could improve on black and white.

It turns out that the prop man had put acid in the bottle as revenge for Sloane stealing his girlfriend. I suspect that the Comics Code Authority, while allowing the disfigurement to be presented, demanded that the love triangle be edited out of the scene when it was reprinted in Batman Annual #3.

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