Nostalgic Tales

Doga was our Deadpool . Super Commando Dhruv? Captain America, may be.  We had our own superhero universe — long before we knew what a cinematic universe even meant. The Day I Met Doga I first saw Doga at my best friend’s house. That comic book instantly clicked with me. A foul-mouthed, rogue superhero with a muscular physique, a dog-like mask (which I honestly thought was his real face at first), and a full-blown gun arsenal — it was the first of its kind I had ever seen. He could talk to dogs. He didn’t take orders from anyone. And he always fought back. That wild, raw spirit appealed to my emotions deeply. When I got my own copy of Doga, there was no limit to my excitement. As soon as I got home, I devoured it — every panel, every letter, every drop of ink. It may have been the first book I ever completed reading — cover to cover. Enter: The Raj Comics Universe On the back cover, and even inside, I saw teasers — a whole universe of superheroes! Raj Comics ...

I remembered those old days when I used to prepare for exams. Because I recently appeared for one. I know I owe you an apology for being absent from Nostalgic Tales for a while — so please accept it! First Exam Was a Terrible Experience In Nursery, exams were mostly oral. We might have written some letters, words, and numbers, but that was it. Even in KG, we answered questions directly on the paper. So when I appeared for my first real exam in Standard I, I wrote all my answers right on the question paper itself. I still don’t know where I missed the instructions, and I’m not sure how the invigilators didn’t catch it sooner. Time was almost up when my uncle — who was on exam duty — came down my row to collect copies. Seeing me handing over the question paper, he froze, torn between panic and disbelief. He asked me to copy everything down on the answer sheet, and I started copying my answers at lightning speed. I’m not sure I finished, but it was enough to pass. That first e...

A conversation about smart fridges led us down memory lane—into Doordarshan days, superhero capes, and love letters. Here’s how one moment of tech talk turned into a full-blown nostalgia trip… Illustration: A smart fridge meets Shaktimaan in a time-traveling tribute to tech and nostalgia Teleportation may not be real yet, but conversations? They go places – fast. It all began with a colleague asking if my new refrigerator was installed. Another one chimed in, saying her son had read about fridges that interact with users—warning them before running out of stock. None of us had seen one yet, but we nodded in agreement. With AI and APIs evolving, it's no longer impossible. A refrigerator might soon do more than just cool and store—it could even place orders for restocking. That’s how rapidly Artificial Intelligence is changing our world. We can only imagine, as far as our imagination can stretch, what the future might look like. I said, “We’ll see things we can’t even ima...