Remember Kapish? How can anyone who read 'Poompatta' forget him? He was the hero of a generation. His adventures always sent the young minds into a tizzy. The magic tail appeared whenever the good souls were in distress. The magic tail appeared whenever we the kids were at the edge of the seat. The tail brought cheers to the kids. Kapish ignited our imagination always. In fact we often waited impatiently to see the next edition of the Poompatta. Whenever the teacher was absent in the class, we celebrated it with the latest adventures of Kapish. He was like the then tinsel world's super hero Jayan. He too appeared in the scene when our loved ones were in trouble. Sadly, Kapish lost out to the supernatural charecters of the modern day media
Kapish - A clever, helpful monkey who lives in the jungle of Kadu along with his friends, Baboocha the bear, Bundila the elephant, Pintu the fawn, Motu the rabbit and Panja the eagle. His arch enemies are Sigal the jackal, Peelu the tiger and Dopaya the hunter. Kapish has supernatural powers, which help him to extend and shrink his tail at will. This ability and his quick thinking help him save his friends from Peelu, Sigal and some hunters along with Dopaya.
Kapish - A clever, helpful monkey who lives in the jungle of Kadu along with his friends, Baboocha the bear, Bundila the elephant, Pintu the fawn, Motu the rabbit and Panja the eagle. His arch enemies are Sigal the jackal, Peelu the tiger and Dopaya the hunter. Kapish has supernatural powers, which help him to extend and shrink his tail at will. This ability and his quick thinking help him save his friends from Peelu, Sigal and some hunters along with Dopaya.
Kapish had another name. Sasikumar. We called him Sasi Chettan. He was a late runner. Sasi chettan started off his school with our elder brothers and sisters, but nothing went well with him. Slowly but steadily he had started lagging behind. Teachers detained him at various classes and at last he waited for me at Class 9. Though he already spent two years there, nothing much had changed for him. He showed no emotions even when he saw his younger brothers and sisters barged into 9B on the first day. That was Sasi Chettan. He took everything as it came to him. God had already programmed everything for him and no one could alter it. He knew, nothing can change and the only thing he could do was to move along God's program!
I do not remember how the name Kapish stuck to him. Of course, he was not a handsome guy but not that bad looking. Certainly he never looked like Kapish. If he were to be named after a monkey, then we the cronies of his, were never less qualified for such decorative names! It was someone's brainwave to deride a simple hearted teen ager. Sadly Sasi Chettan was a point of derision for all the boys who knew him. The name Kapish went viral. Everyone loved to call him Kapish even as he vehemently tried to hush it up. He fretted, fumed then even abused at the guys. Everything was in vain. Perhaps his loath to this name prompted the boys to make it more popular.
He was called by many other names too. His father who was the least impressed at his performance in school called him 'chappan'. It is a very demeaning word in Malayalam that was commonly used by the ruthless fathers of the yesteryears. This is a slang which has no specific meaning, but is used to discribe a person of no use. His father, like any other fathers, would have wanted to see his son perform a little better in school. But, for Sasi chettan, academics was not his cup of tea. His academic perfoemance was excruciatingly miderable and his teachers' attitude was deplorable. The dejected father's approach towards him more painful
In my class, he was the boy who got the maximum number of cane charging. Teachers used to beat him as they pleased. Not even a single day in 9B passed without a teacher or the other admonishing Sasi chettan. The scene of a lean boy standing in front of a furious teacher with his right hand stretched and taking the strokes of the stick is still flashing in my mind so vividly. He showed no expression of sadness or anger at any point of such punishment sessions. After every examinations, he used to declare " I have answered all the questions, but all will be wrong". His prophesys never went wrong!
We all return home from school together eveyday. In the morning, our gang minus Sasichettan leaves very early and he reaches the school a little late but before the third bell. The walk back from school was really enternaining. The favourite subject of course, was Sasi chettan. Boys always found some fun in whatever Sasichettan said or did. Till the end of our three kilometer walk, we enjoyed it, though, at this age, I realsie that we did it at the cost of the hurt feelings of an individual. Now, I understand with a sense of guilt that his struggle against all those taunts on him was to save his self esteem.
I must mention about an incident that makes him different from other guys. Everyday we had to cross a ferry to go and come back from school. This ferry was operated by the panchayat and the boatman was an old man who could hardly walk due to heavy elephantisasis on both his limbs. This ferry during monsoon days used to get disrupted, thanks to water weeds. We call it "payal" in Malayalam. This is the season for the water weeds to multiply and occuppy the entire expanses of the backwaters. During the high tide, water flows from sea to backwaters and so do these floating plants. This makes clogging of the water surface. Water transportation becomes impossible at this time. Still, if we try hard, we can make way for the boat. This old man could never do it. We used to take a detour and resch home very late on such days.
One evening, it was already very late and our gang wes sitting on the other end of the ferry without knowing what to do. The boys and girls were so scared and their face told everything about the mood then. Sasi chettan then jumped into the water and started swimming. He made way through the thick layer of the weeds, swam for around 200 meters and reached the boat. He then, using all the force in his frill body's command, rowed the boat to our end and then took us all to the other side. This, I still believe, was one of the most adventerous acts a teenaged boy could ever do. If he got stranded in the waters on that day, no one would have saved him.
No doubt he could be called Kapish. Not for his looks but for the heroism he exhibited. He had no supernatural powers, but certainly had some steely nerves and a noble heart. While reminiscing this incident, even now in my mind, he stands taller than many of the 'achievers, among us. I can only offer a salute to my dear friend Kapish. You are still my hero. Long live dear Kapish...
He was called by many other names too. His father who was the least impressed at his performance in school called him 'chappan'. It is a very demeaning word in Malayalam that was commonly used by the ruthless fathers of the yesteryears. This is a slang which has no specific meaning, but is used to discribe a person of no use. His father, like any other fathers, would have wanted to see his son perform a little better in school. But, for Sasi chettan, academics was not his cup of tea. His academic perfoemance was excruciatingly miderable and his teachers' attitude was deplorable. The dejected father's approach towards him more painful
In my class, he was the boy who got the maximum number of cane charging. Teachers used to beat him as they pleased. Not even a single day in 9B passed without a teacher or the other admonishing Sasi chettan. The scene of a lean boy standing in front of a furious teacher with his right hand stretched and taking the strokes of the stick is still flashing in my mind so vividly. He showed no expression of sadness or anger at any point of such punishment sessions. After every examinations, he used to declare " I have answered all the questions, but all will be wrong". His prophesys never went wrong!
We all return home from school together eveyday. In the morning, our gang minus Sasichettan leaves very early and he reaches the school a little late but before the third bell. The walk back from school was really enternaining. The favourite subject of course, was Sasi chettan. Boys always found some fun in whatever Sasichettan said or did. Till the end of our three kilometer walk, we enjoyed it, though, at this age, I realsie that we did it at the cost of the hurt feelings of an individual. Now, I understand with a sense of guilt that his struggle against all those taunts on him was to save his self esteem.
I must mention about an incident that makes him different from other guys. Everyday we had to cross a ferry to go and come back from school. This ferry was operated by the panchayat and the boatman was an old man who could hardly walk due to heavy elephantisasis on both his limbs. This ferry during monsoon days used to get disrupted, thanks to water weeds. We call it "payal" in Malayalam. This is the season for the water weeds to multiply and occuppy the entire expanses of the backwaters. During the high tide, water flows from sea to backwaters and so do these floating plants. This makes clogging of the water surface. Water transportation becomes impossible at this time. Still, if we try hard, we can make way for the boat. This old man could never do it. We used to take a detour and resch home very late on such days.
One evening, it was already very late and our gang wes sitting on the other end of the ferry without knowing what to do. The boys and girls were so scared and their face told everything about the mood then. Sasi chettan then jumped into the water and started swimming. He made way through the thick layer of the weeds, swam for around 200 meters and reached the boat. He then, using all the force in his frill body's command, rowed the boat to our end and then took us all to the other side. This, I still believe, was one of the most adventerous acts a teenaged boy could ever do. If he got stranded in the waters on that day, no one would have saved him.
No doubt he could be called Kapish. Not for his looks but for the heroism he exhibited. He had no supernatural powers, but certainly had some steely nerves and a noble heart. While reminiscing this incident, even now in my mind, he stands taller than many of the 'achievers, among us. I can only offer a salute to my dear friend Kapish. You are still my hero. Long live dear Kapish...
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