This is the 70th Anniversary of Superman- the world's first Comic Superhero- and people of Cleveland in USA, where two young men Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster conceived the phenomenon are planning to celebrate the birth of their most popular citizen. Like them, I too love the 'Man of Steel' and this piece I dedicate to him.

I was 5 when I had my first crush and if I dare say, also my last ( alright, alright I was lying, I have had a few others). It was love at first sight and it happened at school on that sultry monsoon afternoon. I had watched in daze as it moved swiftly in a streak of red and blue , no it didn't move, it flew, faster than a speeding bullet! I followed it, my heart in raptures, my pulse in fits of frenzy, and then it happened- a miracle!

The train was heading towards certain disaster, the driver had suffered a stroke and a crash seemed imminent, the passengers more in desperation than hope were crying for help. Then, like a messiah, it appeared from nowhere, the same blurry streak. Dressed in red and blue, draped in a cloak it landed straight into the path of the raging locomotive and with bare hands brought the several thousand screaming screeching tonnes of iron to peace. A disaster was averted, a legend was born and an innocent heart somewhere skipped a beat.

I was struck, love struck to be precise, and after my lovelorn senses recovered, it was time to find more about this enigma. Who was it? What was the name? Where had it come from? On that first meeting, the stranger had seemed out of the world, someone from the stars, as it turned out, it was true.

Well, my first crush was not the beautiful girl next door or for that matter the princess from a kingdom far away but an alien who had arrived on this planet from a distant galaxy. It belonged to the planet Krypton, looked like a human but could leap tall buildings in a single bound, was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a moving locomotive. It wore the symbol of its race on its chest, its real name was Kal-EL but in this world where it had become a symbol of truth, justice and hope, they called him- SUPERMAN.

Our affair has lasted nearly two decades and still going strong. Often questions are asked about  my faith in a character bred in fiction, who is a figment of someone's imagination, but those who question neither understand my faith nor the character. Sure, I am intrigued, enchanted even fascinated by Superman's extraordinary abilities. Boy he can fly,  hear a whisper on the other side of the world, see through solid objects, heck, can even turn time back!!  But, my love for Superman transcends these attractions, in fact it is found on values that he symbolises and which are as much a part of me as they are of every human being on this planet.

Superman, for all his imaginary, fictional physical prowess is more than a brawny boy scout.He is a metaphor for all the real world values and virtues that we aspire for. He symbolises truth, compassion, fairness, integrity, courage, selflessness, resilience and above all respect for the human life. Values, much celebrated, yet largely missing from the society we live in.

But ofcourse, mere mortals can't be gods. We can never be as powerful or impregnable as the last son of krypton. Yet, if only we could inherit his virtues and philosophy, we can make our world  a more beautiful, peaceful and loving place to live . Then, we won't need the police to protect us, no longer would criminals  move around with impunity, no longer will justice become the victim of a spineless society as the Jessica Lall case manifested and perhaps most importantly no longer would innocent lives be sacrificed in the name of noble causes, in the name of religion, in the name of peace.

Sadly though, we have failed. We have failed in our restrain and in character. And, intolerance, violence and hatred are rampant all over.  However, hope lives on as it must, because, all this could change. It only needs will and commitment to what is right. Or perhaps, we  need someone to show us the way. But who?

Did Someone say SUPERMAN???

Almost always when one comes across  successful people, there's an aura that surrounds them, a shield of achievements that protects and a wall of happiness that viels the real them. But, scrape the surface and you will discover insecurity, failures and hardships.
However, we only choose to look at the gloss while ignoring the metal underneath which has been strengthened by years of hardwork, sacrifice and struggle. It is easy to say that failure makes people stronger but difficult to realise that failure in itself is not success but the lessons you learn from it which make it happen.

Through out our lives we chase what we feel would make us happy, would make our lives and our future comfortable. But, very few realise that the future we see through the rosy, tinted glasses of perception is only an extension of our present and in that sense merely an illusion. Our perception of happiness is nothing but what our mind makes us believe and the mind plays many a trick in creating that.

Isn't it strange that all of us when asked about what we will be in the future have only bright, optimistic and happy images to share but when asked about the immediate have contrary ideas and views. Think about it- why does our view of the immediate differ so substantially from our view of the long term? Well, the answer is simple, it lies in the details. Sadly, we often overlook the details for the general when ironically we live in the detail.