Every month we pestered an adult in our large joint family to shell out the ninety paise for an Indrajal comic and then fought to be the first one to read about the exploits of these super heroes.

Of the two, however, slick haired and cloaked Mandrake with his wand, curvy girl friend Narda and a giant of a sidekick of royal descent Lothar were no match for the hooded Phantom with his snow white steed Hero and powerful, sinewy, intelligent, faithful to his master, part wolf, part dog, Devil. The Ghost Who Walks only had to whistle for his loyal steed and even more loyal Devil to streak towards their master from wherever they were.

We adored the devoted duo but my younger brother Kumar worshipped them. He wished for nothing more in life than a white horse for himself he would name Hero and a wolf, Devil. He begged, cadged, pleaded and pestered Anna to get him at least one of the two animals if not both. Anna relented and returned home from one of his tours with a puppy. Kumar had asked for a wolf cub but this puppy was not even an Alsatian. Like all young animals, it was cute and cuddly all right but it was still a local breed, a mere Rajapalayam hound.

Devil grew tall, lean and mean. He had long, strong legs, alert eyes and a temper that matched his name. Other than the name, he resembled his comic book counterpart in only one aspect, streaking like the wind or a flash of lightning across the skies. Phantom's Devil raced towards to his master but our black Rajapalayam Devil raced away from his master. Kumar only had to untie him and the animal would take off, running so fast it seemed as if his paws flew above the ground. He would fly like the wind and the lightning with my brother hanging on to the other end of the leash. A puny boy of about seven or eight, Kumar neither had the strength to bring the dog to heel nor the indifference to damn the dog and let him go to the devil himself. Our neighbours came out to watch the fun while Manni fretted and fumed about the monster that was causing such trouble to her first son, born after three daughters. Devil brought Kumar home whenever he felt hungry or thirsty. The wicked dog would show no sign of the strain that made Kumar look like a wounded soldier, all battered and bruised.

If Manni had had her way, Devil would have been out of the house the first time it growled at Kumar but the ingrate was lucky. First Kumar shielded the dog with quivering lips and welling tears then Appa, my grandfather said, "Let the dog be. He knows some tricks."

Devil knew only one - of bowing every time Appa went past him, a trick he had learnt from our driver. Iyer always came late to take us to school but before we could shout at him, he fell at Appa's feet and begged to be excused. Devil, tied to a stake outside the house soon learnt to follow suit. Whenever Appa walked across, the dog stretched his forelegs on the ground and lowered his face in a mute salute, holding this position till Appa was out of sight. The kind hearted gentleman that he was, Appa excused both the driver and the dog. We were always late to school and Devil stayed on till he died of old age. And, we were known in our locality as the 'Devil's Family'.

Please send your comments to:
kookaburra.laughs@yahoo.com