So what are imaginary friends? Imaginary friends, also known as 'imaginary companions' are pretend characters often created by children. Imaginary friends often function as tutelaries (or perform a tutelary function) when they are engaged by the child in play activity. Imaginary friends may exist for the child into adolescence and sometimes adulthood. Imaginary friends often have elaborate personalities and behaviors. Although they may seem very real to their creators, studies have shown that children understand that their imaginary friends are not real.
But if expert opinion were to be taken, we would know that i has been theorized that children with imaginary companions may develop language skills and retain knowledge faster than children without them, which may be because these children get more linguistic practice while carrying out "conversations" with their imaginary friends than their peers get. Some psychologists have suggested that children simply retain but stop speaking about imaginary friends, due to adult expectations and peer pressure.
I never had an imaginary friend. In fact, I don't think any Indian kid has an imaginary friend and even if some creative kid does, he won't tell anybody about it. The reason is pretty simple. In India, people think that if your life involves anything which is larger than life or cannot be seen, you are crazy. We are very liberal about calling people 'crazy'. Going to the psychiatrist or getting some therapy is equivalent to social suicide. Maybe that is why many people who really suffer from mental disorders hesitate to get medical help before it is too late....
Anyways, imaginary friends have been used by many writers, graphic novelists and film-makers. Chances are, no matter which newspaper you subscribe, you have at least once seen the 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic script. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a highly precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger. Hobbes is Calvin's imaginary friend. He appears to be real only when he is with Calvin and is portrayed as a stuffed animal when other people like Calvin's family members are around.
The only example of an imaginary friend in Indian media is Jai's imaginary friend from the old TV show (one of my favourite TV shows of all time, by the way) Just Mohabbat, which starred Vatsal Seth (the actor last seen in Toh Baat Pakki). In this TV show, Jai is always accompanied by an imaginary friend whose name I have now forgotten, who gives him advice and is an integral part of his life.
Even though I never had an imaginary friend, I have always been good at creating characters in my head. Five years ago, I wrote a novel called 'Space Travellers'. As the name suggests, it was about aliens and UFOs and stuff like that. But to add my own twist to it, the story was centred by me around ICUP (Interplanetary Council Of Universal Protection), a fictitious organization I had based on the UN. The only difference was that besides having members from all countries, it also had members from all planets. This novel of mine was never published.
For this book, I had depicted 'Plutoites', that is inhabitants of Pluto, as grown people who despite being adults look, speak and dress like babies. Since Pluto was considered a planet back then, and was hence deemed as the smallest planet, I decided the Plutoites shouls be the smallest people. The Jupiterians, that is inhabitants of Jupiter, were the complete opposite. They were giants with booming voices and gaits like armymen.
Over the years, I have created at least hundred characters and written stories about them. These characters have kept me better company than some people from my real life. That is why I don't need Facebook and Twitter and thousands of friends in the virtual world. My 'virtual' friends are safely locked in my head and no, they can never be cyber criminals.
No comments:
Post a Comment