Friday, October 11, 2013

#271 - All the Kraken episodes - A Navarathti & Vijayadashami presentation

The word Navarathri literally means nine nights in Sanskritnava meaning nine and rathri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, various forms of the Goddess Devi are worshiped. The tenth day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami. Navarathri is a very important and major festival and is celebrated with great zeal by Hindus all over the world.

In the Indian state of Kerala (where I hail from), the last two days of Navarathri - Ashtami (eighth), Navami (ninth), and VijayaDashami are celebrated as Saraswathi Pooja in which books are worshiped. (Saraswathi is the Goddess of learning.). The books are placed for Pooja on the Ashtami day in own houses, traditional nursery schools, or in temples. On VijayaDashami day, the books are ceremoniously taken out for reading and writing after worshiping Saraswathi. That day is considered auspicious for initiating the children into writing and reading, which is called Vidyarambham (start of education). Tens of thousands of children are initiated into the world of letters on this day in Kerala.

The area where I am in the USA does not have a lot of Hindus and we would have to go to Fremont or Sunnyvale to celebrate Navarathri. So I felt that I could celebrate Navarathri by putting all the 09 strips related to the Kraken series in one mega post.


HAPPY NAVARATHRI AND HAPPY VIJAYADASHAMI TO ALL

Let us start right at the beginning - S156_TheKraken_(11-23-1986_to_07-12-1987). Mandrake, Narda, Lothar and Karma just plan on having lunch with Capt.Jon, an explorer friend of Mandrake and the owner of the yacht the "Kraken". An ordinary lunch turns into a journey extra-ordinaire.












Download MF version here.                                  Download RS version here

In the second story - S157_TheFloatingIsland_(07-19-87_to_03-27-88) - the group comes upon an island pulled by trained Orcas! They also encounter a ship of dead people who turn into no-so-dead pirates. Never understood why these two very diverse stories are clubbed together.














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In the third story - S158_TheYoungPrince_(04-03-88_to_06-12-88) - we see a ten and a half year old kid smitten by Narda. Who wouldn't be, if the first sight one sees via the binoculars, is a bikini-clad Narda!! How Narda and the team make it back to the ship is what this story is all about.











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In the fourth story - S159_TabooIsle_(06-19-88_to_11-06-88) - Mandrake and Lothar investigate and then escape from an island that has a family of Rocs.











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In the fifth story - S160_SingingRocks_(11-13-88_to_04-02-89) -we see the team handle a group of thieves who use mannequins of mermaids to lure sailors.










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In the sixth story - S161_TheSportOfMagicians_(04-09-89_to_08-27-89) - we see the girls being harassed by some bullies and also how the bullies got beaten by our heroes, first by illusion and then by sheer muscle.










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In the seventh story - S162_TheDolphins_(09-03-89_to_01-14-90) - the team and the readers get a lecture on ecology and saving the environment.












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In the eighth story - S163_IsleDesFleursEtMorte_(01-21-90_to_06-24-90) - Mandrake and the girls get caught in an island with flowers that cause people to lose consciousness. Lothar then rescues all of them. Check out the way he lifts all the 3 of them.










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In the ninth story - S164_DangersInTheJungle_(07-01-90_to_12-16-90) - the team has adventures in Africa, somewhere near to Lothar's tribe. We also have Lothar being chased by his dead uncle's widows much to Karma's consternation.We along with the team, breathe a sigh of relief, when we see the team back on the ship.











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Thanks to Magnus Magnusson, for the color strips.

Enjoy.