While most of the kids here (The “Western World” that is) grew up with Power Rangers, Pokemon and pizza pies, I often felt I cannot really relate to them because my growing up happened in the far far East, a place where you don’t have culture, but the culture has you!
I grew up with a culture that wasn’t communist (since Communism fell six months after I was born), nor was it all Power Rangers (NO Power Rangers, in fact, something I remain grateful for to this day).
Nowadays many parents lament the terrible materialism, etc..in which their kids have to grow up, because there are no substitutes. I beg to differ. I will, therefore, tell tales of the things which I know from my childhood, that are almost uniquely Czechoslovakian and that in my eyes, are far better that any Strangely Coloured Power Ranger.
The first, and a person favourite of mine is a character from kids’ stories. His name is Brouk Pytlik (CZ) or Chrobak Truhlik (SK). I will call him Truhlik, because that’s the name I got so used to, even if correctly, it should be Pytlik.
So that’s him. He was thought up by Ondrej Sekora, and here’s his story (at least what I remember from the books).
As you can see, he’s a bug, and even though I tend to hate insects, since this one isn’t really real, he’s actually my idol, kind of..
His mother layed ann egg (future Truhlik) into a tree, but before he hatched, the tree was chopped down, processed and made into a railing which ended up in the cinema. Whe Young Truhlik finally hatched, he was facsinated by the Movies, and always came out to watch them. So, even at the early stages of his life, he had a great knowledge of the world. Later, he became a full grown bug, he claimed that ‘he’s been everywhere, seen everything and knows anything’. Of course, he really didn’t, but many actually believed him.
For a short time, he served as a sidekick to Ferdo the Ant. When he went solo, he accomplished many things, including beaing in a band, beating up one of his neighbors, working in the beehive, waking people up, becoming an acrobat, an architect. Later, he was also buried alive and when it finally looked like he would settle down as a respected artist (painter and conceptual artist) with his own school, things took turn for the bizarre and he was ran out of town. His current fate is so far unknown, but we can confirm that he still knows everything and has been everywhere.
What a pity that the era of Renaissance men (and bugs) has come to an abrupt end!
So there you have it..
Peter
Posted by petersmisek 