The Greatest Superhero Who Ever Lived

His mask was the same dark shade as Batman's , but without the pointy ears. His cape looked black as a starless night. His Bullet motorcycle was painted raven black. He looked even more humourless than Batman (if that's even possible) and everything about him suggested a singleminded devotion to the task of cleaning up the criminals and crooks off the streets. One wondered if he ever went to sleep or found the time for taking his girl out for dinner in a fancy restaurant. The entirety of his being was no-nonsense. Except his name , that is. They called him Zimbo.

The year was 1996. Back then Zee TV was one of the handful of channels with exclusive Hindi programmes. It was what everyone tuned in to. New shows were being announced all the time. A ray of hope finally emerged through the ceaseless glut of nauseatingly weepy dramas , countless cookery shows and suchlike. The channel began running a series of TV spots promoting its upcoming superhero saga named Zimbo. The spots blew our wee little minds sky-high. This upcoming show even had a theme song already ! "Zimbo , sheher mein fir se aya , Zimbo" (Sung by Kumar Sanu , no less ! :D ) Zimbo uttered just one line which seared itself into our brains : "Garibon ka dil , dushmanon ka katil , Zimbo."

His crimefighting philosophy was simple. Find Bad Guy , beat up Bad Guy. So , one caught the most tantalising glimpses of Zimbo smashing in baddies' heads on deserted docks , in seedy warehouses , and on city streets. People stood around and watched in rapt wonder as Zimbo dropkicked and punched and somersaulted ; the utimate asskicking machine known to man.

All summer we talked about how this would be the mother of all superhero shows. About how wondrous everything about Zimbo was. And even better than the stuff we saw was all that we didn't see. During lunchbreaks in school , all the kids would gather around swapping thoughts on Zimbo. Was Zimbo targeting smugglers and gunrunners ? Could Zimbo punch through a wall ? Did Zimbo have 6 fingers on his right hand ? Was Zimbo's vest bullet-proof ? Does Zimbo rub his knuckles on sandpaper ? Did Zimbo know how to use a samurai sword ? Could Zimbo leap off a 10-storey building and land on his feet ? Did he have a sidekick ? Was Zimbo even human ?

Summer became autumn and Zimbo still hadn't come. By winter our grief-stricken little heads had understood that the channel had pulled the plug on Zimbo before it even got a proper start. It was almost too much to bear. Some speculated that the producer had gone bankrupt , others bitterly held Zimbo himself responsible and were hastily chastised for doubting Zimbo.
But the strange thing was that instead of diminishing or eroding his nascent legend , it permanently cemented it. Having invested so much emotion in Zimbo , we decided to stay loyal to him. We reminisced about him every chance we got. We collectively came to the conclusion that he was still out there , taking criminal scum out of business. Zimbo could now be as cool as we wanted him to be. He never sold out. He never got boring , his story never dragged. No , sir. Zimbo kept it real. Zimbo told it like it was. Zimbo NEVER let us down. For Zimbo was and will forever remain The Greatest Superhero Who Ever Lived.