Shaktiphobia

All children at a certain point of their childhood are afraid of something or have a fear. Most often it is the fear of animals, insects or reptiles – spiders, cockroaches, lions, tigers, lizards or other creepy crawlies. The second category is the fear of the unknown – the boogeyman, the ghost and the dark hooded figure who goes by different names like 'Habu’ or 'Buddhe Baba'. Parents often use this to their advantage. When kids won’t sleep they’d probably make a noise by knocking on the bed and say “Go to sleep fast, or Habu will come”. In my memory, this trick has worked every single time I put my younger brother to sleep.

So, there’s ‘The Creature’ and ‘The Unknown’ that most kids were scared of. My childhood, was a bit different. Wondering what did my mother say to me when I wouldn’t go to sleep? It was “Go to sleep or Shakti Kapoor is going to come”.  Yes, my biggest fear as a child was that of Shakti Kapoor.

A child’s world before they turn about 10 years old is a land of mystery and magic. In my case, I was ‘Supergirl’ whose skills were beyond those who I played with after school and being ‘Denner’ was unforgivable. My hero in this fantasyland was Anil Kapoor and the villain – Shakti Kapoor. I don’t blame Shakti Kapoor completely. It could be my devotion to movies and Bollywood, but maybe it was the choice of roles that he took during the time I was young. After all, he was the undisputed king of villain-dom in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

It was ‘Balma’ from Chaalbaaz who happened to scar me the most. I would shut my eyes when the character came on-screen and was overjoyed when he was tortured. A close second to this was his ‘Shakaal’ type mafia don avatar in one of the Khiladi movies. My mother highly amused at her daughter’s fear didn’t leave a single opportunity to tap into it. “Don't have too much chocolate, otherwise Shakti Kapoor will come”, “Don’t play when you should study or Shakti Kapoor will come” and her favorite “Should I call Shakti Kapoor?” while picking up the receiver of the telephone. Now that I think of it, I clearly remember seeing a smirk every time she made a statement about Shakti Kapoor coming after me.

Once, I even had a nightmare about him chasing me. The colony where we stayed was an L-shaped one and at one end was a wall. I remember trying to climb the wall to run away from Shakti Kapoor. In his Balma form, he would keep closing in on me but the wall keep getting longer until I woke up bawling!

Eventually, I grew out of it. But yes, at some point of time in my life – I had nightmares about this Bollywood anti-hero and till date, I don’t go near that wall alone.

Writer’s Block: Write about your greatest childhood fear?