“He-man, and the masters of the universe”, played the very familiar theme, on the television set of the Sharma household. “I have the power”, completed young Arjun, all of 9 years old and 4 feet tall, from the top of the teapoy with his plastic He-man sword raised. After proudly owning umpteen action figures, watching all reruns of the show and enacting the action with his friends, Arjun declared himself as one of the universe.
Every Sunday, Arjun would wake up early and finish his homework in time to watch his favorite super hero. On one such day, the action on the TV seemed blurred than usual and little Arjun complained to his mother, “Ma our TV has broken down. I cant see He-man clearly”. At first his mom ignored it but soon realized there was nothing wrong with the TV. The next morning, Arjun was in a doctors office reading random alphabets from a mirror. The size of the alphabets kept getting smaller and smaller until Arjun could not read any further. So he did what any eye patient does, he guessed a P for an F and an M for an N. After some more examination of Arjun’s eyes, the doctor concluded that he has Myopia and would need glasses for 20/20 vision going forward.
At first, Arjun was excited about wearing glasses. He thought that he had a new super power and maybe he could fire off laser beams from his eyes on removing the glasses. But as days and weeks went by he saw that his mom was very upset that he had to wear glasses. She even stopped him from watching He-man. “Watching too much television is the cause of your weak eyes”, she said. Kids in his school would often make fun of him and call him a “Battery”, a common colloquial sneer used by kids in western India, to point out his dependency on glasses for perfect vision. Some would come up to him and ask him what was his power and he would sheepishly reply “Its 2.0”. The teasing in school knew no end. In the following few weeks Arjun lost all his spunk and became a very quiet kid. He was not watching his favorite super hero, He-man, anymore since his mom had restricted his television access. His naughtiness waned, and in school he was often getting bullied. Kids would pass by and yell, “Whats your power, battery?”
One random Sunday morning, in an effort to lift his spirits, Arjun’s mom decided to let him watch He-man. She tried to urge him to come out of bed as a new episode was about to begin. But Arjun did not feel like getting out of bed. His mom turned on the television anyway and the very familiar theme rang, “He-man, and the masters of the universe”. As low as Arjun was feeling, he could not resist the idea of watching his favorite show without having to barter studies with his parents. He slowly walked towards the TV room dragging his feet across the floor, and sat on the sofa. He reluctantly put his glasses on and a blurred He-man became muscular He-man once again. The episode was centered around Orko, the dwarf wizard. Orko was feeling useless and dejected since he messed up in the battle against Skeletor causing the masters to retreat. As a result, he decided to lock himself up in a dungeon. He-man convinces him that every person has a special power and that Orko brings to the team something that no one else can. In the end He-man and his friends manage to defeat the bad guys because of Orko’s help. After the episode, He-man says, “Every person has a special power within themselves and one should never lose their self belief. Helping Orko see that helped us win. See you next time”. First time in months, Arjun had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
Monday morning came, and Arjun was out of the bed in a flash and ready to go to school. He pleaded with his mom, if he could take his He-man sword to school. Seeing her child upbeat for the first time in months, his mom gave in. Arjun reached his class and sat in his seat. As perfect clockwork, a classmate came over and yelled, “Whats your power, battery?”. But this time, Arjun was prepared. He reached out in his backpack, drew out his plastic sword, stood on top of the desk, and with the sword raised in his hand said in a loud voice, “I have the powerrr.... 2.0”
