Friends who hang their boots in my pad are greeted with a common site- a stack of Archies and a bowl of pop-corn. Now they know me reading Tagore to Ayn Rand to Vikram Seth. So, many of them do not understand my fascination with comic strips.
Nor do they seem to decipher the fact that I derive a great sense of comfort and normalcy just by reading them.
Archie with his quintessential boy-next door aura tells reminds me every day, the reason why scores of women out there mercilessly fall for normal guys. Also, does he keep reminding me that you stand-by your friends no matter what! With his deep-set desire to make it to the big league, he doesn’t let down a moment of stepping it up in and around Veronica. All about well-set goals and working towards them. And his impatience surfacing around Betty, in spite of her being faithful, devotional and ever-present, telling me that a guy becomes himself around his woman, where the flaws resurface with the same ease as his best traits do!
Betty the perfectionist. Cooks like a dream, looks pretty, can give a man a run in his game, is intelligent but isn’t a geek. She is the woman of every gentleman’s dreams (note the “gentleman” please). This quintessential rock-star becomes even more adorable because she doesn’t have a roving eye. She is crazy about Archie and wears her love for him on his sleeve, even if Archie plays the puppy-dog around Veronica. Yes, they would be the silent mourning damsels but very much lady-like. You see a lady wants the guy to be a man and usually tend to ignore the instances where the guy behaves other-wise. Because like I said, they are perfectionists.
Veronica the rich-spoilt brat, definitely an integral part of our lives. They are full of monies and are full of themselves. She has to have her way through things, even if it is at the cost of hurting her best friend for life, Betty Cooper. She’d normally prefer a man of class, with lots of money, a la daddy-like choice. But she never leaves an opportunity to claim Archie, because Betty wants him. Perfect Betty, with a heart of gold…something that Veronica could never be. This lady is all monies but wait, like you’d expect it is not dumb. She very well knows that the best pawn to play around Archie is Reggie. Archie drops the Cooper lady, like a hot cake, pronto and rushes to the lady. Between Archie and Reggie, Veronica only loves herself.
