India

India

The Republic of India was created in its modern form in the year 1947 on independence from Britain. It is one of several nations which formerly constituted the Indian Empire, the others being Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In 1961, the city-state of Goa, the last part of the sub-continent still subject to European colonial rule, was annexed into India in a brief war with Portugal, the colonial power. India's post-colonial independence has been marked by frequent wars and border clashes, with Communist China, Portugal, and most notably Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The capital city is New Delhi, which in-series is the home city of Raj K. Raj is representative of the affluent ruling elite of the country and would have been fortunate to live a privileged and sheltered upbringing as part of the relatively small affluent upper middle classes.

As noted on the Superman article, India has its own thriving comic-book industry boasting superheroes such as Shaktimaan and Nagraj. Heroes from the DC and Marvel universes also appear in local Indian manifestations tailored to local tastes. Anyone interested in seeing how India's Superman differs from his American version should be advised that DC and Marvel characters' use in India is generally pirated - unauthorised by the copyright owners. Therefore they have taken surprising directions there which American readers might find strange and sometimes even distasteful.

India's beloved comic, TV and film superhero, Shaktimaan

Trivia:

• Fun fact: There is actually a Caltech in India. The Calcutta Technical Institute offers university-degree courses in science and engineering. It even calls itself Caltech (although given the modern spelling of Kalkota, its email addresses are "@kaltech")