My favorite cartoon character?
I have many favorites : one for a season, one for a reason, one acts as a beacon, one acts as a cushion, one as a passion, one as a lesson.
Everyone knows my lifelong love for Jerry and Piglet; cartoon characters I relate to the most. But there’s one, not many know about…that played the role of a lifeline for me. A cartoon that literally saved my life.
To this day, I remember Oswald, the blue octopus with his motley group of friends –residents of the whimsical Big City, as the cartoon that held my hand with its simplicity during one of the darkest times of my life.
I was 23 when diagnosed with severe depression. My reasons to choose life over death were fast dwindling. Of the two that helped me postpone death everyday; one was music and the other, Oswald.
Everyday at 12PM, I would switch on the TV and sit before it with my lunch. I wasn’t sure what I was eating but I was sure to train my entire senses on the show that aired for the next 25 odd minutes.
When my internal world was busy waging a war against it’s own self, devising new methods to kill itself any day now, Oswald was the soothing voice that told me to simply breathe and be here in the now.
One more breath. One more time. One more day.
As my mind was wasting away, burning and melting in it’s own disastrous soupy mess; Oswald showed up every noon to feed me with the softest of love I needed to stay alive.
Unlike cartoons that are fast paced where a million things happen all at once, Oswald was calm amd peaceful. It was all about the simplest of things that make our days from dawn to dusk. I remember his friend, Daisy, a flower that was always smiling and happy. A joy to surrender to. A smile to root down to.
While I would be having my lunch, tears adding unnecessary salt to whatever I was eating, Oswald would be smiling and reading the daily paper. Enquiring about his friends and community and going on walks around town with an umbrella in hand. He somehow made everything about life feel so unhurried and grounded.
Exactly what I lacked and desperately needed. Oswald was my umbrella protecting me against the storm clouds of a disease that doesn’t come with a big announcement. A disease that eats you up from inside while you are blissfully unaware of the mayhem within you.
Oswald was the gentleness I sought while trying to make sense of the chaos within and without. Everything about Oswald was soft; be it the story telling, the colours, the voice overs or the narration. No drama, no hype; just minimalistic and peaceful.
The best thing about Oswald? He taught me patience. Patience with the cacophony that was my mind and patience for my anxious heart that was filled with fear of the unknown.
In many ways, Oswald was the weapon that I armed myself with, while battling self sabotage and a certain death.
Cartoons are usually associated with childhood and the carefree joys that come with it. Jerry and Piglet made sure I enjoyed that phase of my life with them for company.
Oswald came to me during full blown adulthood. At a time I didn’t know I would need a small cute round blue animated octopus and his teeny tiny world of the colourful Big City to be my therapists and help me navigate through my own darkness to find the light within.
For that I will always be grateful to the creators of this magical cartoon and Nickelodeon for airing it in India when I needed it the most.
Jerry and Piglet; the cartoon characters I most relate to. A related prompt answered a while ago.
© 2026 Lalitha @ Theloopylululog.blog All Rights Reserved
All content, graphics, and text on this site are owned by Lalitha @ Theloopylululog.blog. Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without express written permission is strictly prohibited.
Care to drop a tiny pearl from the ocean of your mind?