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Most of us have our childhood favorites - icons whom we idolised during our formative years.

I remember having a major crush on Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) when I watched Goldfinger for the very first time on grainy VHS. I must have been 6 or 7 years old at that time. My fascination for blondes grew over the years, and even now a good-looking blonde becomes one of my instant favorites.

I used to love crime thriller books involving the law. My earliest foray into reading was during school, when the Famous Five, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Three Investigators, etc., were the favorites of my group of friends/classmates. This later extended into me reading through (almost) all the books by Erle Stanley Gardner which had Perry Mason as the main character. I simply loved Mason to bits. Even today I can recall all the other characters from those series of books - Della Street, Mason's secretary, Hamilton Burger, the district attorney and Mason's main adversary, Paul Drake, his chief investigator, etc. This fascination turned me towards Agatha Christie, Frederic Dannay & Manfred Bennington Lee (Ellery Queen), and eventually, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books.

On the media front, 007 was influencing me in a big way. Sean Connery was the ultimate spy, liked George Lazenby in his brief foray, and even Roger Moore holds a special place in my heart. I was totally cross-eyed when Diana Rigg, Daniela Bianchi, Jane Seymour, Tanya Roberts flashed through the screens in the 007 films.

War films had a special charm for me as well. Kwai, Longest Day, Tora, Eagles, Escape, Western Front, you name it, I had seen it. Which brought me to Stone's Platoon, a special, special film which touched me in a way no other film had ever done. Even today, when I rewatch it for the zillionth time, I can't help being touched deeply inside in a manner I can't explain in words.

Above all, the big two for me were Eastwood and Bronson. Westerns and crime capers alike, both men rocked the silver screen with their iconic presence, and I couldn't help but watch them in complete, jaw-dropped awe.

And of course, this wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention The Neverending Story and The Goonies. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen both films, but even today during a re-watch, I can't help shake off the goosebumps feeling which makes my hairs stand. Fantasy films became a weak point for me ever since I watched Wizards of the Lost Kingdom for the very first time. For a kid of 10-11, it was a huge influence.

The only album I remember hearing over and over again during my school years was Kraftwerk's Computer World. Other than that, most of the disco hits of the mid-80s was pretty mind-blowing in those times. Oh, and Billy Joel.

And then, there's Alien.

But that's another story.