Chatchart the superhero

Some people can kill two birds with one stone, but Chadchart can kill two stones with one bird. How did caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt become a superhero? Here is the story.

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Below are excerpts from a story that appeared today in the Bangkok Post Life section. You can read the full original story here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/393705/chatchart-the-superhero

Go Chadchart, Go!

Kaona Pongpipat
Amornrat Mahithirook

Some people can kill two birds with one stone, but Chadchart can kill two stones with one bird.

Clad in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, the man walked barefoot to give alms to the monks early one morning. In his hand was a plastic bag, his face expressionless as though the idea of putting on a pair of slippers was as unthinkable as putting on an overcoat on a hot sunny day.

Not exactly an unusual sight. A lot of people give alms to monks on a regular basis and some do so barefoot. But that man in the sleeveless shirt was caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt and a photograph, capturing that serene instant, found its way online and went viral.

Chadchart has already been to Mars, that's why there are no living creatures there.

The minister has become a household name, an icon. Working from that original alms-giving image, he has been recast as a fireproof superhero, a destroyer of zombies, the Spartan king from fantasy-action film 300, a model on Vivienne Westwood and Victoria's Secret's catwalks.

Chadchart has also inspired several dozen jokes, mostly hyperboles about his supposed toughness and superhuman powers

If Chatchart walks in the sun, it's the sun that gets burnt.

Chadchart is taking it all in stride. "I was surprised at first, then I was amazed, because some of these pictures are full of imagination and creativity," the minister told the Bangkok Post recently. "I laugh along with them. I don't take it seriously because those photos are meant in jest, and they're cute. I think they create a positive impact because when people are more interested in me, they will become more interested in the work of the ministry.

If you don't "Like" Chadchart's Facebook page, your computer will explode.

"Humour is important, because life is so stressful," he added. "I don't see those photos as nonsensical; I think they imply something deeper. Maybe people are looking for a hero — no, I don't mean myself. I mean people may see my character and let their imagination take it further

Chadchart once kicked the chin of a horse, now the same creature is generally referred to as a "giraffe''.

"It's good for me because now that people have accepted me as that, I don't have to act cool," joked the man who reveals that his favourite superhero is Tiger Mask.

"Sometimes members of my family send me weird pictures of myself, and I've been teased [by other ministers] in the Cabinet's LINE [online chatroom] group. Now that this 'fever' has broken out, I'll let it run its course. It will fade out eventually."

Chadchart can count from one to infinity — twice.

Oh, what was in that plastic bag that Chatchart was carrying in the famous photo? Here are some guesses from social media fans: Dragon meat stir-fried with spices. Rice grown on the surface of the sun. Unicorn liver. Ground kryptonite (Superman's nemesis).

 All wrong. "I was carrying one pack of rice, two packs of gaeng [curry] and an envelope containing 100 baht to be given to the monks," he told the Life section of the Bangkok Post.

Chadchart was once bitten by a snake; the snake died.

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/393705/chatchart-the-superhero