3rd weekend of Sep.'2011

Anyone who has logged into Google today, would have seen an animated
picture referring to the birth anniversary of Shri Anant Pai, the pioneer
of Indian cartooning. This weekend, lets take some time off and salute this
person and his thoughts. The interested souls may do a further reading in
Google or the website of Amar Chitra Katha also.

Anant  Pai,  popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and
creator  of  Indian  comics,  in particular the Amar Chitra Katha series in
1967,  along  with  the  India  Book  House  publishers,  and  which retold
traditional  Indian  folk  tales,  mythological stories, and biographies of
historical characters. In 1980, he launched Tinkle, a children's anthology,
which  was  started  under  Rang  Rekha  Features,  India's first comic and
cartoon syndicate that lasted till 1998, with him as the Managing Director.
Today,  Amar Chitra Katha, sells about three million comic books a year, in
English  and  more than 20 Indian languages, and has sold about 100 million
copies since its inception in 1967 by Anant Pai, and in 2007 was taken over
by ACK Media.

Idea: The idea behind starting a comicbook series devoted to Indian culture
and  history  came  to  Pai  from  a  quiz  contest aired on Doordarshan in
February   1967,  in  which  participants  could  easily  answer  questions
pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In
the  Ramayana,  who was Rama's mother?” Children were mesmerized by western
stories  and  did  not  know  of  the  rich treasure of stories that Indian
mythology  and folklores had in store for them. He left his job and started
Amar Chitra Katha the same year, with the help of late G. L. Mirchandani of
India  Book  House,  when  most  other publishers from Allied Publishers to
Jaico  had  rejected  the  concept.  Later,  he took on the role of writer,
editor  and  publisher. The series went on to become a publishing milestone
for  the  Indian  comic book scene, selling over 86 million copies of about
440 titles.

So  Many  Childhood  Memories:  Who  could forget the lovable Suppandi, the
simpleton  servant,  who  would happily get his orders mixed up and produce
some  innocent humour? Remember Shikari Shambu, whom the world reputes as a
brave  hunter, but is really meek and gentle? Somehow, in spite of bungling
up  everything,  he  would  still  end  up  the  winner, protecting his own
reputation  and  also  delighting young hearts. Want to sketch a character,
who  is  evil,  but  is  still loved? Take some inspiration from Tantri the
Mantri.  He  is  the  evil  minister to the innocent king Raja Hooja and is
constantly  planning  to usurp the throne. The king trusts him with all his
heart  and, somehow, Tantri never succeeds in anything that he conspires to
do.  These  are  only  the  most famous characters in the Tinkle series – a
flagship  program of Amar Chitra Katha. Apart from these, Tinkle used to be
famous  for  the  Uncle  Pai’s own column, where perfectly scientific ideas
were  explained to children in an easy-to-digest and, most importantly, fun
manner.

The additives: Apart from these, Amar Chitra Katha published graphic novels
of  Ramayana,  Mahabharata and Panchatantra, all well-known Indian epics or
collection  of moral stories. Needless to say these are must-reads for each
children today.

 As I always say, brickbats and bouquets welcome


-Sukhi