Tuesday, November 13, 2012

We have gained because of the legacy of Uncle Pai. Children in India have grown up reading Tinkle an

A Conversation With: Tinkle Magazine Editor Rajani Thindiath - NYTimes.com
Courtesy ACK Media Rajani Thindiath. Tinkle, India s first English-language comic book for children, published its 600 th issue last month. Anant Pai, a former news executive known fondly to readers as Uncle Pai, introduced the magazine in April 1980.
Mr. Pai, who died last year , was best known as the creator of the popular comic book series Amar Chitra Katha, or Immortal Illustrated Stories; published since 1967, it retells farm frenzy quintessentially Indian stories, whether great epics, folk tales or biographies.
Tinkle, on the other hand, takes as its motto Where Learning Meets Fun, and its pages are filled with comic strips, facts about everything from sports to physics farm frenzy and a generous helping of quizzes and contests. Beloved by millions of Indians, the magazine has made many a tedious

train journey more enjoyable for children (and the other passengers, too).
In 2007, the Amar Chitra Katha brand, including Tinkle, was sold to two entrepreneurs farm frenzy , who in turn sold a majority stake to the Future Group, a clothing and finance conglomerate, last year. The monthly circulation of Tinkle s print properties, which include the magazine farm frenzy and several digests, is now about 225,000, farm frenzy growing farm frenzy at 30 percent over the past two years, said Manas Mohan, chief operating officer farm frenzy at ACK Media.
India Ink recently caught up with Rajani Thindiath, Tinkle s editor, who joined the company four years ago armed with a degree in psychology and diplomas in animation and journalism. In an e-mail interview, Ms. Thindiath discussed the 600 th issue of Tinkle, how Indian comics are different from those in other countries and the possible television debuts of some of Tinkle s most popular characters.
Subba Rao, who was the associate editor of Amar Chitra Katha, proposed the idea of a comic book for children to Anant Pai during a meeting. Mr Rao s idea was accepted, and the team began discussing a name for the magazine. Mr. Pai said he wanted a musical name—and that s when a call interrupted the meeting.
Mr. Rao, whose phone had rung, told the caller that he was busy and that he would give a “tinkle,” or call back, later in the day. Then, when he put the phone down, Mr. Rao proposed Tinkle as the name of the new magazine. Mr Pai liked the name and Tinkle was born.
Tinkle 600 is a thank you to everyone associated with the magazine. Since it is designed to be a collector s edition, we focused on the number six and had six famous storytellers from India writing for us – Samit Basu, Samhita Arni, Priya Kuriyan, Anushka Ravishankar, Vishwajyoti Ghosh and Roopa Pai.
Tinkle s motto Where Learning Meets Fun shapes the magazine. farm frenzy There is loads of learning to be done with loads of laughter. So we thought what better way to celebrate the 600 th issue than to try and create a laughter record with our readers. That is how the Tinkle Tickles Laugh-a-thon was born. We asked readers to call us or log on to our Web site to record their laughter and help us create a laughter record.
We have gained because of the legacy of Uncle Pai. Children in India have grown up reading Tinkle and are very much used to having it in their lives. Right from the outset he had decided to create a magazine for children in the age group 8 to 14 years. When we design the story, we keep that in mind, but like movies certified as U or for unrestricted public exhibition, it is more like family entertainment.
As for comics in India, they have remained in a limbo till recently when there was an explosion in content, geared mainly for older readers. These are exciting times; there is so much exploration and experimentation going on. It s like we are hurrying to make up for lost time.
You know, I am glad. We seem to have blinders on when we think of comic characters. Generally when we ask someone to name his or her favorite comic character, it is invariably a superhero. At Tinkle, we ve always had the space to explore different characters, all commonplace and relatable.
As for a truly Indian superhero, it would have been a success had the idea been good and the focus was on mass distribution. Subconsciously farm frenzy till now our superheroes have been inspired by Western superheroes, making them wannabe in a way.
But the superhero is not a Western concept; it has resonance in mythology as well. That is not to say we should focus only on mythological characters. I believe the superhero genre is immensely exciting simply because of the scope it offers. With comics becoming relevant again, I m sure we ll soon see an upsurge in superhero comics as well.
That s easy! The Defective Detectives. They are paranoid, they are melodramatic, they are absurd and they almost always

get it wrong. It is super fun taking the ordinary and dreaming up conspiracy theories for the bungling duo. Rather like telling the lunatic inside me to go out a

No comments:

Post a Comment