By Sharanya Iyer

Everybody loves a good story, but only some have the true gift of storytelling. One such gifted individual was Anant Pai. So intense was his love for storytelling that he built his entire life around it. Known as the father of the Indian comic industry, Anant Pai was an immensely generous person who had a vision for the benefit of others and turned it into reality. 

A bright and gifted student from the very beginning, Anant Pai never backed down when met with challenges. After losing his parents at the age of two, and after the subsequent loss of his grandparents who raised him, Anant Pai moved to the big, bustling city of Mumbai, where he met the additional challenge of a language barrier. He didn’t speak any English, and it was a mark of how intelligent he was that he not only went on to study and learn in English-speaking institutions but came out at the very top at all these schools. 

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Growing up, Anant Pai was a natural storyteller, entertaining his siblings with easy skill. As an adult, he wanted to regale children with the endless supply of mythological and historical stories that Indians possess, along with the vibrant varieties of folk tales and regional lore every state has. The most well-known incident in Anant Pai’s life is the time he watched Indian children on a quiz show. These children had ready knowledge of Greek gods but failed to deliver answers to well-known Indian mythological questions. This incident was the spark that gave birth to the still-burning flame of Amar Chitra Katha. 

A name synonymous with long journeys and summer holidays, Amar Chitra Katha has shaped the childhood of generation after generation of Indians. Our country’s cultural background is vast, and it is next to impossible to know each and every story and folk tale there is here. Through Anant Pai’s vision of making these stories readily available and well known amongst children, so many of these stories are now widely enjoyed and retold. Countless stories of our gods and goddesses, our kings and their queens, of the brave freedom fighters who fought for the freedom we enjoy today, of seldom-heard folk tales that old grandmothers have preserved and passed on, and everything in between, have all been beautifully illustrated and told to us by Amar Chitra Katha.  

Anant Pai saw his dream of children learning about Indian culture and heritage come true. He had stories and storytelling in his heart and soul, and he loved it so deeply that he was determined to make everybody around him love it too. He had complete faith in his dream and was convinced that it was important enough that it became reality. By turning stories into illustrated comics, he ensured that children read more books and knew more stories.  

Anant Pai singlehandedly took on the role of writer, art director and editor, working very hard to give children what they enjoyed. With his uniquely quirky, yet simple, way of presenting his characters and story, he and his team created something that everybody wanted more of. And when children repeatedly demanded more books and more stories, he took it a step further, added funny stories and characters, and created everybody’s beloved Tinkle comics! Even today, both old and new issues of Tinkle are widely enjoyed and treasured, each story urging children to find the hero within themselves. 

Both Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle are equally iconic features in the lives of their old fans and in the lives of their fresh, young readers. For millions, the books will always be an incontestable part of their childhood. The readers have enjoyed a deep bond with the books along with a personal rapport with their creator, which is how Anant Pai fondly became known as ‘Uncle’ Pai. He was an expert at recognising the needs of children everywhere, along with possessing a keen eye for their interests. Today, all of us at Amar Chitra Katha work towards sustaining Uncle Pai’s legacy by maintaining the impeccable standard he set for educational story telling. 

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