An illustration of Anant Pai; Source: Public Domain

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Avid readers are hard to find in today's modern world of junk literature, a term commonly used for short and easy to digest works. However, in the early 2000s, a man who almost reached the stature of Walk Disney himself, pioneered a generation towards comics and reading the Indian mythology which was beautifuly illustrated in the most Indian way possible. These works would later on be an inspiration to many budding artists and comic strip writers who would go on to pass his legacy. 

Anant Pai, before going on to illustrate Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle was working in the Times of India. That is where the first idea for Amar Chitra Katha was born. However, it was initially rejected by his superior.

Later on, when him and his wife were watching a tv quiz show, he noticed that all the participants answered the questions for Greek mythology but could not answer even one from their own country! This was when he decided to form his own comic book series inspired from the Indian mythos as well as history. 

In February 1970, the first Amar Chitra Katha title, Krishna was released.

> Anant Pai also created Partha clubs for personality development for children and young teens around the country. He also wrote numerous books on the same topic.

The success of ACK was too overwhelming for him and his team. The kids were demanding a weekly edition. Then the team decided to create another series of comics, but this time with more games and casual original stories which would help kids enjoy reading. The name Tinkle came from Subba Rao's conversation with his marketing manager when he said

> I'll give you a tinkle later in the day.

Tinkle was first published on November 14th, 1980. The perfect date for a children's comic.

Characters such as Suppandi, Shikari Shambu and Tantri the Mantri are names well remembered by any tinkle reader. This successfully cemented his name as one of the greatest creators of India. 

Later on, he also ventured into a different comic series but failed however. Such is life and there is nothing we can do but move forward. His death was due to a heart attack. No matter how he died, his essence and dream still remain in the pages of every Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha book.

We did not start off reading in our childhood with fine print books, instead we went for small fiction stories or comics. Anant Pai, his dream and his comics made every millennial Indian's childhood.