Thursday, February 24, 2011

RIP Uncle Pai

How come Uncle Pai was never bestowed the honour of a Padma Shri or Bharat Ratna when his achievements far surpass that of some of the fools in that list ?
Uncle Pai was the founder of Amar Chitra Katha - the comics that introduced generations of Indian kids to Indian history and mythology. One of the animators I once met had this to share - that it is so difficult to re-create Ram and Sita and other characters because all our perceptions were framed by Uncle Pai’s delineation of the same. The hour glass figured village belles with the sheer dupattas and the dusky handsome men in the stories - those are difficult images to compete with!
Uncle Pai was passionate about history and worked hard to realise his dream.He quit working with the Times of India after he saw a quiz program that deeply disturbed him...the Indian kids knew Greek mythology but had no clue who Ram’s mother was. He decided to bring Indian history in all its glory to kids. The first Amar Chitra Katha ‘Krishna’ was launched in 1969.In 1969, Anant Pai founded Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, which lasted till 1998.
Uncle Pai also started ‘Tinkle’, a children's monthly magazine in 1981. He decided to call the magazine so, because everytime they held a meeting to decide on a name for the magazine, the phone would ‘tinkle’! Kalia the crow is based on the crow that came to his window sill at home, in Mumbai's Prabhadevi.
Anant Pai conceptualized all the ACKs, wrote the scenarios for most of them and worked closely with the artists on the development. There were times when the comics would be ready, but there was no money to print it. So he would wait till he could finance the print run. Because of budgetary constraints, the original printings of ACKs were not in full colour. The panels were printed using yellow, blue and green. The later issues were in full colour. All ACKs stuck to a 30 page format.
Uncle Pai was full of stories about how he took the ACKs to different towns and cities and the loving reception he received everywhere. The ACKs came at a time when the shift from villages to towns had resulted in the break up of the joint family system. In an urban nuclear family set-up, the ACKs filled in a void created by the absence of grandparents and other elderly folk that would tell epic tales and stories from India’s rich cultural heritage.
Though ACKs were later translated into many languages, Uncle Pai decided to introduce them in English in order to reach out to the English medium schools and kids that aspired to learn English.
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 it inception in 1967 by Anant Pai. Many schools use strips of Amar Chitra Kathas to teach kids history.
Uncle Pai has been honoured with many awards, the latest being the the Lifetime Achievement Award this February at India’s first ever Comic Convention held in New Delhi.
Even though Uncle Pai sold the business to ACK-Media in 2007, he continued to come to office every single day. He was working on a massive project that would reflect the Glimpses of Indian Glory through the ages. He was meticulous in his research and passionate about his work till the very end.
And no National honour for this great visionary? Shame Indeed.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Falling sick ain’t sooo bad

Sometimes it is good to fall sick. It forces you to take a break, re-examine your life and its priorities, makes you aware of the people and relationships that are really important. It helps sift the wheat from the chaff and gives a golden chance to re-claim your life.

That’s what happened to me. In the intial days of intense pain and trauma, I kept trying to understand why I was suffering so much. I am a strong believer in Karma. I make my mistakes, but by and large I try not to hurt people because I truly believe that my actions will hit me harder on the rebound. I could not figure out who it was that I had hurt so badly to be punished like this. Slowly I realised that the person I had hurt the most in the past year, the person I had betrayed and lied too and thrown negative energy at was ME. I had not treated myself well. I had walked out on a Company and a job I loved .And when a relationship breaks it results in loss of confidence and self esteem and that is what happened to me.Therefore I spent the better part of the year trying to prove to myself that I was excellent and that I could do it all. Looking back, I should have allowed myself sufficient time to grieve and move on. Instead, as I did better and better at work, I collected tons of negative energy in my heart.And this hit me big time!

In juggling marriage, kids and work I had drifted apart from many of my close relationships. And the illness re-connected me with all of them again .My mother flew nonstop for 24 hrs from Nigeria to reach me asap and nursed me 24/7. Praneet never left my bedside and played the roles of a father, husband, friend and even mother at various times. He was tuned in to every agony of mine and did what he could to alleviate it. My kids were angels , demanded nothing and stayed home alone when there was no one with them for 2 weeks through the day.My sister stood by me and cleaned up after me all the time.My strong unexpressive Dad was like playdoh and would cry on the phone everytime he called from Nigeria.And my brother dropped everything to come and visit me. My sister in law who was my emotional anchor and stayed with me to get the diagnosis right. What can I say, except that I am blessed.

I felt humbled by the number of people who were so concerned about me. And I can sift the wheat from the chaff now. My friends who asked after me, organised prayer meetings and flew in from Delhi to visit me .Those who made it a point to come to the hospital everyday just chat with Praneet in the hospital lobby to give him emotional support. The ex boss I had a misunderstanding with , the ex-colleague I was nasty to, all the Kalaghoda members and publishers -I did not know so many people cared about me.

I don’t believe I am a very nice person, but the love and concern made me feel special indeed. And while I could see nothing positive in those weeks of intense pain and suffering, today I believe that I had it good. It could have been worse.The wake up call was well timed and it has made me stop to smell the roses. And to love and appreciate what I have. And to thank the divine power for this beautiful life.