Anant Pai

Anant Pai ಅನಂತ್ ಪೈ अनंत पै
Born	17 September 1929(1929-09-17) Karkala, Karnataka
Died	24 February 2011(2011-02-24) (aged 81) Mumbai, Maharashtra
Nationality	Indian
Notable work(s)	Amar Chitra Katha
Spouse	Lalita Pai
Website
http://www.unclepai.com/

Anant Pai ( ಅನಂತ್ ಪೈ (Kannada),(Konkani: अनंत पै (Devanagari)); 17 September 1929 – 24 February 2011), 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.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

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.^[6]

Early life and education

Born in Karkala, Karnataka to Venkataraya and Susheela Pai, he lost his parents at the age of two. At the age of twelve, he came to Mumbai, where he studied in Orient School, Mahim. He studied chemistry, physics and chemical technology at the University of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT now UICT) and was a dual degree holder from the University of Bombay.

Early career

Endowed with a passion for publishing and comics, his failed attempt at creating a children's magazine (Manav, 1954) was followed by a career as a junior executive in the Times of India books division, putting him in the thick of affairs when Indrajal comics was launched by the Times Group.

The Amar Chitra Katha years

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?"^[1][7]

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.

The above is an oft-told story of how ACK was founded beginning with ‘Uncle Pai’, in Mumbai in 1967. However, Outlook Magazine has this article about the genesis of this popular comic series: The idea and proposal for Amar Chitra Katha was made by a Bangalore book salesman called G.K. Ananthram which led to the first Amar Chitra Katha comics being produced in 1965—in Kannada, not English. “The English ACK titles begin from number eleven because the first ten were in Kannada,” clarifies Ananthram. To Anathram’s satisfaction, the 1965 Kannada ACK venture was a great commercial success which lead to Mirchandani in the head office in Mumbai pursuing the Amar Chitra Katha idea in English diligently, and the rest is history. “They brought in Anant Pai” says Ananthram. “And he built a wonderful team and a great brand.” ^[8]

In 1969, Anant Pai founded Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, and started the children's magazine Tinkle in 1980. His involvement with the above, and the rapport he shared with his readers earned him the title "Uncle Pai".

Other works

Ramu and Shamu, Kapish, Little Raji, Rekha, Fact Fantasy, Funland and Funtime are some of the comic strips created by Pai, most of which continue to appear in newspapers and magazines. He has written and produced two video films, Ekam Sat (the Vedic Concept of God) and The Secret of Success, in English and Hindi.

Pai's other works include a number of books on personality development for children and teenagers, ("How To Develop Self-confidence", "How to Achieve Success", "How To Develop A Super Memory", UBS Publishers) and a series of audio book versions of Amar Chitra Katha stories, "Storytime with Uncle Pai" (Universal Music India, Dec 2001), where he plays the role of narrator-storyteller.

Awards and recognitions

• Lifetime Achievement Award — at the First Indian Comic Convention, New Delhi on 19 Feb 2011 (6 days before his death) was given by Pran, Creator of Chacha Chaudhury
• Karpoorchand Puraskar of Uttar Pradesh Bal Kalyan Sansthan (1994)
• Yudhvir Memorial Award in Hyderabad (1996)
• Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Academy Award (1996)
• Dr. T. M. A. Pai Memorial Award in Manipal (1997)
• University of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology's Distinguished Alumnus Award (1999)
• Millennium Konkani Sammelan Award, Illinois, U.S.A (2000)
• Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation's Award (2001)
• Priyadarshni Academy Award (2002)
• Vishwa Saraswat Sammaan (2003)

Google's international & India search pages featured a doodle dedicated to him on Saturday, 17 September 2011, replacing its logo with a comic book style doodle to honour Pai on his 82nd birth anniversary. Doodle featured Uncle Pai sitting in his office, surrounded by shelves full of his own creations.^[9] Two such pictures, one in which Uncle Pai is sitting and the other in which he is standing, form the doodle, with the writing of Google connecting the two.^[10]

Personal life

He was a resident of Prabhadevi, Mumbai. He died on 24 February 2011, and is outlived by his widow, Lalita Pai.^[11]

Death

Anant Pai was admitted to a hospital regarding the treatment of a bone fracture following a fall from a staircase. After some days, when he was recovering, he suffered from a massive heart attack on 24 February 2011 early in the morning. He died later that day around 5 PM.

References

External links

• Official website
• Amar Chitra Katha
• Tinkle Online
• Biography of Anant Pai by Atula Ahuja
• Interview by Atula Ahuja