Anant PaiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaAnant Pai

Born17 September 1929Karkala,Madras Presidency,British India

Died24 February 2011(aged81)Mumbai,Maharashtra,India

NationalityIndian

Other namesUncle PaiWalt Disney of India[1]

Notable work(s)Amar Chitra Katha

Spouse(s)Lalita Pai(1961-2011)

Website

http://www.unclepai.com/

Anant Pai(17 September 1929 24 February 2011), popularly known asUncle Pai, was anIndianeducationalist and a pioneer inIndian comics. He is most famous as the creator of two comic book series viz.Amar Chitra Katha, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters; andTinkle, a children's anthology.Contents[hide] 1Early life and education 2Professional career 3Works 3.1Comics 3.2Video 3.3Miscellaneous 4Awards and Recognitions 4.1Google Doodle 4.2Amar Chitra Katha Biography 5Personal life 6Death 7References 8External links

Early life and education[edit]Pai was born inKarkala, in what was the erstwhileMadras PresidencyofBritish Indiaon 17 September 1929 to aKonkani-speakingGoud Saraswat Brahmincouple, Venkataraya and Susheela Pai. He lost both his parents at the age of two. He was then brought up by his maternal grandfather till his death in 1944 after which he moved to Bombay (nowMumbai), where he studied in Orient School,Mahim. He pursued his higher education in chemistry, physics and chemical technology at theUniversity of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology(UDCT now UICT) and was a dual degree holder from theUniversity of Bombay.Professional career[edit]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 inThe Times of Indiabooks division, putting him in the thick of affairs whenIndrajal Comics, which was famous for publishing comic book series likeMandrakeandThe Phantom, was launched by the Times Group.The idea behind starting a comicbook series devoted to Indian culture and history came to Pai from a quiz contest aired onDoordarshanin February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining toGreek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In theRamayana, who was Rama's mother?"[2][3]He left his job atThe Times of Indiathe very same year and startedAmar Chitra Katha, a comic-book series which retold traditional Indian folk tales,Hindu mythologyand biographies of historical persons, with the help of late G. L. Mirchandani ofIndia Book House, when most other publishers fromAllied PublisherstoJaicohad rejected the concept. 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 86million copies of about 440 titles.In 1969, Pai foundedRang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate. In November 1980, he startedTinkleunder this syndicate. It is a children's anthology of short stories, jokes and educational articles in comic-book format.Tinkletoo replicated the success ofAmar Chitra Katha, with the magazine currently in its 603thissue as of November 2012. Pai's involvement with the above, and the personal rapport he shared with his readers earned him the title "Uncle Pai". In 1989, again through this syndicate, Pai launchedChimpu Comics, which included his own works likeRamu and Shamu,Kapish,Little RajiandFact Fantasy. This venture failed to repeat the success ofAmar Chitra KathaandTinkleand eventually its publication was stopped. Pai remained Managing Director ofRang Rekha Featurestill 2000, when he sold it to aHyderabad-based animation studio namedColor Chips.[2][4][5][6][7][8]Besides comics, Pai was also a specialist in personality development. He founded thePartha Institute of Personality Developmentin August 1978, which conducted personality development classes through correspondence for children and teenagers.[9]Works[edit]Comics[edit]UnderRang Rekha Features, Pai created a large number of comic strips such asRamu and Shamu,Kapish,Little RajiandRekhaalong with one-off short stories in comic format. Most of these continue to appear in newspapers and magazines. He also created educational strips such asFact Fantasy,FunlandandFuntime.Video[edit]Pai has written and produced two video films,Ekam Sat(the Vedic Concept of God) andThe Secret of Success, in bothEnglishandHindi.Miscellaneous[edit]Pai's other works include a number of books on personality development for children and teenagers such asHow To Develop Self-confidenceHow to Achieve Success,How To Develop A Super Memoryand audio books like certain titles ofAmar Chitra Kathain audio book format andStorytime with Uncle Pai, where he plays the role of narrator-storyteller.Awards and Recognitions[edit] Lifetime Achievement Award at the First Indian Comic Convention, New Delhi on 19 Feb 2011 (six days before his death) was given by Pran, Creator of Chacha Chaudhury[10] 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 Doodle[edit]Google's international and India search pages honoured Pai with a comic-style doodle of him on 17 September 2011, the 82ndbirth anniversary of Pai. The doodle featured Pai sitting in his office, surrounded by shelves full of his own creations.[11]Two such pictures, one in which Uncle Pai is sitting and the other in which he is standing, form the doodle, with the writing ofGoogleconnecting the two.[12]Amar Chitra Katha Biography[edit]On 18 February 2012,ACK Media, a Mumbai-based edutainment company which had been managingAmar Chitra KathaandTinklesince 2007,[13]released anAmar Chitra Kathatitle on Anant Pai, which was scripted by Gayathri Chandrasekaran, assistant editor ofTinkle, and illustrated by Dilip Kadam, who had illustrated many ofAmar Chitra Katha'smost famous titles