Neverending Tinkle Times

Old favourites Suppandi and Shikari Shambu are still around, but the 33-year-old magazine also has contemporary characters like the vampire who’s lost his fangs

Rajani Thindiath, editor of Tinkle, talks about one of the magazine’s most-loved characters, Suppandi, almost like he is a real person. “You know you might be mistaken to think he is a buffoon, but he is not–he is just simple. He takes everything literally.” We all remember Suppandi as the servant who goofs up with the simplest of tasks. Ask him to get a box of matchsticks that are the best quality, he will light each one to check and then hand it over to you. But, those who have not revisited the magazine since their childhood will be a little shocked to know that Suppandi is no longer just a servant. He has already played characters like a copywriter and an archaeologist’s assistant. In the 33rd anniversary issue of the children’s magazine, he appears as a brand ambassador for a Visa card.

Tinkle turned 33 recently and remains a popular children’s magazine in India. Manas Mohan, the CEO and publishing director of Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd, which owns Tinkle, claims it sells almost 300,000 copies a month, making it the highest selling English comic in India. Founded by the late Anant Pai in 1980, popularly known as Uncle Pai by young readers, Tinkle gathered readership due to the appeal of characters such as Suppandi, Tantri the Mantri and Shikari Shambu. The emphasis in the magazine was on learning in a fun way, and wholesome clean stories with a message that kids could take home.

Not much has changed in the magazine’s philosophy over the years. The editor says, “There is no need to change something that’s not broken.”

There are some aesthetic changes, and a host of new characters have made their debut. The animation is funkier and the colours are brighter. The characters are also keeping up with the times–there are the Super Weirdos, who all have weird super powers, and the heroine is Aisha, whose super weird power is that she starts jiggling when she is near a person with another super weird power. There is also a series called ‘Dental Diaries’, where a young vampire loses his fangs when he attacks his dentist —after that, there is nothing for him to do but look for his fangs, and all his adventures arise out of that problem.

Even the older characters have undergone some changes—Suppandi now plays awesome characters, Shikari Shambu has turned into a conservationist, and Tantri the Mantri is now using modern gadgets to still try and kill King Hooja off, but, as before, without much success.

Thindiath and her team of writers sit down every month and decide what their characters will do this month. They follow a few basic rules: the story has to be enjoyable; there can be no violence (not even a drop of blood may be shed); and it needs to reflect the modern child’s world in deed and language. Much like Archie and its slang, Tinkle has it own slang. Sample, ‘Blooming jalopies’. “We invent our own words,” says the editor. The stories also need to have a message. “In the older issues, the message was clearly spelt out at the end, but we sort of embed it in the stories so that a child can choose to adopt it if [s/he] wants. For example, the message behind Super Weirdos is that it’s okay to be weird or an oddball, that’s who you are. Everyone has a role to play in the world despite however weird you are,” she says. There is also no space for superstition and religion in the magazine. “We are completely secular. Even our names like Aisha and Kabir can be from any religion. Tinkle is all about inclusiveness.”

Once the stories are done, the art team takes over and characters are sketched and coloured. “It’s all such a fun process. As writers, we are not just writing, but we have to see the whole story in our head. What is the reaction of a character—does she wince, does she smile?” Abhijeet Kini, a freelance illustrator who has worked with Tinkle ever since 2004, remembers his interactions with Anant Pai. “I used to always draw big expressive eyes, and one day, just to mix it up, I drew dots as eyes, and Uncle Pai was like ‘Nooo, kids will never get this. Go back to drawing expressive eyes.’”

Uncle Pai created the original characters, which got Tinkle tremendous popularity. As you walk into the magazine’s Mumbai office, you see his characters on each wall and are instantly reminded of your childhood. Thindiath says, “I remember he once wrote ‘good’ on a script I had written and I was happy all day. He was always ready with a kind word and a shloka, he knew many by heart. He was a disciplinarian as well and always wanted things to be done the right way.”

Other Tinkle legends include founding editor Subba Rao, who created ‘Anwar’, which is about a young boy and his antics. He based the boy’s behaviour and actions on his own four-year-old, Siddharth. He also adapted Suppandi from the Tamil folk character, Chappandi. There is also artist Vasant Halbe, who was the man who decided that Shikari Shambu’s eyes would be perpetually hidden by his hat.

The people most important to Tinkle are the children who read it and write in. “Uncle Pai used to answer every letter, and we try to do the same,” says Thindiath. Almost every page has a letter by a child on the top margins, as the magazine doesn’t want to disappoint any of the kids who have written in. The most popular attractions among children are Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, Dental Diaries, Tantri the Mantri and Super Weirdos, in that order. The Anniversary issue also has a story written by an ardent reader, Rohit, a tale about the sisters Ina, Mina, Mynah and Mo, who always ask their father for something he never wants to splurge on. Manas Mohan says, “The new Tinkle is less straitjacketed and very well developed. It’s through the children who read us that we move along with the times.”

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