Tinkle
Tinkle is an Indian monthly magazine, published mainly in India.[1] Originally owned by the India Book House, the Tinkle brand was acquired by ACK Media in 2007.[2] The Magazine contains comics, stories, puzzles, quizzes, contests and other features targeted at school children, although its readership includes many adults as well. It is published in English and syndicated in many Indian languages like Malayalam.
Anant Pai, the founding editor of the magazine, is known to his readers as Uncle Pai. He has also launched the popular Amar Chitra Katha series.
The first issue was launched in April 1980. More than 500 issues have been printed so far. The magazine carries comic stories and regular columns of interest to school children. Tinkle enjoys great popularity, and has been an integral part of growing up in India in the last two decades. Characters like Suppandi and Shikari Shambu that appeared first in the pages of the magazine have nationwide recognition. Readers send more than 200 letters with stories and other features to be considered for printing in the magazine. The wholesome combination of educational and entertainment that defines Tinkle has many celebrity fans in India, including the former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. There is an official website for Tinkle, which contains puzzles and games.
Popular comics
Apart from one-off stories, Tinkle also has regular characters that appear in stand-alone fashion. Some of these characters are:
Current
- Suppandi - Suppandi, the village simpleton, is by far the most popular Tinkle character. He is a well-meaning servant who always misunderstands the commands of his masters, which leads to many humorous accidents.
- Kalia the Crow - Kalia is an intelligent crow who saves his friends from Doob-doob the crocodile and Chamataka the jackal. His friends are Keechu and Meechu
- Tantri the Mantri - Tantri is the scheming Minister (Mantri) of the well-meaning Raja Hooja. Tantri wants to get rid of Raja Hooja so that he can become king. Every episode in this series has Tantri devising an elaborate scheme which eventually backfires. The highlight of this series is that the Raja always escapes, and he thinks that he escapes because of Tantri's efforts. The plot is surprisingly similar to Rene Goscinny's Iznogoud. To provide an interesting twist to the tale, arch enemies were introduced for Tantri and Hooja, as Jantri and Dooja. Tantri also has henchmen, Dushtabuddhi & Vichitrabuddhi.
- Shikari Shambu - Shambu is a Shikari, a hunter, whom the world perceives as courageous and powerful, whereas in reality he is meek, easygoing and lazy. He would prefer to laze around in his house all day, and tries to run away from any signs of trouble. But the villagers and his wife believe he is fearless, and persuade him to take up dangerous tasks. He always manages to survive and accomplish the task by a stroke of luck. The series had attracted mild criticism in the past for depicting endangered animals as villains. Recent editions have a powerful pro-conservation message. It is also featured many times that he actually loves animals and has never killed one.
- Pyarelal series - A very kind-hearted farmer who lives with his wife Lajwanti or Lajo has millions of adventures.
- Ajay- The Detective - This series tells us about Ajay, the youngest and smartest detective in the town. Whenever a mystery is there, he is sure to be in the spotlight. He gets help from Inspector Sharma to nab the culprits.
- Butterfingers - These stories revolve around Amar, nicknamed Butterfingers for his knack of dropping things. He is accident-prone and clumsy. He is a student of Grade 9, Green Park School. He often draws his friends Kiran, Eric, Minu and others into many adventures. The stories are written by Khyrunnisa A., with scriptwork by Anomita Guha and illustrations by Abhijeeth Kini. Recently, Tinkle has introduced a book named "Oops! Its Butterfingers", featuring the best stories about him.
- The Defective Detectives - The "Defective Detectives" are Rahul & Ravi who call themselves detectives and try their best to solve mysteries. They have codenames to conceal their identities (which differ in each episode). Ravi has a sister called Samhita "Sam" who solves the case before the defective detectives. But recently they have started solving mysteries by a stroke luck which arises the green eyed monster of envy in Sam.
- Janoo and Wooly Woo - Janoo, a courageous witch who lives with her friend Wooly, a coward dragon who can puff flames from his nostrils. They live in Jadu and have relations with Rulers like King Arctic Snow, Empress Deer etc. Janoo and her friend stop the menace of the day with her magicstick, called Hexa, in which the magic starts with 'Magic Hexa, HIX HAX HUX!
- Nasruddin Hodja - A man who has a large witty brain which he uses to outsmart people. His character is based on the Turkish Mullah Nasreddin.
- Kapish - A clever, helpful monkey who lives in the jungle of Kadu along with his friends, Baboocha the bear, Bundila the elephant and many others. His arch enemies are Sigal the jackal and Peelu the tiger. Kapish has supernatural powers, which help him to extend and shrink his tail at will. This ability and his quick thinking help him save his friends from Peelu, Sigal and some Hunters along with Dopaya.(Appear only in the tinkle digest and double digest series)
- Ramu and Shamu - Ramu and Shamu are two innocent identical twins having their ups and their downs as they experiment and play.
Former
- The Dumbbells- The dumbbells Natoo, Datoo and Motu are friends who live a simple adventurous life. Their arch enemy is Damodar who always tries to foil them up. Unfortunately for Damodar, it is the Dumbbells who win!
- Mopes and Purr- Another detective plot based comic series featuring two animal detectives namely Purr (Stray Cat)& Mopes (Doberman).The detective duo tries to help everyone out of trouble without revealing their identities.
- Little Shambu series- This is the story of Shikari Shambu when he was young. His future wife Shanti is also young. Little Shambu always ends up being a boy hero in the series.
- Junior Tantri- This is the story of Tantri in his young age. Prince Hooja thinks of him as a trusted friend but Tantri wants to kill Hooja. However, his plans backfire on him, making Hooja think he saved his life.
- Chhotu and Lambu- As the names suggest, Lambu is tall while Chottu is short; Chottu uses his witty brain to help them and others.
- Chaman Charlie- An old man wearing a dhoti and an overcoat, looking just like Charlie Chaplin. This chap is very witty, and at times courageous.
- Little Suppandi- These are the tales of suppandi's childhood when he used to be equally ignorant and it features his interesting tales with his teachers and relations.
References
External links