About this issue
Hi Friends, I love the theme of this month and I can’t help but write about it (if you haven’t guessed by now, I am a complete Bookkad!). How I love stories! Wonderful, fantastic, humour- and adventure-filled stories. I started by listening to stories told by my mother (and she told us some fascinating stories, some of which I read only when I was much older). I didn’t like to read. It was hard work! All those unfriendly, big, fat words and the constant checking for their meanings! Phew! But what was I to do? One day, mom refused to read aloud from the storybooks. In fact, she left a story just when we were reaching the climax! I was so angry that day. But my love for stories was too strong; so with mom’s help, I read the story, slowly, painfully, stopping every now and then for every new word or phrase (it took twice, no, thrice as long that way but I did it). And how happy that made me! I was perhaps five or six------when being tall enough to reach the TV switch was a major ambition, reading a story all on my own was wonderful! And then there was no stopping me. If it was a book and it had a wonderful story to tell, I was nose deep into it (only when I was not playing. You didn’t think I would have given up my super-fun playtime, did you? Heh!). Of course, it also meant I was reading my older sister’s English textbooks that had some cool stories (okay, they were hidden inside my textbook but mom caught me anyway! My mom really has eyes all around her head!). So moral of the story? Read! In the beginning, it will be tough but persist and read anyway. Pester your parents to help you with the big, fat words or keep a dictionary handy. Because books have a secret world: when you read books, you can live multiple lives (as a pirate, a pixie, a boy lost in the jungle, a girl who goes down a rabbit hole) all at the same time! How cool is that?
About TINKLE
Tinkle started as a fortnightly children’s comics magazine, in 1980. Under the guidance of editor-founder, Anant Pai, the brand evolved the tagline ‘Where learning meets fun’. It was one of the first few children’s comics magazines with Indian content at that time. Till then children were reading syndicated foreign comics, – Archies, Phantom, Mandrake – translated into Indian languages. In Tinkle, children could read folktales from all over the world as well as stories revolving around the Tinkletoons. Many of these characters have evolved into icons such as Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, Tantri the Mantri, Kalia the Crow, etc. Over the years, newer characters have stepped into the Tinkle pages. These include the Defective Detectives, Butterfingers, Sea Diaries, etc. Apart from comics, the magazine also engages readers with several educative non-fiction pages including puzzles, do-it-yourself crafts, solve-it-yourself mysteries, knowledge features on a wide range of subjects and contests. Though intended as a magazine for children between the ages of 8 and 14, Tinkle’s reach goes far beyond. Families eagerly look forward to the magazine, every month, across the length and breadth of the country. It is probably not just the entertainment but the unexpected insights that the magazine gives their children that families value. Owing to Uncle Pai’s efforts, Tinkle is also welcomed by educators and school principals and thus holds a position as a recommended magazine for wholesome edutainment.