The Uncle Who I Never Met

I happen to be the favorite niece of not only my maternal and paternal uncles but also of several close friends of my parents, who I address as "uncle". All of them have influenced my life in some way helped me mold my personality albeit in different proportions. However, the one regret that I will always have in my life is not having met or communicated with Uncle Pai who nurtured and entertained me mentally in my formative years. This lacuna overwhelmed me when I heard about his demise way back in 2011. The man who created my favorite Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) comic books had occupied a niche place in my heart for I had developed a deep affection and respect for him through his books.

 My tryst with the immense series began when my parents bought the first book “Krishna” priced at two Rupees way back in the seventies as a pacifying gift to my little brother because they had got me some hair accessories. We must have read the book a hundred times for we knew every frame of it by heart. There was no looking back since then and we collected close to a hundred of the series even as we graduated to reading “real books”. Nevertheless, we kept our antennas up for reading ACK whenever an opportunity presented itself. Our dad belonged to a book club and he reserved one of his two cards to get us old and new ACK and Tinkle all the time. We always made it a point to read it several times before returning the book the next day!

Our interest in the nuances of languages, literature, mythology, history, music, and art can be traced to our quality time spent in the company of these picture books. We conducted quizzes based on the books and discussed the characters.

We understood that conjunction like “but” could encompass a whole unspoken argument when Lakshmana uttered the word when told by Rama to leave Sita in the forest in the book “Sons of Rama”. The reading of “Vasavadatta” urged us to play on the Veena like her royal spouse Udayana and possibly charm elephants someday. When we studied Mauryan history in school, it appeared as if we had an edge over other students because we were equipped with the reading of “Chanakya”. Perusing “Kannagi” taught us that we must not cow down when confronted with injustice. We flinched at the thought of eating off stainless steel plates after the item was associated with cowardice in “Amar Singh Rathod” The list could go on.

Even today, I find myself attracted to these books when I sight them in bookshops railways stations or homes I visit. Browsing through the well-thumbed pages at home randomly relaxes me immensely and I simply love going back to them for the sheer pleasure of reliving the experience.

These books have the potential to make a palpable difference to those who read them during their formative years. Most people who are in their thirties and forties will find themselves nodding in agreement, for their rendezvous with ACK must have more or less been the same.

Uncle Pai who had an invisible hand in molding the personality of a generation has become Amar (immortal) in the true sense of the word for his works are invaluable, relevant and timeless! When I console myself saying, “Uncle Pai is dead, Long live Uncle Pai”- it is with mixed feelings!