“A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.”


When I was a little kid, I was introduced to a man I never met but adored all my life, who in turn introduced me to two friends I never spoke with and they became my best friends for life!! (Stranger things have happened eh?:)

I am talking about my friendship with Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha and the man is the legendary Uncle Pai.

All my life, these two friends have won my unconditional loyalty that I have never felt towards any of today’s comics. What I learnt from my friends:

Knowledge: From “meet the animal series” to “this happened to me” written by readers, to Tinkle tells you why, from learning about the Mughal empire (Believe it or not, I studied for my degree history exams from Amar Chitra Katha –text books be damned!:), to mythology (till date, I can credit my love for indian myth to Amar Chitra Katha), - to take the tag line right from tinkle “Where learning meets fun” - Never has learning been more fun!!.

Journeys: From kings and kingdoms to fairy lands, folk tales across the world, magic and beyond, I have traveled with them all and as a result, a whole new world was born within me.

Traits: about greed, spite, kindness, loyalty, humor, wit n wisdom, persistence compassion jealously, happiness, health – I learnt more than what any human could have ever taught me.

Comfort and support – from Suppandi to Butterfingers to Tenali Rama to Birbal – hours of fun and giggles have never failed to cheer me up. Even today, if I need to change a frown to smile, I know where to look.

Skills: Things to do with from making cards out of dal to science experiments, to contests and many do it yourself activities – million little ways to think, do and made life more interesting. Slowly and surely, these friends have influenced me in more ways than one, like many good friends do over time.

And to top all that, my friends have always been there, cheery, colorful, well within reach, so I can enjoy their company many times over and never get tired of them.

Books have always been my best friends and in the comics category, Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha tops the list!