Guys Not sure if you read the news… This man passed away yday.I will never forget the occasion when I met this gentleman at a AKC quiz competition 2 score years ago at Hotel Atlantic in Egmore. I still vividly remember that day. It was raining heavily and reached the place a bit late.
I still managed to participate in the quiz and if my memory serves me right I got through to the fourth or fifth round and I was given my first ever cheque for INR 100/- (no doubt a princely sum those times).I also remember taking this cheque to Grindlays Bank at Anna Salai opp the old CITI Bank office(hope old timers remember it) and said I want to open an account. They very politely refused me saying something about minimum balances which did not make sense to me at that point in time. That was the first time I had tried to open an account on my own…Anant Pai was certainly an harbinger of his times. He inculcated the passion of reading in many youngsters (yours truly also included).
I remember the year 1974 (when I was just 4 years old) being handed over a comic book by my cousin Moorthy in Madras (now Chennai). I just flipped through the pages and saw the pictures and lo a new found craze for ACK developed in me. I actually began reading steadily (though I could not afford to buy a comic then borrowed and read all my brother's comics). I began an ardent fan of Uncle Pai then and there. I still read them - sometimes stealthly sometimes publicly. The craze about these books and the stories they carried had a long bearing in my mind. I still have all the old comics stored in my attic. My younger cousins shared mine. My young nephew even reads them today when he visits our home town Palakkad in Kerala from his metropolis Dubai. The ACK had such a great influence on me that I narrate the stories as bed time stories to my kids who are 8 & 4 years now who cling close to me to hear the stories and go off to sleep. I did not have to create my own stories as I had a big store of them in my memory and there was not a single day that passed by without me narrating a story about either the mythological figures, Indian freedom fighters or some of the later ones from Tinkle wherein I was able to buy as I could afford to buy them and read through them. When Indiatimes announced an offer I got myself around 200 titles of ACK. Uncle Pai the name asssociated with ACK is always nostalgic in my memory etched there & I hope my kids relay it
Not sure if you read the news… This man passed away yday.
I will never forget the occasion when I met this gentleman at a AKC quiz competition 2 score years ago at Hotel Atlantic in Egmore. I still vividly remember that day. It was raining heavily and reached the place a bit late.
I still managed to participate in the quiz and if my memory serves me right I got through to the fourth or fifth round and I was given my first ever cheque for INR 100/- (no doubt a princely sum those times).
I also remember taking this cheque to Grindlays Bank at Anna Salai opp the old CITI Bank office(hope old timers remember it) and said I want to open an account. They very politely refused me saying something about minimum balances which did not make sense to me at that point in time. That was the first time I had tried to open an account on my own…
Anant Pai was certainly an harbinger of his times. He inculcated the passion of reading in many youngsters (yours truly also included).
Re: ANANT PAI - THE Doyenne of Amar Chita Katha
by Praveen Kumar on Feb 25, 2011 03:18 PM
It's "DOYEN" and not "DOYENNE" ... by calling him a "doyenne" you've effectively changed his gender.
our generation grew up without the influence of tv/satellite tv/internet.. solely on comics like (Tinkle, ACK, Tintin, Archie, Mandrake, Phantom, Bhahdhur!!) we salute the formidable combination of Ananth (uncle)Pai and Ram Waeerker... uncle pai, rest in peace, Sir, for entertaining us for geneartions to come, we middle aged grown up kids will always remember you and salute you !!
Many might be surprised to know Anant Pai was an alumnus of the Univesity Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT). In the new millennium,year 2000, the UDCT Alumni Association decided to honour some of its distinguished alumni, Anant Pai, Mukesh Ambani, Nisha Sutaria, Ashwin Dani, among others, with a citation.
I received the assignment of writing and producing the citations. I attended the awards function, and I sat with Anant Pai. I expressed my surprise to know that he was a product of UDCT. Given his passion for Indian mythology, culture and history, I thought he would have been an MA in Indian History.
When it was his turn to go on stage to receive the Citation, I told him with a touch of pride, "aapko jo samaan-patra mil raha hai, woh mainne likha hai aur taiyar kiya hai."
Thank you Uncle Pai for the wonderful childhood memories you gave us. Can never forget the first edition of Tinkle I read in 1984.I was 8 years old then and instantly became AMC and Tinkle fan. Supandi, Kalia the crow and Tantri the Mantri are my Favorite.
