Tinkle facts for kids
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| Editor | Kuriakose Vaisian (Present) Rajani Thindiath (Past) Anant Pai (Past) |
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| Categories | Comic book |
| Frequency | Printed Monthly |
| First issue | 1980 |
| Company | Tinkle |
| Country | India |
| Language | English, Hindi, Malayalam, Assamese |
Tinkle is a popular magazine for children in India. It comes out every two weeks and is full of fun things like comics, stories, puzzles, quizzes, and contests. While it's made for school kids, lots of adults enjoy reading it too!
The magazine started in November 1980. It was first published once a month, but since July 2016, it has been published every two weeks. Tinkle is printed in English and also in other Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam.
Tinkle is very popular across India. In 2019, about 300,000 copies were sold for each issue! Characters like Suppandi and Shikari Shambu have become famous all over the country. Many readers send in their own stories and ideas for the magazine. Tinkle is known for being both fun and educational. Even important people, like the former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, have been fans! You can also find puzzles and games on the official Tinkle website.
Contents
How Tinkle Started
Anant Pai, who started Tinkle, was known as Uncle Pai. He got the idea for a comic book series about Indian culture and history after watching a quiz show in 1967. On the show, people knew a lot about Greek myths but couldn't answer simple questions about Indian stories, like "Who was Rama's mother in the Ramayana?"
Uncle Pai then left his job and started ACK (Amar Chitra Katha) in the same year. This was another popular comic series about Indian history. Later, he also became the writer, editor, and publisher for Tinkle. In June 2018, Tinkle reprinted its first stories and features from 1980 to 1982 in three special books.
Rajani Thindiath became the editor-in-chief in 2010 and worked on the magazine for ten years. During her time, she created two new comic series for Tinkle. One was SuperWeirdoes, which was about teenagers with unusual powers. This series taught readers to be proud of what makes them unique. The second series was YogYodhas, about two siblings, Bir and Bala. They were special warriors who could call on spirit creatures called praanis to help them fight evil. Rajani also brought in new types of stories, like superhero comics (WingStar, SuperWeirdoes), funny horror stories (Billy the Vampire, Buchki and the Booligans), and a boarding school series called NOIS!
Popular Tinkle Comics
Besides single stories, Tinkle also has many regular characters who appear in their own comic series. Here are some of them:
Current Stars
- Kalia the Crow: Kalia is a friendly crow who lives in a forest called 'Big Baan'. He always helps the smaller animals. With his smart ideas and his friends Babloo the bear and Danti the Elephant, he always outsmarts the bad guys, Chamataka the jackal and Doob-Doob the crocodile. They often try to catch the rabbits Keechu and Meechu, or the deer Shonar.
- Pyarelal: He is a kind villager from Hastipur. He and his wife Lajiwanti are always ready to help solve problems. Pyarelal loves the Circus and a strong wrestler named Gajjo Bajjo Sandow.
- Defective Detectives: This comic is about two friends, Rahul and Ravi, who want to be detectives. But they are not very good at it and often mess up even the easiest cases! Rahul's sister, Samhita, is usually much better at solving mysteries than they are.
- SuperWeirdos: This series follows Aisha, a girl who is looking for her own superpowers. Along the way, she meets other kids her age who have amazing, but weird, powers. SuperWeirdos was stopped for a while but came back because readers loved it so much!
- Mapui Kawlim a.k.a. Wingstar: Wingstar is a 13-year-old superhero girl from Aizawl, Mizoram. Her dad, who is an inventor, made her special rocket thrusters, iron fists, and strong robotic arms. These gadgets give her super flight and super strength!
- Wai Knot: Wai Knot is a kid from Bengaluru who lives by the motto: "Don't ask why, ask why not?" He is bold, doesn't apologize, and is very strong-minded. Wai Knot is different from other Tinkle characters like Suppandi and Shikari Shambu. He always challenges people around him and loves to do 'experiments', which sometimes get him into trouble.
- Buchki and the Booligans: This story is about 8-year-old Buchki and her brother Cyrus. They meet ghosts while staying with their grandmother, Didu. They even become friends with the ghost of their great-great-grandfather!
Evergreen Stars
- Suppandi: Suppandi is probably one of the most famous Tinkle characters. He makes everyone laugh with his silly mistakes and funny stupidity. He first appeared in 1983 as a simple village person.
- Shikari Shambu: Shambu is a hunter who is actually very scared! He often gets praised for things he didn't even do. Wild animals usually fall into traps by themselves while Shambu is sleeping nearby.
- Tantri the Mantri: Tantri is an evil minister (mantri) who always tries to take the king's place. The king, Raja Hooja, loves laddus and trusts Tantri completely, never suspecting his plans. In every story, Tantri makes a clever plan to get rid of Hooja, but his plans always go wrong! Once, Tantri even became king for a short time, but Raja Hooja returned, and Tantri went back to being a minister.
- Nasruddin Hodja: Hodja is a very witty and clever man. His enemies often try to trick him, but Hodja always turns the tables on them with his smart and cheeky ways. His stories are similar to those about Birbal.
- Ina, Mina, Mynah, Mo: These are four sisters who love adventures. Their dad, Jagganath (nicknamed Jaggy), is a bit of a miser, and their mom is Bina.
- Anwar: Anwar is a small boy of five who uses his quick thinking and smarts to handle any situation.
- Raghu: Raghu is an 8-year-old boy who is always happy. He often leaves people speechless with his clever and funny remarks.
Tinkle Characters in Cartoons and Books
Some Tinkle characters have become so popular that they have their own cartoons, movies, and books!
- The Suppandi series: There are 8 books that collect all the best Suppandi stories from Tinkle.
- Suppandi, Suppandi!: This is a cartoon show featuring the famous Suppandi and his silly actions. You can watch this show on Cartoon Network and Pogo.
- Suppandi on YouTube: Starting in 2015, animated videos with Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, and the Defective Detectives were released on YouTube. Some videos even included the character Coco as part of an ad campaign with Kellogg's.
- Shambu and the Man Eater: In November 2011, a short animated film about Shikari Shambu was released. It showed Shambu's adventures with a man-eating tiger.
- The Butterfingers Series: This is a series of books about a clumsy boy named Amar Kishen, also known as Butterfingers. The books are written by Khyrunnisa A. There are three books in the series: Howzaat Butterfingers!, Clean Bowled, Butterfingers!, and Goal, Butterfingers!. They are about Butterfingers and his friends, Eric, Kiran, and Minu, and their funny high school life.
Past Tinkle Comics
Some comic series that used to be in Tinkle are no longer published.
- Mopes and Purr: This was a detective team made up of a cat and a dog. They were always busy solving cases.
- Butterfingers: This comic was about a clumsy boy named Amar, who his parents, friends, and teachers called "Butterfingers." He was known for being messy and lazy, but he was also a happy character who could think fast and save the day, even if he messed up small things. This comic stopped in 2014.
- Ramu and Shamu: These identical twin brothers, about eight years old, lived in a normal home with their parents. They often embarrassed or confused their parents with their innocent questions or actions. Their stories were short, cute, and charming.
- Kapish: This series was similar to Kalia the Crow. Kapish was a monkey who lived in the Kadu jungle with his friends. His enemies included Peelu the tiger and Dopaya the hunter. Kapish used his magic tail, which could grow long, shrink, or become thin, to save his friends from the bad guys' plans.
- Little Raji: Raji was a young girl who lived with her parents and older brother Raju. She was quick-witted and used her smarts to solve different problems.
- Anu Club: Anurag Sharma, also known as Uncle Anu, was a scientist who ran a weekly club. Kids from the neighborhood were members. During club meetings, Uncle Anu would explain science in a fun and practical way.
- Choru and Joru: In this comic, Choru, a thief, always had his plans ruined by the police inspector Joru.
- The Dumbbells: Nattoo, Dattoo, and Motu were three friends whose silly actions caused chaos for everyone around them.
- Mooshik: This was a silent comic with three panels about a cat chasing a mouse. The comics had no words and were a bit like Tom and Jerry.
