Once I had gone out with my uncle for a stroll on a Saturday. He is one of the busiest souls on earth. He was constantly on a look out for Indrajal comics with the footpath book vendors. I asked him, "You don’t have time for yourself. Why are you even looking at books?" He replied, "We all have time for what we like." Hmm, point taken. I asked, "But why that comic? You can buy something else if that is not available." He replied, "No, I find my childhood in them." I just couldn’t fathom this till I thought of Tinkle. I remembered that I too visit my raddhi waala once a while to pick up a handful of Tinkle digests, and settle for no other comic than this one. Yup, you can actually buy them there for Rs 10 each and the ignorant treasurer will merrily give you a hefty discount if you buy many!! He’ll be more than happy to sell off his flooding raddhi. (I guess I’m the insane person in his eyes!) Ok, for those who don’t know, latest issue of Tinkle digest will cost around Rs50 per copy.
Tinkle and its features-
It is a fortnightly magazine that has comic stories, puzzles, information and much more. It was first launched in April 1980. Stories from a few Tinkle issues are put together and form the Tinkle Digest, which is a better deal since it has around 100 pages. It is justified as a lightest read since in fiction books, the brain has the task of imagining the characters in their appearances and actions. Here, we have these along with the expressions of each character showing the inner feelings in each phase of the story depicted vividly in pictures. This makes it a treat to the eyes and relaxation for the brain!
Jokes-
The innocent jokes which make you laugh are because of-
Suppandi- He came in as one of the very first characters in Tinkle and is a huge hit. He is the stupid servant, who has a different master in each joke. I guess that’s because each master fires him in the end. The Suppandi jokes are mostly a page long. His lean body with an elongated head, chin and nose is enough to make you laugh.
Naseerudin Hodga - The middle-aged quick witted, clever fellow.
Friend- How old are you, Hodga?
Hodga- I’m 40.
Friend: What? Some years back, when I asked you, you had the same answer!
Hodga- I stand by what I say.
Anwar- The little school boy reminds me of Swami in Malgudi days. His jokes are usually shorter, a strip of 3 pictures.
Anwar once visits his friend Pankaj’s place who has a huge dog at his home.
Pankaj- Come in, Anwar. Don’t worry, my dog wont bite you.
Anwar- But he’s growling and barking at me.
Pankaj- See, he ’s wagging his tail, he likes you.
Anwar- So, which end am I to trust?
See and Smile-The single picture jokes with no explanations required, you cant help smiling when you see them.
Stories-
Tinkle concentrates mainly on folk tales from different parts of India. Apart from these, a few regular stories are those of-
Tantri the Mantri- He is the scrawny minister of plump Raja Hooja. Tantri keeps dreaming of taking Hooja’s place on the throne and plots to kill him. However, the poor thing always falls into the pit that he has dug for Hooja.
Shikaari Shambu- He is the popular hunter wearing a khakhi shirt and half pants along with an over-sized hat. :P He is known to have a lion’s strength and courage, but in reality is scared of even a mouse. His long mustaches tremble whenever he is scared to death and point towards the sky when he is happy.
Ina, Meena, Mynah, Mo- These are 4 little sisters who have a stingy father. Reminds me of the famous serial ’Hum Paanch’ along with Ashok Saraf!
Knowledge-
Meet the .....
These are write-ups containing the life cycle of some animal or bird. eg. Meet the crow, Meet the Salmon Fish, Meet the Leopard, etc. They are very interesting and make us wonder how clever nature’s beings are.
Tinkle also has write ups on ancient civilizations and their life style.
"Did you know?"and "Tinkle tells you why" are 2 sections where we get to read things long forgotten after school. It’s fun to read them when you know that you wont be having exams asking these questions!
For example this one in the ’Did you know?’ section- There are historical records that at the time of emperor Aurelian of Rome, silk was bought from Indian traders against its weight in gold!
Contests-
Puzzles, quizzes, Say it yourself jokes are a few of the contests Tinkle offers.
What more can I ask for than a handful of Tinkle digests by my side this rainy season? Yes, I do find my childhood in them.
Visit your raddhi waala today!
(Guys and Gals, do add in your favourite Tinkle character in the comments!)