The Remarkable Assortment of Fun and Comic

Suppandi.....Kalia the Crow.....Chamataka.....Naseeruddin Hodja.....Kapish.....Tantri the Mantri.....Ramu and Shamu.....Doob Doob.....Chamataka......Raja Hooja.....Detective Dog Ranjha.....Mopes and Purr.....Mooshik.....Shikari Shambhu.....and the list goes on.....

Well, I can bravely assume that it is totally impolitic to introduce these famed characters, as they easily have a large number of friends and fans across people of different age groups, predominantly children. All of them are skittish and special in their own characteristic way, and when you mix them together to form a colourful, humorous motley, it combines into a household-name-popular comic series called Tinkle. Into its 28th year, Tinkle has been the most sought-after comic in India, and still continues to reign the roster. Known for its incredible assortment of fun, stories, puzzles, quiz, contests and other features, this comic series has the reputation of more than 600 copies being printed till date.

Tinkle grew into fame in the early 80's shortly after being introduced. I still remember those days when I eagerly waited for the newspaper vendor to deliver the latest copy, and never gave it up until I finished reading at a stretch. Every story published in Tinkle has been distinct and of new taste, particularly the very first story of every edition, which generally is a sort of parable. Tinkle Digest, the greater version of Tinkle, has several such stories which teach a moral or two. Not surprisingly, it costs Rs.50 a copy, but is indeed worth every single penny.

Suppandi, one of the most entertaining characters of Tinkle is my most favourite character. I wonder if there is any other master on earth who has the forbearance and composure of that of Suppandi's owner, who gets baffled everytime he commands a task to Suppandi. Suppandi rocks nevertheless.

Coming to another funny character, any hunter would envy the hap of Shikari Shambhu who accidentally succeeds in hunting down a feral man-eater on the prowl. Sheer serendipity...!! As is his customary wont, he never (always, yet successful) has faltered in his bid to win the catch. Only his finicky wife and we readers know how lucky he is. Else, all other countrymen and village folks from hinterlands have a great reverence for Shambhu, the intelligent hunter.

Kalia, the crow, gifted with an exceptional moral rectitude and remarkable intellect has been the killjoy of zillion malicious plans devised by the hapless Chamataka and its willing accomplice Doob Doob for ages.

And then there is the wise Naseeruddin Hodja, a dream minister any emperor would love to have in his political state of affairs. Tantri the Mantri, the sly minister, has never had the fortune of stepping the throne, given his nefarious thoughts of cut short the life of his innocent ruler Raja Hooja. Serves him right, after all. And he is not finished yet, busy devising another one.

Mopes and Purr have been the most vigilant detective duo on the block, hunting down the culprits every now and then, with aplomb. This series got introduced later as it was missing in the earlier fortnightly editions of Tinkle.

To search and publish such fresh, wonderful stories, with other topics of related interest, on a regular basis when you have a large, anxiously waiting fan base can get seriously onerous. We readers are extremely grateful to Mr. Anant Pai, more fondly known as Uncle Pai. And not to forget the painstaking efforts of the artist team of Tinkle, who tirelessly depict the funny expressions and illustrate the gist of Tinkle. In many ways, Tinkle has been the elixir of thousands of us to get rid of all the tedium and feel rejuvenated. There may be a certain Champak or Gokulam, but Tinkle easily rules the realm of comics and is way beyond its contenders in terms of its number of readers and fans. It rightly deserves all the encomiums and eulogies.........

The Best Option To Ride

It was about 5 in the evening when I pulled out my Honda Unicorn and wiped a thin veneer of dust settled on it. The dust wasn't an unusual thing, given that there are several vehicles travelling through our colony, for there is a massive restructuring of paths and traffic routes all over JP Nagar due to the start of construction of a new traffic-decongestant subway at the 24th main. The route to my home from the market had just got longer, for there was the need to travel all the way down the intersection and take a U-turn for the simple task of crossing the raised median. Not too far away, I could catch the sight of a few people accompanied by a bicycle crossing the median by just crossing the cycle over the ridge. It's so very easy to sneak through with a bicycle than travel far and forth by my Honda. Add to that, the ease of pedalling and working out a few lazy, teeny-weeny muscles in your thigh, it's thousand times better to use a lovely-little-lighter frame of a chassis called Bicycle. It's like using a pencil on a moon than a specially invented zero-gravity refill pen. This perhaps is an appropriate metaphor. Simple things make things simpler, more often than not.

Bicycle, the term was coined by the French in 1860. A simple manifestation of a wheel driven by a pedalled gear, bicycle is perhaps the biggest accomplishment of a mechanical engineer who would dream of motorbikes and other transport vehicles. The chassis is a triangular frame, as in most of the cases, and the balance created on the frame is impeccable. At the first sight, the body may not generate any curiosity but come to think of it in technical terms and the mechanism which transforms the force generated by the pedal and imparted to the torque of the gear which transforms into a rotatory action, you have a marvel of a creation here. Over a long period of time, bicycle has undergone a lot of changes in its design and appearance but the charm of riding it for the very first time still remains to be matched.



Bicycle offers a vast sphere of advantage to its users. Talking of health and physical exercise, riding a bicycle gets rid of all the lethargy gained from jobs, most of which are getting more sedentary by the day. It is found that riding a bicycle for ten miles has the health benefit which is as much as the deficit of health caused by smoking a pack of cigarettes. A long ride during weekends in the verdant meadows and green country side should give you the ideal health uplift if the rest of the days are spent working at a desk at office. Cycling offers us a good alternative to catch up with some much-needed exercise compared to that obtained from a saunter in a park or a casual walk. A good amount of cycling would easily help you shed all those flaccid rings on your belly, and if you are a lean person, it would increase your hunger and thereby assimilate more.

Many would feel to see that there's no fun involved in cycling but ask someone who pedals regularly, he'd give you a perfect reason. When we pedal in using that extra bit of energy required to climb an acclivity, there's a complete breathe-in of fresh air which reaches all the way to the depth of the lungs. Breathing well is the single most important sensation to keep yourself young and feel rejuvenated over and again. Ask Yoga teachers and those who teach meditation, they would never disagree.

Coming to the hike of fuel prices, we are in the era where a barrel of crude oil costs US $126, which stood at around $99 not more than an year ago. If this increase gets more wanton and unheralded, days would not be far away when one would think more than once about their means of commuting. What could not be achieved by the Earth Hour would then be accomplished by the sheer rise in oil prices....!! Moreover, a layman would not demand the intelligence of a rocket scientist to understand the benefits of bicycle over motorbikes when it comes to maintaining the cleanliness of environment and reducing air pollution. And just imagine the pleasant sound of a cycle bell than the long clangor and din of relentless frantic honking and all sorts of noise made by automated vehicles. Noise pollution levels would come down considerably and a sense of tranquility prevails all over. It's more than in one way, useful and effective.


I take an exception to those travelling to farther places with limited time, but isn't it wise to use a bicycle if you have to commute moderate distances, in the vicinity of around 2-3 km? And for those who stay in cities like Bangalore, where there's a mandatory helmet rule in current existence, a simple pedal would save all the frowns and grimace of choking under the weight and help you keep smiling instead. For many good reasons as stated, cycling is a healthy practice. Don't feel shy of cycling, in case you do, for there's no age limit or barrier as such. Bicycle's a great gift to us from all those engineers who spent long hours designing it. They definitely deserve a special mention here. It's nothing mind-boggling but not less important indeed.

I believe that to a large extent that your views are affirmative with those of mine. And cycling is, after all, a ride to enjoy. It won't be long before cycling would be in the vogue.