Remembering Uncle Pai: The Man Who Got Young India Enchanted With Comics

My earliest interaction with Uncle Pai was in the late 70s when he had come down to Patna for an inter-school quiz competition. I was not yet 10 but already a huge fanboy of Uncle Pai. It helped that my father was Uncle Pai’s colleague and manager of India Book House, Patna branch then.

I could boast of getting the first copy of every new Amar Chitra Katha title in the city before it hit the stands. News of arrival of a new title would spread like wildfire in the neighbourhood, with kids rushing down to book their turn in the reading order.

Children of the 70s generation and thereafter owe their knowledge of Indian history, mythology, folklore, customs and traditions,religious and spiritual thoughts et al to Uncle Pai to a large extent. Uncle Pai’s works made us feel proud of our history and heritage and believe in our roots with far more conviction than our textbooks would ever do. The book goes into great depths to make readers see the various circumstances that led Uncle Pai to tread on his chosen path.

Years later, I had the opportunity to head the Toys Division at India Book House and my division was set up next to Uncle Pai’s ACK division on the first floor of the Fleet Building at Marol Naka. As luck would have it my cabin was next to his, and I would invariably be in his line of vision whenever I stepped out.

As heads of our respective departments, both of us were given the exclusive use of one washroom. It was a privilege in more ways than one. For years thereafter we would bump into each other on a daily basis on the 50 meter trek to and from the washroom.

He would invariably stop to discuss something or the other on his mind. He was fond of me and talked to me like a friend despite the 40 year difference between us and he being a colleague of my dad and grand-uncle from Day-1 at IBH.

Every now and then he would wave at me from the glass window and call me in to discuss something or simply for a plain chat. He loved speaking in Konkani. Every meeting would be an eye-opener of some kind or some hitherto unknown aspect about him or his project would pop up and of course a lot of co-incidences would spring up - One of which was that both of us belonged to the same Karkala town in South Canara District of Karnataka. And there would be hundreds of such meetings over the years.

He was a man on a mission. He was often mistaken as a hard-headed stubborn kind of person. But nothing could be farther from the truth. He had a child-like passion with which he spoke about his work, his numerous interactions with influential people, his various interactive sessions with kids etc.

He had the single-minded determination and would tread on no matter what challenges lay on his path. Money and material comforts were never his motivation. He was fiercely protective of his team and his project and would not shy away from bluntspeak, when required. He believed in narrating and projecting the story as they needed to be, thankfully not influenced by moralities and sensibilities of the day.

Very often I would play the devil’s advocate and argue that some of the portrayals and dialogues would not resonate with the social structure of the present, but he would remind me that it is not his aim to water down or interpret the ancient line of thought from modern perspective.

Stories had to be told in the manner they unfolded at a time when they did, not as they would have panned out in modern times. He shunned rigidity and rituals in real life and wasn’t really a believer in the true sense. Yet, he chose to remain true to History.

He lost both his parents when he was barely 2 years old and never had kids of his own. Yet, I believe that he has done more for generations of kids than anyone else in the field of publishing for such a long time.

If not for him, our knowledge of history would have remained confined to the Mughals, British and a long saga of defeats at the hands of tyrants and invaders. If kids of our generation know about Lachit Barphukan, Bappa Rawal, Krishnadeva Raya, Velu Thampi, Bagha Jatin, SubramanyaBharti and the likes, it is Uncle Pai and his team to thank for.

I have been a witness to a part of his journey from close quarters and can see that Rajessh has done a great deal of research and collated information to put together this engrossing narrative of Uncle Pai- the man, his mission, his passion and single-minded determination.

It is our good fortune that he belonged to an era when there was no social media, nor were there the trolls and conscience keepers of the nations who would have unfairly targeted him for imagined leanings and motivations. But the fact remained that he was as secular as secular can be, as liberal as liberal could be and as fearless and impartial as an average historian cannot be.

Talking of coincidences, I recollect a day in early 1998, when I walked into his cabin and in his typical booming voice he said he had been wanting to talk on a personal matter. He went on to ask me if I would be interested for a marital alliance with one of his nieces. I told him that much that I would love to be his son-in-law, I was there to invite him for my wedding. He instantly blessed me and made it a point to attend my wedding with his wife. Again by strange coincidence, my daughter was born a couple of years later on 17th September- his Birthday.

One of my constant disenchantments with successive governments has been that Uncle Pai was never considered for Padma awards. I wish another eminent personality (our Pradhan Sevak) who shares the same birthday- 17th September would some dayconsider him for Padma Vibhushan, nothing less.

In the meantime, do pick up a copy of the book if you haven’t already and Rajessh would take you on a wonderful and insightful journey of the life of a man who curated the young minds of an entire nation with his comics.