Opportunities Today :- December 2005 Issue

Interview with Anant Pai

 

Founder Editor of Amar Chitra Katha,A publication of India Book House

Anant Pai is a name to reckon for his contribution towards bringing out purposeful yet exciting reading for children. His association with Indian Book House during his hey days was instrumental in bringing out Amar Chitra Katha series of comics and the ever popular children's magazine Tinkle. He is fondly called as “Uncle Pai”- his whirlwind tours around India as well as abroad help him to be in touch with children and chat with them. This has been his favourite pastime. OT interviews him to tell you lots more about this loving person - the man brought on this planet by God “for kids only.”

Tell us about your early life, education and family background?
I was born in Karkalla in Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka. My family belonged to lower middle class. I studied at a municipal school for three years and then was admitted to the board high school Karkalla, where I studied upto 9th std. I had lost my parents when I was two and a half years old. I grew up in the house of my maternal grandfather. When he died in 1944, I was brought to Mumbai along with my two sisters by a cousin. Since I could not speak English and even the local language [Marathi] I failed in the admission tests, held in many good schools. Finally I was admitted to Orient High School, Mahim. This school did not have a good laboratory. It did not have a playground or even a library. But the teachers and the Principal were very good. We were taught English by the famous Marathi writer P. L. Deshpande.

My teachers helped in a big way to develop my self-esteem. After the result of the first terminal exam, Mr. P. L. Deshpande entered the class and first asked the question, “Who is this boy Anant Pai?” I thought I had committed some blunder and timidly stood up. He said, “This boy has got 81% marks in English. In the 2nd position is Prema Pai.” P. L. Despande had so much confidence in my knowledge of spelling that once while teaching “The judgement of Vikramaditya” from our English textbook he wrote on the blackboard “The Judg….”he turned towards me to question which of “judgement” and “judgment” is correct. This helped me to develop my self-esteem.

I sought admission in Wilson college after passing the matriculation exam. Dr. John Taylor was the acting Principal. After submitting my application to Dr. John Taylor, I timidly asked, “Sir, will I secure admission, I had got 71% marks in my matriculation exam. Dr. Taylor got up from his seat in the glass cabin, came out and asked me, “What is the name of our college?” I replied, “Wilson.” What was your question?” I replied “Will I get admission?” There you have the answer. “Will son”. You will get admission.

How did you become “Uncle Pai”?
I started “Partha Institute of Personality Development” in August 1978. The institute conducted correspondence course in personality development. I had lot of interaction with my students and they started addressing me as Uncle Pai. Later, when Tinkle was launched in 1980 I used to receive lots of letters from readers of Tinkle - They also addressed me as Uncle Pai. Even the ex-Prime Minister of India [Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee] addressed me as Uncle Pai.

 

Highs and lows of your career?
After obtaining two degrees B.Sc[Hon] and B.Sc[Tech], I resigned from my small job to start a monthly Manav dedicated to physical, mental and spiritual development. I ran the magazine for less than four years and incurred losses. I then accepted a job in Asia Publishing House as a representative in Delhi. In 1961, I joined the Times of India, books division. It had been set up under Dr. D.V. Bharati with the objective of translating great works from Hindi into English. The project did not take off. The books division started publishing books and in May 1963 it launched Indrajal comics. The head of the department was Mr.R. N. Shukla under whom I worked for Indrajal comics. We took 16 pages from Phantom stories and remaining pages consisted of features Around the World with Kunju Pillai, Guru's Club, What to do etc. The script for this feature was written by me and artists like Shri. P. B. Kavadi, Shri Talvalkar and Mr. Prabhu drew the illustrations in comic strip.


How far the present education system fulfills the requirements of development of our youngsters? What changes are needed and How they can be introduced?
Modern education, of course things are improving I must say. In our days we had essay type answers but today children have multiple-choice questions. So the child doesn't have to waste time in writing, his knowledge can be gauged even without writing long essays. What is important today is the parents. The society recognizes only those youngsters who get marks. This reduces the self-esteem of the child and this has to be stopped. Each child should have faith in his ownself and self confidence as well, that no power on earth can defeat him. Whatever you do, enjoy doing and give to the best of your ability. Krishna said, in Geeta, “Yoga Kaushalam,” ie. Yoga is nothing but excelling in whatever you are doing.


The change needed in today's education system, is that the people must be given on - job training, There is no point in teaching only theory. Today things are far better, but then education is not what is taught in the class only, they must have opportunity to learn from outside also directly from nature and from other sources which are practical.


What is your mission? How far you've accomplished it? How much more is to be done?
Oh well, I started “Amar Chitra Katha,” the idea was to acquaint Indian children with the cultural heritage. I don't think that whatever done in the past was great, but unless you accept the past, you cannot adjust to the present and you cannot be successful in future.

In what way you have planned that your good work is continued uninterrupted?
Well, many of my students are taking personality development sessions, for example-Vijay Mandala, is conducting sessions of personality development in Ulhasnagar and right here in Mumbai, there are so many others too who are taking sessions in personality development. In a way it is continuation of my work.

What is your secret of success?
I don't say I'm particularly intelligent, there are people perhaps who are equally intelligent and even more intelligent than me but whatever I did I worked very hard and that's why I am successful in life. One must have faith and should believe in oneself. This will help you to have a positive attitude in life and an aim that penetrates to motivate. From my experiences I have evolved Partha formula where P=Positive Thinking, we should be always positive, A=Aim, aim or goal gives us directon for moving ahead.


R=Restrain i.e. we should exercise some self control, T=Training i.e. whatever you want to do in life, get training in that field, give best of your ability from people who are in that field, H=Hard work but with a purpose, there should be an aim and hard work and lastly, A=Abiding interest or ability to stick to something and interest in one's own aim.

What difficulties you encountered in your work and how did you overcome them?
Any new work I have started, like story time with Uncle Pai, Play time with Uncle Pai, just because I brought out the book, it wouldn't immediately sell. We have done many promotions and we sold 1000 copies to corporates. The thing is that you have to persist. To begin with great enthusiasm, there are many but one who sticks to one's mission and continues is the real achiever.


What are the qualities required to become a journalist especially children's writer and a social activist or a reformer?
Journalist must have a deep knowledge of every subject under the sun. This is because he has to make his comments so he should be well studied, like N.D. Kamat - he can speak on any topic. To become a children's writer-one must know child psychology or what the child loves. One must look from the child's point of view. Many writers ask how can I be a good contributor for “Amar Chitra Katha,” I used to tell them when “children are in a hurry to go to a playground after school, at that time stop them and read your story. If your story holds enough interest for the child and if he doesn't run away to the playground- you have succeeded in becoming a good writer.


Besides some values of life, not necessarily moralizing it, should come through the story like-

1) Joy in sharing things with others
2) You can be happy by making others happy
3) Everyone in his place is great, so long as he does well, he must be respected whether he is a peon or a CEO. In short a person should be respected for what he is and not what he has. Lastly, come what may one should never give up.

Reformer and social activist: One must reform himself and set an example. Your life should be an example by itself because children and grown ups look up to role models. So to become a reformer, one must reform one self to prove to be a role model. From there one can extend one's reach to involve more and more people in improvement and upliftment of society and thus play a role of a social activist

On your personal side, What are your hobbies ?
Well, hobbies one thing I must say, I should have cultivated but I have not, so my relaxation is through reading. It's good to have reading as a hobby.

Tell us about some interesting or memorable experiences?
I have plenty. On 28th May I had gone to Bangalore, and people were there to welcome me. On the notice board it was written “Uncle Pai is staying with us, you can have breakfast with Uncle Pai tomorrow.” It was a very satisfying experience. Once I went to Jaipur. In Tagore public school there was a big function, all the way from Shastri Nagar lane, children standing on both the sides of street showered marigold flowers on me, all the way right up to the hall. When I was in Shillery, at the bus stop few youngsters came and threw their bags, among them one of the boys took out a copy of the latest copy of Tinkle and said, “hey, I have got the latest copy of Tinkle.” Another boy said, “So what I have got a letter from Uncle Pai,” he showed the letter. My wife Lalitha, told them “take it easy, take it easy, you are so happy on receiving the letter of Uncle Pai, but I will introduce him to you all. They all were very happy. These are some of the memorable experiences, which were of happiness for children and myself.

Behind every successful man there is a woman. Tell us about Lalitaji and her contribution to your activities?
I cannot imagine my achieving even a fraction of what I have, but for her steady support. I have held over 120 quiz contests all over India, from Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south, and from Assam in the east to Rajasthan in the west. She has always been with me, sometimes meeting the school Principal or sometimes just waiting while I would talk about the contest.


When I conducted quiz contests in cities where IBM had an office, I would get help from the local office, but when I conducted contests in places like Guwahati, Tezpur, Dibrugarh in the east or in Jaipur, Udaipur in the west, she would take over the responsibility of making the youngsters stand in queue, giving them number slips, consolation prizes, etc. When the functions of the Partha Institute was held, in my small flat as many as 20 youngsters would crowd in living room, she attended to their needs, and made them feel comfortable. Thus she helped me with her support in everyway.

Your advice to aspirants in this field?
Believe in yourself; give best of your ability to your work


Your message to readers?
I have a simple message for youngsters aspiring to achieve great heights. Remember the most precious thing you have is your sense of self-esteem. So long as you do not lose faith in yourself, no power on earth can push you down. So keep on going ahead with confidence maintaining your self-esteem.