Uncle Pai is Dead, Long Live Uncle Pai!

Yes, it’s shocking news for all Comic Fans in India! Uncle Pai is no more with us! He was 81, and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award this month at India's first ever Comic Convention held in New Delhi on February 19-20. He was supposed to be at the event on 20th Feb, but a week before, he was admitted to hospital for treatment of a fracture after he fell from a staircase. Today morning, he suffered a massive heart attack and breathed his last around 5 pm. He is loved by children across nation, but never had any of his own.

I owe him most of my history and mythology knowledge to him, for Amar Chitra Katha, I was able to clear my history exams in schools! And, I am not alone; there are millions of others like me, who get to know about our history and culture through Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle. Anant Pai, or Uncle Pai, as he is better known, is immortal in our heart; he will live with us, in our Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle collection, in our history and mythological knowledge, and in our learning, which is passed on from generations to generations. Below is a documentary film about Comic Books in India. I found it on YouTube, and posting it here, as it concentrate more on the history of Amar Chitra Katha. Interview with Uncle Pai is one of the highlights of the film.

There are many articles you can find on him, as the whole nation's comic fans are mourning his death, and all newspapers will publish his news. I am no writer myself, and can’t give you anything new on him. So, I will not write much at the moment, but will end with a heavy heart and just the prayers that his soul rest in peace. I will read a copy of Amar Chitra Katha, and few stories from Tinkle tonight, to pay my respect to the Uncle of Indian Comics!

RIP Uncle Pai!

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