Anant Pai
| Anant Pai ಅನಂತ್ ಪೈ अनंत पै |
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| Born |
17 September 1929 Karkala, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Died | 24 February 2011 (aged 81) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Other names | Uncle Pai Walt Disney of India |
| Alma mater | Institute of Chemical Technology (Formerly UDCT) |
| Notable work | Amar Chitra Katha |
| Spouse(s) | Lalita Pai (1961–2011) |
Anant Pai (17 September 1929 – 24 February 2011), popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and a pioneer in Indian comics. He is most famous as the creator of two comic book series viz. Amar Chitra Katha, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters; and Tinkle, a children's anthology.
Pai was born in Karkala, in what was the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India on 17 September 1929 to a Konkani-speaking Goud Saraswat Brahmin couple, Venkataraya and Susheela Pai. He lost both his parents at the age of two. He was then brought up by his maternal grandfather till his death in 1944 after which he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai), where he studied in Orient School, Mahim. He pursued his higher education in chemistry, physics and chemical technology at the University of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT now UICT) and was a dual degree holder from the University of Bombay.
Endowed with a passion for publishing and comics, his failed attempt at creating a children's magazine (Manav, 1954) was followed by a career as a junior executive in The Times of India books division, putting him in the thick of affairs when Indrajal Comics, which was famous for publishing comic book series like Mandrake and The Phantom, was launched by the Times Group.
The idea behind starting a comicbook series devoted to Indian culture and history came to Pai from a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?"
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