About this issue
Dear Friends,I have so much to relate to you and it is so apt that I am writing this for the Travel and Adventure theme. I had a grand adventure when I went on a trip to Assam and Meghalaya recently. I have to mention the food was yummy throughout. On the safaris into Kaziranga, apart from the one-horned rhinoceros and elephants, we spotted many, many birds. Of particular delight to me was spotting the Great Hornbill. The other highlight was viewing great stretches of grasslands (through my binoculars from the Donga Watchtower) across the Brahmaputra, where rhinos, wild buffaloes, hog deer, swamp deer, and wild boar all grazed together, at peace. I have not seen a more serene sight in the wild and I hope we can all do our bit to preserve it for generations to come. The days in the wild were cool and pleasant, like inhaling large gulps of oxygen or eating fresh, chilled strawberries While I found the Assam landscape similar to Kerala’s, the vegetation changed to bamboo, large ferns and thick forests as we wound our way up to Meghalaya. We reached Shillong in the late evening and were delighted by this beautifully-lit hill town, like a fairy hill, with its pretty houses and warm people. In Cherrapunjee or Sohra (yes, the second-wettest place on Earth), we trekked to the beautiful Double-Decker Living Roots bridges, formed of entwining roots of trees on opposite banks (over 2000 steps going down!). What I liked best in Mawlynnong (where a board proclaims it as the cleanest village in Asia) was going up the bamboo tower and looking across the treetops to the plains of Bangladesh in the far distance.A trip for the soul, on this journey I met many inspiring people passionate about conservation, preventing poaching and preserving the culture of the land.I had a great time. I hope you do too in the holidays to come.
About TINKLE
Tinkle started as a fortnightly children’s comics magazine, in 1980. Under the guidance of editor-founder, Anant Pai, the brand evolved the tagline ‘Where learning meets fun’. It was one of the first few children’s comics magazines with Indian content at that time. Till then children were reading syndicated foreign comics, – Archies, Phantom, Mandrake – translated into Indian languages. In Tinkle, children could read folktales from all over the world as well as stories revolving around the Tinkletoons. Many of these characters have evolved into icons such as Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, Tantri the Mantri, Kalia the Crow, etc. Over the years, newer characters have stepped into the Tinkle pages. These include the Defective Detectives, Butterfingers, Sea Diaries, etc. Apart from comics, the magazine also engages readers with several educative non-fiction pages including puzzles, do-it-yourself crafts, solve-it-yourself mysteries, knowledge features on a wide range of subjects and contests. Though intended as a magazine for children between the ages of 8 and 14, Tinkle’s reach goes far beyond. Families eagerly look forward to the magazine, every month, across the length and breadth of the country. It is probably not just the entertainment but the unexpected insights that the magazine gives their children that families value. Owing to Uncle Pai’s efforts, Tinkle is also welcomed by educators and school principals and thus holds a position as a recommended magazine for wholesome edutainment.