Despite its newness Tinkle is still the same old friend, says editor Rajani Thindiath

Popular children's magazine Tinkle celebrated its 34th anniversary in November, 2014. Rajani Thindiath, the Editor of Tinkle talks to Joanna Lobo on the Tinkle's legacy, its classic characters and how it has adapted to changing times. 

There's been a radical change in the comic: from the illustrations to the content to the characters. The new designs and illustrations and so on. What was the thought that went into this change? 

We wanted to make Tinkle appealing to the contemporary reader. There is so much going on today—social media, gaming, movies, TV shows and what not. We just want to compel the reader to pick up a Tinkle and feel happy about having spent time well. And that’s only possible if we know what they like reading. So, we take feedback from our readers through post, email and social media and incorporate them in the magazine. For e.g., our readers kept demanding ‘horror stories’, giving rise to the series Dental Dairies, featuring a loony fangless vampire (we do not show real ‘blood’ or death in Tinkle). Similarly, their demand for superhero adventures made us start Super Weirdos, a series about people with strange and batty superpowers. So, the new look, the experimental storylines, the brand new art and the new toons are all tailored to our readers’ tastes. And their response to the changes has been tremendously gratifying. Yet despite the newness, for them, Tinkle is still the same old friend. 

The one major thing that has worked for most Tinkle fans, me included, was the nostalgia factor. Was it tough trying to retain that?  

We keep in mind the demands of all our readers, young or old. And many of our signature classic characters such as Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, Kalia the Crow and Tantri the Mantri are still around. We did have to update them to keep in sync with the times. For e.g. we’ve made Suppandi experiment with several careers. That does not change the character or his goofiness in any way but just gives us a chance to further explore it. Similarly, Shikari Shambu has taken on the role of a conservationist keeping in mind social problems such as wildlife endangerment and habitat destruction. That does not make Shambu any less lazy or less scared of the animals he’s supposed to protect. It’s just that, with changing times, the toons have changed their modus operandi to stay relevant. But they do retain that sweet charm that drew Tinkle’s older readers. In fact, we regularly receive letters from parents and grandparents telling us how much they enjoy reading Tinkle with their child and how we’ve managed to take Uncle Pai’s legacy forward. And when the sentiment is echoed by our younger readers, we know we’ve attained a balance between the old and the new.

How has technology helped Tinkle’s world?

Technology has widened Tinkle’s reach and bridged the gap between Tinkle’s creators and its readers. Emails have helped our interaction in terms of speed of connect and response. Today, readers don’t need to post their letters and wait for weeks until they are delivered to us. We are but one ‘send’ button away. Like Uncle Pai, I also personally replies to each and every letter, virtual or otherwise. This clues us in to what our readers like, dislike, what they read, watch and play. 

Tinkle’s website, tinkleonline.com, also keeps our readers connected to us. And it gives them easy access to our books and magazines. Facebook has been massively successful for us. In fact our ‘fans’ support as many pages as we do! Social media gives Tinkle a digital brand presence and encourages our yesteryear readers to rekindle their love for Tinkle and comics. The e-magazine version available on Magzter makes sure that Tinkle is available when you want it, where you want it. Our Tumblr blog gives readers tidbits about behind-the-scenes action in the making of the magazine and the digest. All this makes Tinkle not just a name but an experience.

What does the future look like for Tinkle?  

There is so much to do! So many readers to reach, so many stories to create, so many smiles to kindle! For now, we plan to build our interaction with our readers. We want them to continue shaping our magazine by sending in Fan Fiction and Fan art. You can expect to see newer toons based on reader demands as well. 
We experimented with themed issues in 2014 and they have been quite successful so we plan to keep looking for more funky and appealing themes for 2015.  Tinkle Tall Tales, Tinkle’s line of graphic novels featuring single toon adventures, is also doing great and there are four more titles are in the works. Tinkle features a lot of game-based knowledge features such as 'Name Place Animal Thing', 'Pic(k) Your Brains' and 'Word Play' that our readers have loved. We are thinking of trying more features that will keep learning interesting. Our character collections have been our most successful non-magazine extension. 

Also read: Celebrating 34 years of Tinkle comics