Naturally it is wrong to expect that every thing in India would be straight out of Manmohan Desai's Bollywood idealism where in every story you would also find a Muslim and Sikh or Christian.Д®ven if there is no Muslim character or stories focusing on Islamic festivals, you can't fault the comics or the kids' magazines but what is certainly wrong is depicting a community in wrong light and doing that cleverly. On the pages of Nandan and Chandamama, I discovered the world of Rishis, Vidyadhars, Kapaliks, Asuras et al.

Similarly, Chandamama, which I loved, was also a magazine that focused on Hindu mythology and the stories of Hindu gods abound. Nandan chiefly borrowed from Hinduism and avoided Islam but there was nothing that would unsettle a Muslim kid let alone offend his sensibilities.

It was Nandan that introduced me to the fascinating Hindu mythology. I loved Nandan and I owe a lot to these magazine. And I have absolutely no problem with a publisher only printing comics on Hindu culture, as I grew up as much on Khilauna (Urdu) and Champak, as much as Nandan, which focused on Hindu mythology. and that the comics combine relatively innoncuous text with far more troubling visuals like the bearded Muslim and the dark-skinned persons in the majority of 600-odd titles.ДЇirstly, I did read a few Amar Chitra Katha comics in my childhood. In her book Chandra writes that the comics conflated the Hindu with the national. In her book Chandra writes that Uncle Pai remains an avuncular man with a sincere interest in education but the ideological underpinnings of ACK bear much closer scrutiny. And that's not the only book on this subject*. I was reading Tehelka's last issue where Nisha Susan did a review of Delhi-based academician Nandini Chandra's book 'The Classic popular: Amar Chitra Katha', when I thought of writing a post. But cartoons and comics are to be taken seriously as they play an important role in shaping the minds of children. You may laugh at the mere mention of 'communal comics'.

List of amar chitra katha comics