He had never seen the king, and now he was greeted by 13 rulers! Birbal knew he was being tested. The king got a dozen lookalikes to dress like him and made them sit on a throne identical to the real throne.īirbal entered the court. The ruler of the kingdom, who heard a lot about Birbal’s intellect, wanted to test it. Who is the emperor?īirbal once visited a kingdom as an ambassador of Akbar. These stories are short but they are enough to display Birbal’s intelligence. There is silence for a few seconds and soon Akbar begins laughing, followed by the courtiers. As I am the rooster, I couldn’t produce any eggs.” Since all the courtiers presented an egg, they are all hens. “Why did you do that Birbal?” asks Akbar. The sudden act takes the emperor and courtiers by surprise. As Birbal approaches Akbar’s throne, he bursts into the call of a rooster. He notices courtiers giving him sharp glances and smiling among themselves. He searches around the pond, under the bushes, and trees, but finds no eggs.īirbal returns to the court wondering about the situation. The courtiers go to the pond and bring back the concealed egg in their hand one at a time. Those who find the egg are loyal while those who can’t aren’t, he says. Therefore, he tells all his courtiers to go to the royal pond and bring one egg at a time. The next day, Akbar tells the court that he had a dream last night that the best way to test the honesty of his courtiers is to ask them to bring an egg. Akbar asks all the courtiers to bring the egg concealed in their clothes the next day. He secretly calls his courtiers, explains them a plan, and gives them an egg. He’s even acquired a girlfriend along the way.Akbar decides to test Birbal’s wit by playing a trick on him. He’s seen a lot more of the world as he tries out different jobs, from being a sailor to an astronaut. Of course, to appeal to today’s children, the character has evolved over the years, swapping his shorts (and the signature towel he wore on his shoulder) for more contemporary outfits. The jokes won’t be as appealing if he grows up.” Like Anil Kapoor! That is the secret formula.” She adds, “We have to retain that innocence, which I love to draw. That will not happen,” she says, adding with a laugh, “He maintains his age. “Then I completely took over in 2004, after my father passed away.” And while she may be growing older, she too is horrified by the idea of Suppandi ageing. “I have been drawing Suppandi for about 26 years,” says Archana, saying she began by helping her father. While her father had a distinctive realistic style, Archana’s style is more like a cartoon. “It used to come in three panels, very simple plots and a simple background,” she says. In the 90s, when storylines were simpler, the character looked quite different from the Suppandi she draws today. “Eight months later, when my strokes were okay, I started drawing Suppandi.” “My father said: ‘What do you want to do? Come, I will teach you drawing’,” she says, adding, “So I started very late in my life.” She began practising, drawing lines, circles and ovals, and kept at it everyday. Working at a career in accounts, at the age of 28, she decided she wanted a change.

“I was in my teens, growing up in Mumbai, and I enjoyed the stories because the English was simple and easy to read,” she says. Tinkle ’s iconic characters, including Suppandi, Nasruddin Hodja and Pyarelal.) (A legendary illustrator, Waeerkar drew many of Tinkle in the mail, Archana Amberkar was lucky enough to watch her father Waeerkar bring these characters to life at home. While most fans grew up waiting for their edition of All of us goof up, and both kids and adults know that we have all had that Suppandi moment. “It’s his utter simplicity: he is what he is. My thinking even now is like him - as my logic is literal,” she laughs.

But I do remember that I could immediately relate to him. Tinkle and following Suppandi’s adventures. “In fact, my first memories of him is from a story where he was trying to roast slippers like aĬhappati ,” giggles Rajani, discussing how she too grew up reading Originally illustrated by the artist Ram Waeerkar, the character began life as a guileless village simpleton, who worked as a domestic helper and earnestly tried to follow orders from his boss, with inevitable disastrous results. Tinkle comics’ most popular characters, and has managed to retain his sprightly, ageless appeal over decades. Originally conceptualised as a village simpleton in 1983, Suppandi quickly became one of Asked about Suppandi finally approaching the big Four O, a startled Rajani Thindiath, Editor-in-Chief ofĪmar Chitra Katha, firmly states, “Suppandi doesn’t age.” Though the popular comic character celebrates turning 37 years on April 20, he technically will always be in his 20s. Suppandi gets to have his birthday cake, and eat it too.

Supandi sugar story