The growing coronavirus pandemic may have made many office-goers stay at home happily, with no daily travels and relief from crowded trains and metros, the kids are definitely feeling stuck at home. The vacations have come early, but meeting friends, playing out is a strict no no.
Given the circumstances, ACK Media, which owns Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle Comics, has decided to bring some cheer to the children. The entire digital collection of the comics is now available for free for a period of 30 days on the ACK Comics and Tinkle mobile apps, to help children cope with the gloomy situation.
“At Amar Chitra Katha, we don’t know much about diseases and their cures, but we do know a lot about entertaining children- we’ve been doing it for over 50 years. So, when this absolutely challenging situation came up with the Coronavirus, we realised that loads of children would be cooped up at home and we should offer them a gift of our stories to ease the boredom. So we decided to offer free access to both our apps for a month, no conditions apply!” said Amar Chitra Katha president and chief operating officer Preeti Vyas.
With social distancing being advocated to combat the spread of the virus, children are forced to stay indoors. The initiative has hence received a great response from readers. “In two days, we’ve got 100x more downloads of what we normally get in a month,” Vyas added.
Amar Chitra Katha, which was founded in 1967 by Anant Pai is a household name in India and is well-known for its historical, mythological and fun comics. The brand which has been popular for decades has created a special place in the parents’ hearts too. ACK Media started Tinkle with the first issue coming out in 1980, bringing out characters like Shambhu, Supandi, Tantri and many others to cheer kids’ mood.
Tinkle is also bringing some new exciting features to keep kids engaged. Dear Tinkle, Top That, Colour It Up, Tinkle Talk Show are few properties which are debuting this month and will be available for kids, mentioned Tinkle editor-in-chief Rajani Thindiath.
The initiative will help spread awareness amongst all and also be a relief for parents, who are wondering how to keep kids occupied.