North-Eastern Superhero Mapui Is Upsetting Some Tinkle Readers

Since its launch in 1980, Tinkle comics have been a huge part of our childhood, not to mention held a special place in our hearts. Anant Pai, or Uncle Pai as he’s lovingly called by his young readers, created Tinkle thirty five years ago, primarily targeting school-going children. Translated into a number of Indian languages and claiming a reading audience of over 3 lakh people, the comic has given the country some of its most beloved characters. Be it bumbling and lovable Shikari Shambu’s antics, the amusing adventures of Suppandi or the scientific fun facts of Anu Uncle; educating and entertaining for both children and adults alike, there was always something for everyone. On the comic books thirty fifth anniversary, in 2015, the character of Mapui, also known as Wingstar, was launched. The announcement came as exciting news as Mapui was not only a female superhero, but a character made to represent the much-neglected and stereotyped citizens of north-east India.

Mapui Kawlim is a ‘reluctant’ 13-year-old girl who moonlights as crime-fighting Wingstar, living in the fictional town of Aizwa in Mizoram, fashioned after the state’s capital Aizawl. Talking to Caravan Magazine, Sean D’mello, the creator of the comic who also developed the story and script says, “it could be Mumbai, Delhi or any place for that matter. It’s just a city.” Balancing school work and her special after-school activity gets tedious as she struggles to finish her mathematics homework, make time for her friends, as well as fight bad guys with the help of special gadgets made by her father, Tashi Kawlim, who we learn is an inventor at the Space Development Arm of the government.

“In Tinkle, we have always had characters who hail from different parts of the country. Mapui aka WingStar may belong to the Northeast but she’s also a regular teenage girl,” says Tinkle Comics’ editor Rajani Thindiath. “We need more iconic female heroes to join the plethora of enduring male comic characters in the country - Suppandi, Shikari Shambu and Tantri the Mantri. Over half of the children in our country are female after all.” Mapui isn’t Tinkle’s first female superhero character. In the past, we’ve had Aisha, the protagonist from SuperWeirdos and Maya as PsyMage.

After all that was said and done, once the comic book came out many readers were left disappointed at the inauthentic representation of north-eastern citizens in the image of the Kawlim’s. Without any clear and realistic depiction of Mizoram’s culture, commenters online have pointed out the inaccuracies present in the visuals and language used. “Hats off to Tinkle for this initiative to integrate us NE folks with the rest of mainland India. Having said that, I wish folks at Tinkle had done their homework more thoroughly. First of all, our wonder girl’s name should be spelled Mapuii (with a double i) as opposed to Mapui (with a single i),” writers Pauline, a native of the region. She adds: “Tashi (Mapuii’s dad) is not a Mizo name. The name Tashi would be more commonly associated with people from a Tibetan/Buddhist cultural background.” Another point being that Kawlim is not a Mizo surname, infact, surnames aren’t used at all, a second name is adopted that represents a person’s clan. The characters “didn’t look anything like us,” says Lalnunsanga Ralte, a professor and native of Aizawl, referring to the physical characteristics and facial features of the characters. He’s a PhD student studying science-fiction literature at the North Eastern Hill University in Shillong.

When questioned by Sukruti Anah Staneley, Sean D’mello said, “we did not want to directly represent or misrepresent a particular clan,” adding that they looked for a name that “belonged to that area” instead. “We tried to stay as authentic as possible without getting into too many nitty-gritties,” says Rajini Thindiath. We can accept that the Tinkle is a publication without a political agenda, their aim is to entertain and educate a target audience that comprises of children. But with education in mind, shouldn’t children be educated realistically about the immensely rich traditions and cultural practices of the north-eastern states? Each state of the area has it’s own practices, traditions, textiles and art, and lumping together all the states is exactly the prevailing problem, that is what needs to be tackled and it can be done in an apolitical manner without offending people. The attempt at pluralism is noteworthy, and while we appreciate the effort, a little more research at the ground-level could have seriously helped in fashioning a character true to the diversity of a highly-neglected section of Indian society.

Scroll down to see a few excerpts from the comic book, courtesy Tinkle. 

Read the entire article by Sukruti Anah Staneley for Caravan Magazine here.

Feature image courtesy www.indiatoday.intoday.in