If you are bored with watching films all day and still figuring out how to pass the time while being locked down at home, you can perhaps consider reading a comic book – free of cost.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in India and across the world, ACK Media – the publishers of Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle comics – is offering a month-long free subscription to their entire archive.
You can access the comics through ACK and Tinkle mobile applications and websites until March 31.
Some popular Amar Chitra Katha titles are Chanakya, Ashoka, Akbar, Jawaharlal Nehru and Babasaheb Ambedkar. The initiative, ACK media says, will help those “cooped up in the house”.
To get access, go to Amar Chitra Katha’s subscription page, fill in your details and click enter. For Tinkle, go to the comic’s subscription page and follow the same steps. It is optional to enter your phone number and you will get free access even if you don’t.
ACK president Preeti Vyas took the decision to make the entire catalogue accessible to all, according to Free Press Journal. “Coronavirus scare had brought all this to a standstill. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we are getting score of messages on social networking sites and we just didn’t want to join bandwagon. We instead chose to do something that would bring smiles on the faces of kids and parents stuck at home. All we could gift them was our content,” she said.
She told the News Minute that the decision is a “gift” from the publishing house to the “children of India”.
“This is the little we can do to help ease this challenging environment we suddenly find ourselves in,” she said.
As soon as the publishing house made the announcement, social media was flooded with nostalgic messages.
Spent many summer holidays in the early 80s with Amar Chitra Katha comics. Used to be Rs 1.50 if I am not wrong then. My love for history was a result of that. https://t.co/pfVEhdb5L7
— Kalyan Karmakar (@Finelychopped) March 18, 2020
I used to religiously buy Tinkle every month and had a decent collection of Amar Chitra Katha as well.
What amazing news in these times. https://t.co/TYma4dht2y— Manan Bhan (@maybeEcosystems) March 18, 2020
If you are into myths and legends, then the free subscription for Amar Chitra Katha here (with android and ios apps) is one of the best ways to get familiar with Indian myths and legends in a Comic format. These were a big part of my childhood so am happy to plug these in the https://t.co/mXoX7rrtgh
— opdroid1234 (@opdroid1234) March 18, 2020
Featured image credit: Tinkle/Facebook