Every 90s kid remembers the cuteness that was Pingu – the mischievous, yet adorable penguin who lived with his parents in the Antarctica – his hometown.
We may not have understood his language, but, we never needed to!
One look at the penguin and we knew Pingu was literally all of us when we were kids, at some point or the other.
Having our own mental breakdown when our parents left us in charge in the house…
…or when we wanted to have a fun birthday party…
…or when we just wanted to eat till we had a food coma!
That penguin was every single one of us.
Basically, Pingu was the onset of our obsession with cute penguins onscreen.
The popular claymation – clay animation – show that aired, first on Doordarshan back in the day, and later got its 2000s’ revival on Pogo in the mornings, warmed our hearts.
In extremely sad news, the man who made Pingu possible on paper, Antonio Lupatelli, better known to the world as Tony Wolf, died just last week.
88 years old, Wolf was born in Busseto, Italy in 1930, Lupatelli was the man who brought the cute penguin alive on paper, through his illustrated books – Pingu the Star, Pingu the Adventurer, Pingu and the Seal and Pingu the Sportsman.
And reminded us of a show that most of us don’t talk about. Pingu – on air, or on paper – was every kid’s jam.
The plot line followed Pingu around as he embarked funny adventures and clumsy things at home and while playing outdoors.
The language spoken in the series, Penguinese, wasn’t understood by most of us, we knew just enough to make us laugh at the lighthearted humour.
And it didn’t matter if we were kids, or adults.
Watching the show also made me incredibly hungry!
Maybe it had to do with how that claymation looked like cake icing, or ice cream, or white chocolate. Was it just me?
‘Noot Noot’ was our response to everything when we tried talking ‘Penguinese’ as kids!
I mean, Pingu was annoying; especially when he got bored and tried to do something… But, then again, so were we.
But, he was just as adorable! And so were we!
So, here’s to the cutest penguin on TV and the relatable childhood memories that follow us way into our adult lives.