Once upon a time in the green jungle, there lived a little caterpillar named Clara. This little caterpillar is so curious; she likes discovering a lot of goods. She’d crawl over leaves, wiggle through the field, or indeed climb trees just to give herself another view.
One day, while wandering, Clara chanced upon a group of colorful butterflies that sounded to play about. They fluttered gaily in the air and sparkled under the sun with their bodies. She watched in complete astonishment and told herself that she wanted to be as enough and free as they were. There she stood for hours, imagining herself having wings and flying truly grandly over in the treetops.
That evening, Clara was back home describing the dreams to her ma.” Mum, will I one day become a butterfly?” she asked.
Her ma smiled vocally.” Clara, you are destined to do great things. Every creature in the timber has its special trip. Yours will come to light in good time. For now, keep discovering and enjoying the sheer pleasure of being yourself.”
And so, the little girl Clara was inspired by the words of her ma. She began to produce. From fallen leaves, outgrowths, and petals, she made colors on the timber bottom. Trees, by her, were painted with slush and berries. The timber became a living gallery. All the brutes came to see the view.
And Clara slowly started to change. The spirit that raised her appetite to explore and produce bloomed, so did the excitement to enjoy this lift. It was one morning, and she was truly sleepy, and over there on one of the coziest leaves, Clara long napped. When she rose, she was different — light, strong, and ever complete.
She had come a beautiful butterfly. Her wings held colours of the rainbow – all colours, tones, tinctures, tones and tinctures of all the art that she did in the timber. flopping her bodies, she soared into the sky. Feeling it blow beneath her bodies for the truly first time in her life, she rose grandly above the treetops, just the way she always conceited it to be.
Moral of the Story: Embrace your creativity and be your own true-self. Everyone grows at their own pace, and people shine when its their time to shine. All your dreams can just come true, you just need to be patient.
The primary function of political cartoons is to offer political commentary on current affairs and societal issues. Furthermore, cartoonists frequently view their creations as a weapon against the misuse of authority. They therefore want to discredit and expose the powerful. The outcome is frequently unexpected but not always humorous. In a country that is as culturally and politically diverse as India, cartoons can be a medium to educate the people as due to uneven distribution of resources, not everyone has the same access to information and education as each other.
Cartoonists sketch a unique and powerful story by combining wit, humor, and social commentary in their creations. From magazine pages to television, these masters of the pen use their artistic skills to entertain audiences and spark imaginations. Let’s take a look through the corridors of creativity and explore the works of some of India’s most famous cartoonists.
Father of Political Cartooning in India – Kesava Shankar Pillai (31 July 1902 – 26 December 1989)
Indian cartoonist Kesava Shankar Pillai (31 July 1902 – 26 December 1989), popularly known as Shankar, was born. In India, he is regarded as the founder of political cartooning. In 1948, he started Shankar’s Weekly, the Punch of India.
{Cartoonists Abu Abraham (above) and Kutty (below)}
Cartoonists such Abu Abraham, Ranga, and Kutty were also produced by Shankar’s Weekly; however, the publication was shut down on June 25, 1975, due to an emergency. He then focused on helping kids laugh and have fun with life. In 1976, the Indian government bestowed upon him the second-highest civilian decoration, the Padma Vibhushan.
{The collection of costume dolls in the museum was inspired by a gift of a single doll that Shankar received from the Hungarian Ambassador in the early fifties. (International Doll Museum, Delhi)}
He is best known today for founding Shankar’s International Dolls Museum in 1965 and the Children’s Book Trust, which was founded in 1957.Shankar’s caricatures appeared in The Bombay Chronicle and The Free Press Journal. He was hired as a staff cartoonist by Pothan Joseph, the editor of the Hindustan Times, in 1932, and remained on staff until 1946.
Shankar was able to train in London for almost fourteen months. He studied advanced cartooning methods during that time by attending numerous art schools. He also travelled to Paris, Geneva, Vienna, Berlin, and Rome.
India was in the throes of an independence movement when he returned. Shankar’s aspirations for an independent publication were also supported by the onset of freedom. When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru published Shankar’s Weekly, which Shankar edited himself, the concept was realised.Shankar was organised and adored children. The Shankar’s International Children’s Competition was founded by Shankar in 1949, and the Shankar’s On-the-Spot Painting Competition for Children was a part of it in 1952. In 1978, he started an annual competition for children’s book writers. This tournament, which started in English, is currently being held in Hindi as well.
‘A Symphony of Dreams’ was an exhibition held at the Lalit Kala Academy in Delhi in 2002 to mark the centennial of his birth. He drew a cartoon of Bhimrao Ambedkar in 1949, and when it was included in NCERT educational materials, it created “furor” in the Indian Parliament. As a result, concerned NCERT staff members resigned in May 2012. People who identified as “Republican Panthers” demonstrated against the cartoon. The Kerala Lalithakala Akademi created the Shankar Memorial National Cartoon Museum and Art Gallery in 2014 as a memorial to the well-known Indian cartoonist in his homeland.
A Not-So-Common Man – R.K. Laxman (1921-2015)
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman was an Indian humorist, illustrator, and cartoonist who lived from 24 October 1921 to 26 January 2015. The Common Man, which he created, and You Said It, a daily comic strip that he launched in 1951 in The Times of India, are his most well-known works.
{In Photo: R.K. Laxman and R.K. Narayan}
In 1921, a Tamil Hindu Brahmin family welcomed R. K. Laxman into the world in Mysore. Laxman was the youngest of eight children—six sons and two daughters—and his father was a headmaster. The well-known novelist R.K. Narayan was his older brother. “Pied Piper of Delhi” was the moniker given to Laxman’s elder brother.
Early work by R.K. Laxman was published in magazines such as Swarajya and Blitz, as well as newspapers Rohan. also started drawing political cartoons for the Swatantra and local newspapers, and also illustrated stories written by his older brother R. K. Narayan for The Hindu while he was still a student at the Maharaja College of Mysore.
{ SAB TV aired an Indian comedy series called R. K. Laxman Ki Duniya(2011-2013). The famed cartoonist R. K. Laxman’s work served as the inspiration for it. The focus of the show was on the pleasures and sufferings of the average man.}
Additionally, Laxman created cartoons for Koravanji, a Kannada humour magazine started in 1942 by M. Shivaram, a physician with a clinic in Bangalore’s Majestic neighbourhood. When he first established this monthly journal, he focused on cartoons and stories that were lighthearted and satirical. In Kannada, Shivaram was a well-known humorist. He encouraged Laxman.
{The R. K. Laxman Museum is a single-artist museum located in the Balewadi area of Pune, Maharashtra. It was inaugurated in 2022.}
Laxman worked as a summer employee at the Madras Gemini Studios. His first permanent position was as a political cartoonist for The Free Press Journal in Mumbai, where he worked alongside Bal Thackeray. Laxman started working for The Times of India, Mumbai, in 1951, and he stayed there for more than fifty years. In his pocket comics, his “Common Man” persona is presented as a witness to the emergence of democracy.
Not Your Local Cartoonist – Mario Miranda (1926-2011)
Mario Miranda, also called Mario de Miranda, was an Indian painter and cartoonist who was headquartered in Loutolim, in the Indian state of Goa. He was born Mário João Carlos do Rosário de Brito Miranda on May 2, 1926, and passed away on December 11, 2011.
Miranda gained prominence via his writings published in The Illustrated Weekly of India, but he was also a regular contributor to The Times of India and other Mumbai newspapers, such as The Economic Times. In 2012, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, posthumously.
{15th August, 1988 “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” on Doordarshan- a song that showed India’s diversity and was created on the theme Unity in Diversity}
Miranda appeared in the 1988 “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” national integration video, which also starred a number of well-known Indian artists, writers, musicians, and athletes. He received the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and a lifetime achievement award from the All India Cartoonists’ Association in Bangalore. On November 11, 2009, Don Miguel Nieto Sandoval, a tourism adviser, gave Mario the highest civilian accolade, the “Cross of the Order of Isabel the Catholic,” bestowed by King Juan Carlos of Spain at his family’s Loutulim residence. On December 29, 2009, he was appointed “Commander of the Order of Prince Henry,” a Portuguese National Order of chivalry, by President of the Republic Aníbal Cavaco Silva.
{Mario’s Mural on the streets of Goa, Maharashtra}
In March 2012, the Goa Legislative Assembly mentioned him in an obituary following his death in 2011. Miranda was honoured with the 2013 naming of a Mumbai Road intersection. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, Google celebrated him with a doodle in May 2016. The doodle depicted a typical rainy-season neighbourhood scene in Mumbai.
{Aaron Renier – an American Comic Artist and Author (famous for his comic “The Unshrinkable Walker Beam”), and the guy who created Google Doodle for Mario Miranda}
— Aaron Renier (he/him/his) (@acornreindeer) May 2, 2016
{2016 Google Doodle by Aaron Renier}
As per Aaron Renier’s Google Doodle, which was made in honour of Miranda on his 90th birthday in 2016, Miranda’s most favoured cartooning style was “very flat with criss-crossing interactions”. Renier continued by explaining: That is what I liked most about his work. Trying to pick out who knows who, who’s watching who, who’s annoyed by who, who’s enamoured by who. (Source: Wikipedia)
No Prime Minister – Sudhir Tailang (1960-2016)
Tailang was born on February 26, 1960, in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and died of cancer in 2016.Tailang’s childhood fascination with comics like Tintin, Phantom and Blondie is said to have inspired him to pursue cartooning.
In 1970, at the age of ten, he got his first cartoon published in a newspaper.Tailang began his career in 1982 with the Illustrated Weekly of India, Mumbai, after creating his first cartoon in 1970. He began working in Delhi for the Navbharat Times in 1983. He worked for the Hindustan Times for a number of years, taking brief breaks to also work for the Indian Express and The Times of India. The Asian Age was his most recent assignment.
He received the Padma Shri in Literature and Education in 2004. Several politicians were the targets of his caricatures as a cartoonist, including Manmohan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee, P V Narasimha Rao, Indira Gandhi, and Narendra Modi. His cartoons on Manmohan Singh during his first term as prime minister were included in the book “No, Prime Minister,” which he released in 2009.
Political Cartooning to Politics – Balasaheb Thackeray (23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012)
The famously known Bal Keshav Thackeray, also referred to as Balasaheb Thackeray, well as the creator of the Shiv Sena political organisation. However, he was a multi-talented man, and one of them was cartooning. He began his professional career with The Free Press Journal, but he soon left to start ‘Marmik’, a political weekly of his own. His drawings supported his protests against Mumbai’s growing non-Marathi population. Alert on his end, he rendered every detail with detailed drawings.
On June 19, 1966, Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena as a result of Marmik’s success. Aside from that, his writings mirrored and emphasised the growth in poverty, price increases, and even pressing problems like riots and the subsequent expansion of the nation’s armaments trade. The master of cartooning departed from this life in 2012.
Conclusion
As we draw the curtains on this exploration of India’s rich culture of Political cartooning in India, it becomes evident that their legacy extends far beyond the strokes of their pens. By reflecting the many dimensions of Indian society through their artistic expression, these artists have not only amused but also educated audiences and sparked thought-provoking conversations. As we honour their accomplishments, let’s not forget that a single cartoon’s ability to spark debate and motivate action is evidence of the lasting value of this distinctive form of visual expression. The ink may run in the dynamic field of Indian cartooning, but the influence of these forward-thinking artists will last for many years.
Note: Please note that the images used in this article are from across the web and this blog does not hold the copyright to these images.
Let us know if such articles are of your interests. This Blog is forever open to suggestions, views, and discussions.
Hello to the people reading this, today I have a gift for you all. The gift of hope, the gift of magic, the gift of love and the gift of words. All of us have always heard people say that books are our best friend, but why do they say so? They do it because, at the times of grief, uncertainty and self-doubt, there is nothing better than a few words that can provide you hope, faith and strength. So today I have brought my 10 all-time favourite lines for you. This is my gift for you. For supporting my blog my work and showering your love upon me. Thank you.
10 All-Time Favourite Lines
“ I can do this…I can start over. I can save my own life and I’m never going to be alone as long as I have stars to wish upon and people to still love.” – Jennifer Elisabeth
“ I want to be magic. I want to touch the heart of the world and make it smile. I want to be a friend of elves and live in a tree. Or under a hill. I want to marry a moonbeam and hear the stars sing. I don’t want to pretend at magic anymore. I want to be magic.” – Charles De Lint
“ Believe something and the Universe is on it’s way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow.” – Diane Duane
“ Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.” – Lady Gaga
“ Not knowing you can’t do something, is sometimes all it takes to do it.” – Ally Carter
“ Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be.” – Jennifer Elisabeth
“ Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classic, good, and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” – William Faulkner
“ The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” – Peter Pan by J.M.Barrie
“ Home is the people inside your heart, not the place where you all sleep.” – A.M.Hudson
“ Be that strong girl that everyone knew would make it through the worst, be that fearless girl, the one who would dare to do anything, be that independent girl who didn’t need a man; be that girl who never backed down.” – Taylor Swift
Bonus Lines
“ You’ve got this life and while you’ve got it, you’d better kiss like you only have one moment, try to hold someone’s hand like you will never get another chance to, look into people’s eyes like they’re the last you’ll ever see, watch someone sleeping like there’s no time left, jump if you feel like jumping, run if you feel like running, play music in your head where there is none, and eat cake like it’s the only one left in the world!” – C.JoyBell C
“ Believe in your heart. Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles. ” – Roy T. Bennett
“ And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it. ” – Roald Dahl
I hope you all liked it. Thanks once again guys and write if there are a few lines which you would like to share with us in the comments section below. Love each and every one of you reading this.
I have been reading children books these days, it’s my “back-to-basics” method. Before the age of 12 I never really liked books so I haven’t read many which brought me here, reading stuff I should have read (10 years) before.
I landed over a book called “The Velveteen Rabbit ”
The Velveteen Rabbit is a British children’s book written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit’s desire to become real through the love of his owner. The book was first published in 1922.
Image Source: Google Books. Information Source: Wikipedia.
and I read something I couldn’t keep myself from sharing. So in case, you haven’t read this book or you don’t have time to, I am sharing one of the most beautiful things I came across.
Here it is.
‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’
‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.
‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’
‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’
‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.
– The Velveteen Rabbit
By Margery Williams Bianco
I’m so in love with this book and I recommend this. So if you have time or you are stressed and need a book to just relax your mind, do try this one.
This poem was the first thing I wrote in my diary, and now I want to share this with all of you. The poem isn’t mine but i love it, and so will you all. Hopefully.
Henry Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambiance of his home city of Los Angeles. Born: 16 August 1920 Died: 9 March 1994
Image Source : wikipedia Information : wikipedia
“If it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. Unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don’t do it. if you have to sit for hours staring at your computer screen or hunched over your typewriter searching for words, don’t do it. if you’re doing it for money or fame, don’t do it. If you’re doing it because you want women in your bed, don’t do it. If you have to sit there and rewrite it again and again, don’t do it. If it’s hard work just thinking about doing it, don’t do it. if you’re trying to write like somebody else, forget about it.
If you have to wait for it to roar out of you, then wait patiently. if it never does roar out of you, do something else.
If you first have to read it to your wife or your girlfriend or your boyfriend or your parents or to anybody at all, you’re not ready.
Don’t be like so many writers, don’t be like so many thousands of people who call themselves writers, don’t be dull and boring and pretentious, don’t be consumed with self- love. The libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind. Don’t add to that. Don’t do it. Unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket, unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder, don’t do it. Unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don’t do it.
When it is truly time, and if you have been chosen, it will do it by itself and it will keep on doing it until you die or it dies in you.
I read it on the internet two years back and this is something I want all of you to read. It helped me so much at that time, you know, when you are a complete teenager, so full of dreams, so full of life and you have this passion to achieve everything you have ever wanted to and all. And deep down you are scared of whats and buts. Fear is the only thing that will limit you and stop you from being yourself. But ones you learn to accept the worst you will be the best, you have my words on this.
Here’s the poem.
“You are not scared of the dark, you are scared of what’s in it.
You are not afraid of hights, you are afraid of falling.
You are not afraid of people around you, you are afraid of rejection.
You are not afraid to love, you are afraid of not being loved back.
You are not afraid of letting go, you are afraid of excepting the truth that the person is gone.
You are not afraid of trying again, you are afraid of getting hurt for the same reason.”
– Ezinwanne Dominion
Now ask yourself, do all these things really matter? Can’t we overcome them and be the untamed, unedited version of yourselves? Yes sometimes we need to change for our own good but never for someone else to accept us.
We need to learn that it’s okay to have fears, it’s okay to be imperfect, it’s absolutely okay to not be okay but what is not okay is to let you fear limit the potential in you.
Think about it and share your thoughts in the comment.
Kulsoomified 
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