Conversations with Indian Cartoonists

Book excerpt: Picking up the pen is, sometimes, like playing with fire, especially in the business of political cartooning. In a profession of stroke-and-tell, where less is more, the brooding cartoonist turns everyday events into spaces for engagement. They draw the line between concern and apathy to bring issues into public view, invariably, shaking us out of our inattentional blindness. After all, they are a tribe––an endangered one––with the silly belief that the funny bone must be tickled. Cartooning in India––a Raj legacy––has come a long way from its colonial beginnings and Punch-imitations. Since Independence, newspapers have hosted the bold and often audacious irreverence of the likes of Shankar and R. K. Laxman. Their laconic lines gave the “Common Man” the voice of an honest opinion. This volume presents conversations with India’s leading political cartoonists which take us into that recondite art of political commentating.