By Neeta Omprakash

HUMOUR adds spice to life and in this age of fast food, spices have special significance in the culinary industry. Everybody can laugh but only few can make others laugh, cartoon is a strange combination of seriousness and humour. An essential quality expected in a cartoonist apart from the sense of humour is the intelligence to analyse a situation objectively and generalise it to be presented in an art form. He needs to be an alert critic. Many cartoonists misunderstand the profession; they feel it is to create humour by distorting figures and add lengthy lines which ultimately make no sense. A dilemma of a cartoonist is that he can neither be considered a poet nor an artist although he has the basic knowledge/talent of both fields.
"The best cartoon is the one which conveys the message with minimum details and without any words," opines octogenarian cartoonist Mr Mangesh Tendulkar, who held an exhibition of his cartoons at KA from March 9 to 12, 2010. He pointed out one such example: "Human nature where, suddenly, animal instinct surfaces." He shows this aspect of human nature with just a row of foot prints of man that suddenly change to that of an animal’s and again to man’s and part of the leg is seen towards the end. A similar message is conveyed in the cartoon where Hitler sees his mirror reflection as Gandhi and vice-versa. He says, "Every human being has two sides, some times when Gandhi commits a mistake he is disturbed to see ‘Hitler’ within him, and when Hitler does a good deed he is equally disturbed to see ‘Gandhi’ surfacing from his personality." ‘Good and evil are present in every man’ is a common observation but to be putting it in this manner needs a cartoonist like Mr Tendulkar.

PARABLE

THE process of creation was answered with a parable, he says, "There are fishermen who catch fishes with different methods and one among them is to stand still in the shallow water and wait for an unaware fish to come close and catch it within in the spur of a moment. Exactly like an unaware fish, the ideas travel and I catch them." Probably because of this attitude, the range of subject matter in his cartoons encompasses many facets of life. His keen observation of people around him transforms into humorously satirical cartoons.

Political cartoons, social satires and portraits of politicians and celebrities are common features of cartoons which are seen even in Mr. Tendulkar’s exhibition, but a rare aspect of his exhibits is the poetic touch: ‘A squirrel travels from one tree to the other on the sound waves created by a bird’s chirping.’ He lends his brush even to some incidences which touch his heart or let the tears role down even if he has to go beyond the conventional definition of cartoons. The news of ornithologist Dr Salim Ali’s death disturbed him to such an extent that he was unable to create any cartoon. He was contributing to a newspaper at the time so he let the pathos flow into paper by showing a bird crying - a cartoon which was not part of this exhibition.
He reflects upon the deteriorating political situation where the distinction between a criminal and politician is becoming a difficult task. One of his cartoons has a punch line "DNA test cannot distinguish between a politician and a criminal."

Having asked why there are no punchy political cartoons analysing critical situations in the nation, he replied, "A political cartoon is never published by newspapers as every newspaper belongs to some politician. The editor is concerned about his salary. I do not want to be a mouth-piece of any political party. All politicians are the same, whether they belong to the ruling party or to the opposition. This particular cartoon which comments on politicians (it shows a criminal being taken to jail and he says to the police "Be careful you are talking to a future minister") was not published by all newspapers. During the elections, I personally stood with this cartoon at every public meeting at the entrance. Almost all the politicians saw it. The newspapers published my photograph holding a cartoon and standing at the entrance, but not the cartoon."

ROLE MODEL

THE determination to speak the truth and bring reality to the focus of the public is the job of a cartoonist. Mr Tendulkar’s idol is Shankar Pillai, editor of Shankar’s Weekly, which was published in the 1950s. He was well known for his fiery lines and, because of that, he was always kept at a distance by politicians. He still remembers one cartoon which created a lasting impression on his mind and kindled the cartoonist in him. "Shankar showed Vinoba Bhave giving a talk to the dacoits of MP where the CM Sampurnanand was also present in the audience. The dacoit sitting next to him feels restless seeing a new face and whispers ‘I operate from MP, where do you operate from?’ I am sure Mr Sampurnanand must have seen that cartoon. Such punches like that of Mike Tyson were seen only in his cartoons."

Many of Mr Tendulkar’s cartoons at the first instance appear very simple but they have in depth understanding of contemporary life situations and human nature. He says, "With age, vision has become clearer. It doesn’t matter whether any body criticises or appreciates and only because of this I can express myself more truthfully." He talks about the evolution and adaptability of all living creatures to its habitat. He feels due to the contemporary man’s attitude of ‘giving more importance to the material things and neglecting human emotions and feelings’ he might have to develop some adaptability features to suit the habitat created around the material world. In his cartoon, he shows HMV’s gramophone having a antique value for sale, but the dog on their logo goes astray. But he is also optimistic that before the situation becomes worse, man’s conscience will prick him, make him repent and search within for human values. He is of the opinion that our culture has strong roots, which will certainly help in valuing human feelings more than the material world.

Through his cartoons, he always makes an attempt to caution professionals of the danger in identifying oneself with the profession. He strongly believes that the profession overpowers at one stage and moulds the thinking/personality of the person. He cites one example: "A press photo journalist who witnesses a crime being committed prefers to click a photo rather than help the victim." He shows such situations in his cartoons where ‘A lady working on the computer turns into a computer, a housewife picks up her hot tempered husband with a kitchen pincer and holds him under a running tap of water. An orthopaedic surgeon mends his broken chair with the help of a bone."

Apart from the wisdom which is expressed in a humorous form, one can also appreciate the artistic qualities of his cartoons, especially the plastic quality of bold sweeping lines, minimum use of colours, compositional aspect and space management. Quite a few of his cartoons can be considered paintings. His lines have the potential to catch the inner quality of the personality, be it Asha Bhonsle’s eternal smile on her face or the cruelty in the eyes of Narayan Rane.

Even at the age of 80, Mr Tendulkar creates cartoons regularly. I wondered about the motivation which sustained his interest for decades, in spite of the fact that there is not much monetary benefit (he does not sell his cartoons during exhibitions. Only those cartoons which are published in the newspapers are paid). The question remained unanswered as even he didn’t have an answer!

He is always overwhelmed to exhibit in Goa because he feels Goan viewers have an eye for art and a mind to understand the satire in his cartoons.