Superb Political Cartoonists

Publication of a couple of cartoons has a great impact on my blog readers around the world. They just loved it.

However, in this post, I am not being egoistic.

There are several superb political cartoonists in the world.

When in India, I would never miss the cartoons of Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman, the equally famous brother of the late R. K. Narayan, the superb writer born in Madras (Chennai) in 1906, who died a short while ago in his home, in Mysore. Their father was the headmaster of a school in Mysore.

Laxman's cartoon series called "The Common Man" has been around for over 50 years. When I lived in India, they were on the front page daily in the Times of India. It was usually just amall rectangle, while once a week he had a larger sized one. They were powerful statements. It was the first thing I used to get to in the newspaper when I woke up, even before I turned to the sport's page.

The picture below is of the main hero of the cartoon, The Common Man, who would be standing in the corner of the cartoon, just observing the situation and saying nothing.



This ancient cartoon by Laxman is one which is timeless. With the present tragedies of the tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina and right to the present earthquake tragedy in the Kashmir, it still tells us much about the politics behind disasters.



I really missed the political cartoons when I first came to Finland. Then I discovered that our local newspaper, Kaleva, had a political cartoonist which ranks among the best in the world, despite the fact that his language of communication may be Finnish with a limited audience.

I thought that this cartoon, which has a very simple caption, translated as "Bush's Nose", which appeared last week was one of his best:.



And this one from Jari, which I saved from December 2002, is probably one which is as topical today as it was when it was first published:



Life would be boring without political cartoonists.

Viva les Cartoonists!