CARTOON JOURNALISM

                Whenever I browse through a newspaper the first thing that draws my  attention is the cartoon on the front page which takes a critical view of the Government's policy or people's life style or the existing evils of society. During my student days I felt delighted looking at the humorous cartoons of famous cartoonist R.K.Laxman on the pages of The Times of India. Laxman's Common man with his ubiquitous presence at every awkward situation with a mocking or frowning expression evoked laughter everywhere. Similarly, cartoonist Mario Miranda's cartoons and his cartoon character Miss Nimbupani was equally famous in the 1980s. The defunct magazine, The Illustrated Weekly of India gave prominent place to late Miranda's caricatures through sketches. This apart, I had also enjoyed the cartoons of Shankar in The Shankar's Weekly and those of The Punch magazines of London, now defunct and used to get insight about various socio-political issues. 

                   The popular saying  that a picture is worth a thousand words may be a cliche, but contains a grain of truth in it. A cartoon criticises  wrong policies, lampoons or ridicules  politicians and lambastes the  people lacking civic senses . So cartoonists with their concerted efforts have given birth to a new branch of journalism which can be called cartoon journalism that wakes up sluggards and ignoramus of a democratic set-up from their reverie .

( Writer - Dr. Pradeep Kumar Nayak )