A Man Who Provokes Us To Think

Known to be one of the leading cartoonists of India, his work had the power to make us think in various ways. His merciless attacks on corruption in the arena of politics along with some of the most catchy punchlines makes him one of the revered personality in the history of Indian cartooning.

Abu Abraham: The Legendary Cartoonist; Image Source: Rediff

After reading the newspaper, we suddenly realise that Kishore Da's songs and that sweet cup of tea did nothing at all to ease up the tension which has been bubbling in our hearts after seeing those horrible images of crime. You must have heard your elders saying, "Aaj kal newspapers mein kaisi kaisi khabrein chaapte hain! Pehle toh aisi cheezein nahi hua karti thi. Na jaane humaare desh ko aaj kya ho gaya hai?" To calm our anxiety, when we suddenly find that one section we have been searching for, a sigh of relief escapes our mouth.

Perhaps, this is why they say, "Cartoons add special value to newspapers. That is why, despite advances in photography and animation technologies, cartoons still command their place in newspapers. Cartoons in newspapers as a form of expression. Cartoons have an ever-lasting impact on the minds of readers. They are such effective communicators that in a few lines, they describe the most important event of the day."

One such cartoonist whose cartoons find their way in almost all the popular newspapers of India as well as abroad, including The Bombay Chronicle, Shankar's Weekly, Blitz, Tribune, The Observer, The Guardian, and The Indian Express, whose creative cartoons could make people laugh and forced them to think at the same time, he is none other than Attupurathu Mathew Abraham.

Born in Mavelikara, a small taluk in Kerala, he was the only son of A.M. Mathew and Kantamma. An ardent fan of cartoons, he started drawing cartoons at the age of three. Though his interest lied in the world of cartoons, he went on study French, Mathematics, and English at the University College in Thiruvananthapuram. After his graduation in 1945, he shifted to Bombay and worked as a journalist in The Bombay Chronicle, at the same time, contributing to other newspapers like The Bombay Sentinel, Blitz, and Bharat. Later on, he was invited by K. Shankar Pillai to work in Shankar's Weekly in Delhi.

It was the year 1953 when he met Fred Joss from the London Star, who encouraged him to move to London, where his artistic talents would receive real appreciation. As soon as Abu reached London, he immediately sold his cartoons to Punch Magazine and the Daily Sketch. At the same time, he also contributed to Everybody's London Opinion and Eastern World with his pen name 'Abraham'. After two of his cartoons were published in The Tribune, the editor of The Observer, David Astor, sent him a personal letter, asking him to join as a permanent political cartoonist in their newspaper. Astor also asked him to change his pen name to Abraham as it would come off as a false slant on his cartoon and as a result, Abraham decided to stick with his childhood nickname, Abu.

It was not easy for a person who lived in India for thirty-two years, to absorb the British culture. But Abu did it and his incisive political cartoons fetched him a lot of popularity. He was described as "the conscience of the Left and the pea under the princess's mattress", by The Tribune.

Along with political cartoons, Abu also drew reportage drawings from all around the world. In 1692, he drew Che Guevara while in Cuba and also spent around three hours with Fidel Castro in a nightclub. Yet again in 1968, he edited Verdicts on Vietnam, a collection of cartoons about the Vietnam War.

After returning to India with his wife and both daughters, he started working as a political cartoonist in Indian Express. He was also awarded by the British Film Institute for a short film named No Arks. Later on, he was also nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha. When Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in 1975 and suspended the freedom of the press, Abu's relation with her too fell out of favour. As a result, Abraham published a book named Games of the Emergency which consisted of political articles and cartoons that showed the real face of Emergency. Along with Games of the Emergency, he also published several other books titled Abu on Bangladesh, Private View, Arrivals and Departures, and Penguin Book of Indian Cartoons.

After working for several years in various newspapers, Abraham started working as a freelancer and also started his new comic strip, Salt and Pepper. The main characters of Salt and Pepper were a crow and an elephant and with time, the political view vanished from it. It was on 1 December 2002 that Abu took his last breath in his hometown in Kerala. He was cremated with full state honours and a two-minute silence was observed in the Rajya Sabha to mark his death.