Abu Abraham (11/6/1924 – 1/12/2002)
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I’ll be truthful and tell you that for a long time, I hadn’t heard of him, but then if an Indian cartoonist stays abroad half his professional life and his Indian stint expires before you are old enough to appreciate cartoons, then unless you seek them out, you don’t get to see their work.
When I sought out Abu Abraham‘s work, I was immediately drawn to it for its candor and courage. His lines are super-simple, almost childlike; but his lines are witty. His work hit the politicians where it hurt – so at the time of emergency (that was 1975) Mrs. Indira Gandhi wasn’t too comfortable with his cartoons that brought out the then prime minister’s hypocrisy. (The works he did in those days were compiled into “Games of Emergency.“) This could’ve been the reason why for the next twenty years, he didn’t draw much for Indian Newspapers and worked mainly as a freelancer.
Among other things that makes me put Abu Abraham on my list of favorites is his philosophy of life. He was an atheist and so was his wife Psyche who passed away almost a decade later.
Read about Abu Abraham at the Guardian website here.
