KOCHI: “Can you tell me the names of some young cartoonists?” asked Ravi Shankar Etteth, columnist, cartoonist, and consulting editor of The New Indian Express to the students of Sacred Heart, Thevara, during the ongoing centenary celebrations of ‘Malayalam Cartoon’. The students managed to come up with the name of Seerow Unni, a Kochi-based cartoonist.
Ravi Shankar nodded and said that young cartoonists are very few and we are living at a time when cartoon as an art is losing its relevance all across the country. “We have only had seven to eight significant cartoonists at the national level, till 2000,” he said. “After that, we saw no one reach that level. Post-Independence India had a lot of angry people as we were rising back from oppression and a colonial hangover. The anger has gone down, the hunger to express and the hunger to communicate has gone down. The best cartoonist is an angry man or woman.”
Later, Ravi Shankar, along with eminent cartoonist P Sukumar, inaugurated the three-day ‘cartoon conclave’. Around 50 young cartoonists will participate and there will be live cartoon drawing, exhibitions, interactive sessions, a session to honour renowned cartoonists and a debate on rebuilding post-flood Kerala.
Cartoon Academy secretary Sudheer Nath and Babu Joseph, Director, School of Communication, SH College were present.
While addressing the students, principal Fr. Prasanth Palakkappally said, “As a group, we Malayalees have few original thoughts. It’s all mimicking and people, including me, struggle on this front. The fact that we use words from various languages to express ourselves rather than our native Malayalam goes to show a lot. I would encourage a change.”
The platinum jubilee celebrations of the college started with the week-long functions, ‘Pride of the Nation Week’. It will be followed by ‘Gandhi Smrithi’, ‘Chavara Memorial Lecture’, ‘Heartians for Healthy Heart’ health programme, NCC platinum jubilee special programme, and a wildlife programme.