Abu Abraham: Drawing the Line

ABU ABRAHAM was an all-rounder, equally good at writing and speaking as he was with his cartoons in which humour competed with satire. His entertaining reviews of Hindi films (and sometimes those of movies destined to be­come as iconic as Rashomon) in Shankar’s Weekly were suffused with his characteristic wit and tongue-in-cheek comments that were intrinsic to his political cartoons. While he never stopped writing, be it in the London-based papers he had worked for early on or in local dailies, until his death in 2002, the line often overtook the word. It was his sketches and cartoons that made him a cult figure in India and beyond.

An exhibition now on in the national capital (until November 19) in the centenary year of his birth— titled Abu’s World 1924-2002 — is as much a celebration of his oeuvre as an editorial cartoonist as it is a recollection of a time when the high and mighty were mocked in the same fashion as one applied the law: without fear or favour.

Many of his writings are not included in this exhibition, which lays emphasis on his life as cartoonist, based mostly in London and Delhi. And yet there are some of them on display (those written from 1952 to 1953) that offer us a peek into the genius of the man and his craft. Of his TV interviews, which were conducted in the early 1970s while he was still working with the Indian Express after returning from London in 1969, only one is available for viewing at this event. It isn’t the fault of the organisers: the remaining interviews, mostly interactions with the heads of states and dignitaries, that he had done for Doordarshan, the national broadcaster, are unfortunately lost forever because the video tapes were taped over. “Back then, the idea of archiving wasn’t perhaps seen as crucial,” notes Abu’s daughter, Janaki Abraham, professor of sociology at Delhi School of Economics, who, along with her older sister, artist and filmmaker Ayisha Abraham, collaborated with others to put together this exhibition. They were assisted in this effort by Kerala Lalithakala Akademi.

The exhibition Abu’s World 1924-2002 is as much a celebration of Abu Abraham’s oeuvre as an editorial cartoonist as it is a recollection of a time when the high and mighty were mocked in the same fashion as one applied the law: without fear or favour

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To make the viewing of Abu’s body of work less cumber­some, considering its volume, the organisers have introduced categories, starting with The Early Years 1924–1953, which describes his birth in erstwhile Travancore (now part of Kerala), his early obsessions, exposure to the national move­ment led by Gandhi, his relocations, including for studies (to Trivandrum) and for work to Bombay where in 1946 he joined the prestigious newspaper, The Bombay Chronicle. His editor at the time, Syed Abdullah Brelvi, had strong ties with nationalist leaders, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and others. When the editor’s personal secretary went on leave on two occasions, Abu stepped in to fill the person’s shoes, writing letters to nationalists, much to the delight of the young journalist-cartoonist.

Abraham, who signed his cartoons with just his surname ‘Abraham’ in his early phase, shifted base to Delhi after Bombay, working for Shankar’s Weekly, which at the time was often compared with the UK’s Punch. It was while he was at this media outlet working with its founder Keshav Shankar Pillai, who revolutionised political cartooning in India, that he got an opportunity to move to London. Encouraged by Fred Joss, a British cartoonist, Abraham soon set sail for London (cap­tured under the category of The London Years 1953–1969 in the show). Soon, he was commissioned to draw cartoons by Malcolm Muggeridge, the then editor of Punch. After freelanc­ing for more than two years, which included drawing car­toons for the weekly journal Tribune in London, he was hired full-time by the editor of The Observer, David Astor, as a staff cartoonist. This was in 1956, when Abraham was contemplat­ing returning to India. But plans changed, and he continued to work for them for the next 10 years. It was in this newspaper that his signature Abraham became just ‘Abu’.

THERE IS A STORY behind it. Abu recalled that Astor wanted him to look for a pseudonym because any Abraham in Europe would be taken for a Jew, which also would mean that his work would acquire a slant in the eye of the reader. These were turbulent times in the Middle East and Abraham rechristened himself as Abu starting April of 1956, over 10 years after he began cartooning.

He travelled widely in this period, visiting Palestinian refugees in their camps after the Six-Day War and meeting Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Havana, Cuba. His drawings from the time—of ordinary people and those who reshaped history—are evocative of a time that saw massive post-World War II political churning across the world. He continued to travel over the next few years, visiting Vietnam and Bangladesh to create cartoons based on his impressions of war and devastation in those places.

On display at the exhibition is also his animation film titled Noah’s Ark (1969), which offers a satirical take on geopolitical

shifts. This was also the time when Abu returned to India as the Grand Old Party of India went through splits. Early challenges to the Congress party’s dominance were evident in several parts of the country. His cartoons from this period saw Indira Gandhi as a recurring motif along with other tall leaders of the Congress. The cartoon that occupied pride of place in the exhibition (especially for a generation that has either watched or read about the Emer­gency) is one created by Abu for the Indian Express that shows then president of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, inside a bathtub twisting to turn towards the bathroom door where a hand holds out a sheaf of papers for him to sign. The president in the cartoon says, “If there are any more ordinances, just ask them to wait.” This cartoon went on to become perhaps the most haunting and timeless piece of satire on Indira Gandhi’s Emergency (1975– 1977) and her mad rush to get ordinances passed.

Notably, Abu was caustic in his cartoons on the political situation during Emergency though he was nominated by the government of the day to the Rajya Sabha in 1972. He refused to be coopted to serve the interests of those in power and instead remained vehement in his criticism of the poli­cies of the government that suspended civil liberties and imposed stringent restrictions of freedom of expression and movement of the people. The period also saw unprecedented incarcerations of political opponents of Indira Gandhi. At the show, those cartoons fall under the category called The Games of Emergency.

The next section, titled Arrivals and Departures, comprises cartoons Abu had created during the rise of the first non-Congress opposition to power at the Centre, their fall, the return of Indira Gandhi and the rise of Hindutva politics that championed the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. By 1981, Abu had started freelancing again. One stunning cartoon from that phase features the major national leaders of the late 1980s: VP Singh chanting “Mandali­ty”, LK Advani favouring “Mandirity”, Rajiv Gandhi promising “Stability” and Chandrasekhar who is without any such slogans suggesting “ideas invited”. It captured the political sentiment of the time in which Singh reposed his faith for his political revival on the implementation of the Mandal Commission Report; Advani on building the Ram temple in Ayodhya and Rajiv Gandhi on stability, the Congress’ poll tagline of the time.

The exhibition includes his takes on regional politicians, including MG Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu, Sheikh Abdullah of Jammu and Kashmir, and various others. Abu continued to entertain and critique political trends of the time through his cartoons and articles that also appeared in languages other than English. Forever obsessed with politics, a quote by him at the exhibition is remarkable indeed. It says, “Lately, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing non-political in the world. Politics is simply anything that is controversial and everything in the world is controversial.”

Another category called War and Peace presents Abu’s scathing takes on armed conflicts, international and those in the neighbourhood, featuring dramatis personae who presided over the destinies of people in these events.

To me personally, although line overtook the word in his life and career, Abu’s brevity, vision and grasp of events and people was evident early on when he worked with Shankar’s Weekly. In his review of Rashomon, a film by the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, he wrote, “Rashomon is a murder mystery. But it is different from all others in that it is the only mystery that remains so even after the end. The philosophy of the film is that truth, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.” He goes on, “The clever narration and the intelligent use of the camera and music heighten the suspense and the dramatic quality of the film. It should provide a lesson to Indian direc­tors who seek to create suspense by suspending the heroine from the gallows for the hero to rescue her.”

Abu was caustic in his cartoons on the political situation during Emergency though he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1972. He refused to be coopted to serve the interests of those in power and instead remained vehement in his criticism of the government’s policies

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Abu, who was not yet 30 at the time he wrote this review, wasn’t afraid of offending anyone, especially those obsessed with Western movies. “The performances of the main play­ers are of a very high order. There may be people who would find the acting somewhat ‘stylised’. But that is when one judges it by Western standards, particularly as set by the USA and Brit­ain. The acting (the whole production, in fact) is in keeping with oriental traditions and the atmosphere of the age (9th century) in which the story takes place. This is really its distinc­tion.” He concludes, “Rashomon is an artistically and intellectually stimulating film which cannot be estimated by conventional standards. It probably provides the starting point for a new era in screen technique.”

When Abu left London to return to Delhi in 1969, an article appeared in a British paper, titled ‘Goodbye to Abu’, which said, “What is England’s loss will, it is true, be India’s gain. But it is a bleak thought that his acid wit and those thin, but feeling lines, will no longer be gracing the pages of this paper…”

This exhibition offers viewers insights into the great artist that Abu Abraham was. For those who have known him as a virtuoso, this event strengthens their convictions about the man who made us proud in distant shores. For others, this show of his cartoons and drawings is an opportunity to learn about a gifted son of India who was famously unassuming and tended to be self-effacing in real life.

(Abu’s World (1924-2002): An exhibition of Abu Abraham’s Work in his Centenary Year is on display at India International Centre, Delhi, till November 19)

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