Abu Abraham: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = [[Mavelikara]], Kerala[[Travancore]], [[British India]]

'''Attupurathu Mathew Abraham''' ({{lang-ml|അട്ടുപുറത്ത് മാത്യു ഏബ്രഹാം}}; 11 June 1924 – 1 December 2002), pen name ''Abu'', was an Indian [[cartoonist]], journalist, and author. He wasIn a lifelongcareer [[atheist]] and [[rationalist]].<ref>"Hisspanning strongest40 themeyears, asAbu IndiaAbraham sankworked fasterfor intovarious factionalnational and religiousinternational politics,newspapers hadincluding remained''[[The adherenceBombay toChronicle]]'', the''[[Shankar's originalWeekly]]'', vision''[[Blitz of(newspaper)|Blitz]]'', Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru for a wholly secular state: Abu was a rationalist and atheist." Michael McNay''Tribune'', 'Obituary:'[[The Abu AbrahamObserver]]'' (1956–1966), ''[[The Guardian]]'' (1966–1969), 7and December''[[The 2002,Indian Pg.Express]]'' 26(1969–1981).</ref>

Born in [[Mavelikara]], Kerala<ref name="Bryant">Mark Bryant, ''Fleet Street's Star of India'', History Today, '''57'''(6) pp. 58–59 (June 2007)</ref> as the son of A.M. Mathew and Kantamma, Abu started drawing cartoons at the age of 3. After studying French, Mathematics, and English at [[University College, Thiruvananthapuram]] (Trivandrum) and being the tennis champion, he graduated in 1945.<ref name="Bryant"/> He moved to [[Mumbai|Bombay]] where he became a journalist in ''[[Bombay Chronicle]]'' and its sister paper, ''The Bombay Sentinel'' while contributing cartoons to ''Blitz'' and ''Bharat''. In 1951, he was invited by [[K. Shankar Pillai]], one of India's best known cartoonists at the time, to move to New Delhi to work in ''Shankar's Weekly''.

In 1953, he met Fred Joss of the London ''[[The Star (London1888)|Star]]'', who encouraged him to move to London.<ref name="Bryant">Mark Bryant, ''Fleet Street's Star of India'', History Today, '''57'''(6) pp. 58–59 (June 2007)</ref> At 32, Abu arrived in London in the summer of 1953 and immediately sold cartoons to [[Punch (magazine)|''Punch'' magazine]] and the ''[[Daily Sketch]]'' and started to contribute material to ''Everybodys' London Opinion'' and ''Eastern World'' using the pen name 'Abraham'.<ref name="Bryant"/> In 1956, after two cartoons were published in ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]'', he was sent a personal letter by [[David Astor]], the editor of ''[[The Observer]]'', the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, offering him a permanent job as its first ever political cartoonist. Astor asked Abu to change his pen name as 'Abraham' would imply a false slant on his cartoons, and so he settled on 'Abu', a schoolboy nickname of his.<ref name="Bryant"/>

Abu immersed himself in British culture and produced incisive political cartoons. He was described in ''[[The Guardian]]'' as "the conscience of the Left and the pea under the princess's mattress".<ref name="Bryant"/> He also produced reportage drawings from around the world. In 1962 in [[Cuba]] he drew [[Che Guevara]] and spent three hours in a nightclub with [[Fidel Castro]].<ref name="Bryant" />

He returned to [[India]] with his first wife (Sarojini, from [[Tamil Nadu]], who he later divorced) and two daughters, AyshaAyisha and Janaki, in 1969 to work as the political cartoonist on the ''Indian Express'' until 1981. In 1970 he was given a special award by the [[British Film Institute]] for a short film based on [[Noah's Ark]] called ''No Arks''.<ref name="Bryant" /> From 1972 until 1978, he was nominated a member of the [[Rajya Sabha]], the upper house of the Indian Parliament.<ref name="Bryant" />

In 1975 [[Indian Emergency (1975 - 77)|Indian Emergency]] was declared and the freedom of the press was suspended, and Abu fell out of favour with [[Indira Gandhi]]. The direct result of this was the publication of the book ''Games of the Emergency'' in 1977, which contained the political articles and cartoons that he could not print during the Emergency. As well as illustrating other books, other collections of his cartoons were ''Abu on Bangladesh'' (1972), ''Private View'' (1974), and ''Arrivals and Departures'' (1983). He also edited the ''Penguin Book of Indian Cartoons'' (1988).<ref name="Bryant" />

*[httphttps://www.guardiantheguardian.co.ukcom/video/page/0,,2080893,00.html No Arks, animation film written by Abu Abraham]

*[http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/search/cartoon_item/abu?artist=Abu%20Abraham Abu Abraham's cartoons at the British Cartoon Archive]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051120190033/http://www.flonnet.com/fl1926/stories/20030103003110100.htm Frontline Archives]

*[http://www.cartoonistsindia.com/htm/homage.htm Homage from Indian Institute of Cartoonists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926002212/http://www.cartoonistsindia.com/htm/homage.htm |date=26 September 2017 }}

[[Category:PeopleWriters from Kerala]]

[[Category:University College TrivandrumThiruvananthapuram alumni]]