Thanks to Ramesh, who included the link to the cartoon and the news item, while commenting on this blog post of mine.
The cartoon is from 1949, and it creates a political controversy now. Sixty-three years later! Because, this cartoon, which is a commentary on the slow pace of the work on a constitution for the newly independent India, was included in a high school textbook!
The cartoonist, K. Shankar Pillai, was a much admired and respected commentator. In the photo albums at my parents' home, there is a photo of my father reading Shankar's Weekly. A neat self-portrait--he had set in the auto-mode and taken that snap .... even as a kid, I, therefore, knew about Shankar's Weekly even though I never read any myself--I was way too late for that party :(
It is, therefore, very disappointing to read the news item; as the paper points out, Shankar Pillai was highly recognized and admired for his work ... no unqualified crankpot he was ...
Every day, I read things like this and wonder what the world has come to, and then I begin to worry that perhaps I am getting old at a rather young age, ready to take over the vacancy that Andy Rooney created with his departure from this world!
Oh well, the only good thing is this: the US is not the only country with crazies. Misery, as they say, loves company :)
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