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INDIAN   CARTOONISTS   ON   TIBET   COMES   TO AUROVILLE
(By Manu Gopalan | March 16, 2008)

Claude Arpi, the Director of Pavilion of Tibetan Culture lights the inaugural lamp along with Sethu Das and Kalsang, the Coordinator of Pavilion of Tibetan Culture. We keep a minute of silence to pay our respects to all the people that have been killed and injured in the recent rising of Tibet. (Photo: Manu Gopalan)

Auroville: Amidst the strong sights and sounds of a rising Tibet, a small group of people meets today in the international township of Auroville to observe the slow shifts in India's policies on Tibet and China over the last 60 years. I am at the exhibition- 'Indian Cartoonists on Tibet' organised by the 'Pavilion of Tibetan Culture (PTC) and 'Friends of Tibet' (FoT). I see a special mix of Tibetologists, cartoonists, activists, students, Aurovillians and other guests.

Eminent cartoonist Yesudasan from Kerala inspired the idea to put together these political cartoons on Tibet. He sat his son down one day and said - 'All the images that I have seen about Tibet make me cry. Why don't you make people think instead?' Over the following six months that son of his - Sethu Das (Founder of FoT) carefully chose a series of cartoons from many archives.

A volley of cartoons leaps to the wall from Claude's computer. Thoughts and feelings from Claude and Sethu help my group fill the gaps in our heads about Tibetan history and India's policies on China. Many feelings and thoughts are shared. Overall what astounded us the most was the remarkable simplicity with which the cartoonists could translate such a complex issue into a few lines full of meaning.

Cartoonist Shankar, a good friend of Nehru and the father of political cartooning in India, features prominently in the exhibition. His accurate and complete understanding of Nehru's varied faces towards Tibet and China lifted the discussion to another level. He believed that cartoonists must be beyond politics to understand and portray the larger picture.

Over the following moments we browse through several strong cartoon observations about the frozen policies that India has followed on Tibet and wonder; 'is this the same land of Gandhi that swore to fight oppression all around the world in a non-violent manner?'

Humor is a recurring theme through the cartoons. Dr. Hemant Morparia's cartoon titled- 'The Great Mall of China' is one such. You see a monk painting 'TIBET' next to 'FREE' on the front wall of the mall along with other signs that say, '30% OFF', 'SALE' and 'SPECIAL OFFER'. It effectively captures using humor, the new lure of China in the world and the resultant apathy towards the Tibetan cause by the 'free people' of the world.

Mario Miranda captures the smiling image of the His Holiness next to the Potala Palace. The cartoonist implies his peaceful return to Tibet during his lifetime assigning a strong ray of hope to the FREE TIBET campaign.

Nearby the inscription of Dalai Lama's words say as a testament to the times, "No matter what is going around you, never give up".

Indian Cartoonists on Tibet Presentation: CA Kallianpur (National Coordinator, Friends of Tibet), Dr Ramu Manivannan (Chennai University), Sethu Das (President, Friends of Tibet) and Claude Arpi (Director, Pavilion of Tibetan Culture). (Photo by: Catherine Gentric)