Another world beckons

KOTTAYAM: It is said that celebrated cartoonist Toms, who died on Wednesday night at the age of 86,  came with a dog,  a girl and a boy and captured the imagination of the people through his subtle sketches and real life portraits of rural  life laced with humour and satire. Through his immortal characters, the water-filled central Travancore region of Kuttanad found a permanent place in the cartoonscape of our times,  similar to England’s  fictional village of Wessex portrayed by  Thomas Hardy in his novels and  Malgudi  of  R.K. Narayan’s stories.   The  village of Keezhkamthookku panchayat created by Toms was modelled on  Wessex and  Malgudi.

Toms gave   the distinctive features and peculiarities of Kuttanad a cult status through his cartoons ‘Bobanum Mollyum,’  ‘Unnikuttan’ and  ‘Mr Kunju’  thereby popularising a new genre of satiric story telling through sketches. His characters were earthy in name and form and imbibed the smell, spirit and mannerisms of rural Kuttanad.   Boban, Molly, Motta, Nethavu, Pothan Vakil, Ammachi, Ittunnan(as panchayt president, Magistrate Mariya, Appy Hippy, Ashan, Unnikuttan, Mandoos among others remain unforgettable.

His acerbic and light-hearted social criticisms were similar to that of Kunjan Nambiar and Sanjayan, the  kings of satire in Malayalam. Though Malayali cartoonists such as Shankar, Abu Abraham and O.V. Vijayan earned international fame,   Toms remained rooted to the soil of Kerala never venturing outside for professional means. Noted cartoonist Yesudasan praised him for his  “inimitable style of cartooning.”

“In our times, the editors of the publishing houses wanted to create a replica of the cartoons of Toms. But his style and character depiction were beyond imitation,”  he told DC.   Mr Thomas Jacob,  editorial director of Malayala Manorama, said:   “Though Kerala had many  political cartoonists, Toms gained the most popularity for his social cartoons which were  full of political issues. His  cartoons  were timely and he was successful in capturing the moods and habits of Keralites.  Even after the passage of many years, the cartoons maintained their relevance thereby lending them  the status of a classic.”

Kerala Cartoon Academy Chairman Prasannan Aanikkad said,  “he created a new world with his cartoons.” Toms used to share with DC his experiences of  growing up in Veliayanad in Kuttanad and his initial inspiration from  the cartoons of his elder brother Peter Toms who died a few months back. “He was my role model, and it is from him I learned the basic lessons of cartoons,”  Toms told DC a year back.

He admired R.K. Lakshman and drew  cartoons with the brushes and later switched over to sketches.   He began his career as a freelancer and then joined Malayala Manorama as an assistant editor.  After he retired as cartoonist, he waged a legal battle for  the ownership of his cartoons. Later,  he started his own Toms publishing house in Kottayam where he published the new
stories of his old cartoon characters.