A. S. SABU

 Political Cartoonist. 

Ex. Cartoonist, Indian Express, The Daily

Arts graduate with PG Diplomas in Journalism and Business Management. Started career with service in the Armed Forces. 10-year stint with the Indian Navy. Served during the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and also served in a Submarine mother ship during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 searching for Pak merchant vessels at sea – a risky operation, prone to counter attack by Pak submarines. Released at the end of tenure. Back as civilian.

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 Out of subsequent career, about 70% was  in management and the rest in journalism as political cartoonist/satirist. Served as staff cartoonist of ‘The Daily’ (a Blitz group publication) and the Indian Express. Freelanced  for the Indian Post, Blitz etc. Last management assignment: Regional Manager in Iraq from 1982-90 during the Iraq-Iran war when Saddam Hussain was  president. Travelled the length and breadth of Iraq. Has in-depth knowledge of Saddam’s plus(pro-poor) and minus (intolerant of dissent) points and how, at the end of Iraq-Iran war, George Bush Jr. deceived him through his Iraqi ambassador, leading to the Kuwait war and to the eventual fall and elimination of Saddam Hussain, the NAM protagonist .

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After completion of the assignment in Iraq, returned to India and quit the stressful management career( managing about 500 workers and staff in three different locations-one 600 km apart- wasn’t an easy job, so also the job prior to that as administrative officer in a manufacturing firm in Thane Mumbai, controlling labour in perennial state of unrest in the ‘70s.) On return from Iraq,  the second career option came handy and  joined The Indian Express Mumbai as staff cartoonist  and did  the front page daily  pocket cartoon ’Eavesdropper’ from 1990 to 1999. Also did a daily pocket cartoon on the business page captioned  ‘Biz-break’. Grateful to the then editor Kamlendra Kanwar who had the  confidence to hire him based on his limited track record. Had he continued with the Express, it  would have been a different story . But destiny  had other plans.

 Being director in a manufacturing company in which he was only an investor, events so happened that he was plucked out of journalism and invested back in management again and  found himself on the MD’s seat as directed by the Board, despite his  not having any such plans! The brief was to revive the loss making, sinking company with his management experience and save the directors, most of whom were personal guarantors, who, besides losing their investment also were facing the prospects of their personal properties being attached by the Revenue Dept. Besides the moral responsibility to save the directors most of whom were his relatives and friends, the fact that he too was in the same boat, rather left him with no choice. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he was left with no option but to send in his resignation letter to Indian Express.

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Thereafter started the tough corporate battle to save the company facing liquidation, as also to save the personal guarantors against the dire prospects facing them. On the opposite side was, besides the lenders KSIDC, ICICI Bank and SBT, all the corporate demons starting with ROC, Official Liquidator, and NCLT. The courts were High Court, EOW (Economic Offences Wing) court and local magistrate courts who have attached the co. property. Arrest warrants issued, bail taken- the whole rigmarole followed.

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 The turmoil eased only in 2013 when one industrialist relative came forward to help by agreeing to purchase the co with all its liabilities and clear all dues. It took another four years to  get  an  order to that effect from the High Court even after settling all the dues under it’s close scrutiny. Another two years it took  to complete the rest of the formalities. It was the first  Ltd Co. in the corporate history of the state of Kerala which was restored to the management by the Official Liquidator, although  the event went unsung.

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 The Company Secretary who handled the case kept saying that the experience should be written into a book which he said would serve as a handbook for all the future entrepreneurs for reference as the matter involved all the arms of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs such as ROC, OL, NCLT and also the judiciary from HC down to the magistrate court, besides all the local govt. offices from Collector, Tahasildar, Sub-Registrar to village office. Thus it took almost twenty long years from 1999 to 2019  for Mr. Sabu to settle all the issues and be free from the corporate battle. After attending to the few minor issues still pending he could return to base in Mumbai,( Thane to be precise), only in March 2020. His creative juices started flowing again, and here he is,  with the  Blog RANDOM THOUGHTS By Eavesdropper- a mix of political cartoons, satires and comment.

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His first introductory Blog  appeared on 7th April ’20 and till  21 Aug 2020, about 30 have been published. Besides 15 satires, over 100 cartoons have been done. It’s available on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram presently. The feedback has been extremely appreciative, save for few discordant notes from  Modi-Bhakt friends, who felt he has been quite harsh on Modiji - their idol. It has been made  clear to them that the cartoonist  has nothing personal against Mr. Narendra Modi or any leader.  But he does have his differences with Mr. Modi the PM. Cartoonists normally tend to take on the ruling dispensation irrespective of which party is in power. It’s just coincidental  Mr. Modi  is in power. He has similarly taken to task all the earlier Prime Ministers starting with Indira Gandhi during his time with The Daily. When he joined Indian Express, Rajiv Gandhi was the PM and Rajiv later lost the elections and was soon assassinated and Narasimha Rao came to power. The difference he finds now is, they all were  more tolerant of dissent vis-à-vis the intolerance and vindictiveness being seen today. Freedom of expression and freedom to disagree is inherent in  and  guaranteed by, the Constitution of India and cannot be and will  not be  compromised in a democracy.

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 Cartoonist Sabu vouches that he doesn’t belong to any party nor does he subscribe to any ideology. A firm believer in true Democracy, good governance and equal justice to all irrespective of caste, creed  religion or region, specially of the millions of have-nots in our country,  are the values he expects every politician to uphold. Those politicians who promise but fail to deliver will certainly be taken to task. They are bounden to serve the people who let them lead the luxurious life at the  cost of the tax payers.  Within the limited reach of an Indian political cartoonist,  he plans to continue to highlight the follies of the powers that be  affecting people’s lives. The intent is not to accuse but to seek  corrections  where called for.

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He believes:

 INDIAN IS A SINGLE ENTITY. ANY ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE THE ENTITY ON THE BASIS OF CASTE, CREED, RELIGION, REGION OR LANGUAGE, FOR POLITICAL GAINS BY SELFISH POLITICIANS WITH THE SOLE AIM OF CAPTURING POWER AT ANY COST, SHOULD BE RESISTED AND DEFEATED BY ALL. IF PEACE IS THREATENED, EVEN THE RICH AND THE POWERFUL WILL FIND IT NOT EASY TO WALK ON THE STREETS OUTSIDE THEIR FORTIFIED MANSIONS. SO PEACE IN A COUNTRY IS AS IMPORTANT AS HEALTH OF A PERSON.  NOTHING ELSE MATTERS IF BOTH ARE DISTURBED. IRAQ AND SYRIA ARE RECENT EXAMPLES. WE DON’T WANT A REPLAY OF THOSE COUNTRIES HERE. ALL RELIGIOUS FANATICS ARE FOREWARNED!