These cartoons were drawn two weeks ago but finalizing and uploading the link got delayed due to certain practical problems. But as usual I am not discarding any of those cartoons which might look delayed but nevertheless relevant even today. And also because most of them offer socio-political comments from a common man’s point of view!
One of the reasons for the delay was my going for the first doze of the vaccine jab at a nearby private hospital. The cost of Rs. 250 looked reasonable going by the excellent arrangements at the hospital. A certificate was issued on the spot.( It was Covishield. But we wouldn’t know it till later.) Except for a bit of swelling , the jab didn’t pain and for next 2 days everything looked fine. But then on the third day I did a bit of heavy lifting by way of helping to fit the gas cylinder and next day I was miserable with high discomfort in stomach and feeling extremely weak! I took complete rest even discontinuing daily light exercises for the next whole week till status quo was restored.
The vaccine team doesn’t tell you, but the vaccination does affect your body and it’s better to take complete rest for at least a week/ten days specially by avoiding heavy physical activity. The second doze is scheduled in 6 to 8 weeks as per new protocol (earlier it was 4 weeks). We plan to go for it in 6 weeks which will be around 25 Apr. After the second jab the protection is said to be available to the body in another two weeks. The hope is the certificate of immunity might offer free passage minus travel restrictions! I am keeping my fingers crossed – hoping for the best as always!
In this gap of almost three weeks, majorly two things happened: Advent of the ‘second wave’ and ‘Waze’ the Maharashtrian mystery! The Govt. needn’t panic about the second wave. They shouldn’t add to the misery of citizens by reimposing lock downs or curfews but strictly enforce safety precautions and allow the common man to manage his life. Improve medical infrastructure to take care of those who fall sick and allow others to proceed with their lives. Our govts cannot follow the example of rich European nations who put money into citizen’s bank accounts by direct transfer. Where as our govt is trying to sell govt banks to raise funds. So, asking citizens to sit at home and starve is not the way forward! (In one year of lock down most middle and lower class Indians have exhausted all their reserves and cannot survive by ‘staying home’ any more! So perish the thought!
The Waze cop case defies all conventional logic! A policeman, of all people, plants explosives near Mukesh Ambani residence at mid night!( Nobody knows till today why he did it or at whose behest he did it- no one seems to be in any hurry to find the answer too!) Next day the same policeman is entrusted with the case to ‘investigate’! The cop’s friend, the owner of the car who lent it to him on request is promptly killed to keep his mouth shut! The city police chief who reinstated the cop from suspension in an earlier custodial death case, is transferred by Home Minister and the transferred chief cries foul and accuses the HM (his boss) of being utterly corrupt and calls for his dismissal instead!
Things are getting murkier and bizarre every passing day! It is exposing the underbelly of the police-gangster-politician nexus! All three appear highly corrupt, the only question being who is worse than the other! The stink is such it might even affect the MVA govt if fire-fighting measures are not put in place immediately. But when the firemen themselves are setting it rather than dousing it, the outcome is highly unpredictable! As always we the citizens can only watch on helplessly when democratically ‘elected’ are taking us for a ride! But optimism friends,– the only way forward. It doesn’t cost to be optimistic, so we have all the more reason to be one – isn’t it?! Till next time, bye and Jai Hind!
__PS: For being critical of the ruling dispensation, a hard core Modi-bhakt mocked me on Twitter for doing portraits rather than cartoons.( It is another matter Rahul-Bhakts too abuse me on Twitter on my recent cartoons!) I ignore the comments . It is a technique cartoonists all over the world use when a subject is not so well known or is too low profile. For easy identification of the subject he/she may be drawn with least distortion sometimes too portraitish, rather than writing the name of the person on his/her body. In some cases I too have done it and may continue doing it referring to it as kind of occupational hazard. So long as the message is conveyed, I think it’s ok! The Mukesh Ambani cartoon in this lot is also relevant in another aspect. He is well known. But his caricature renders him mostly unidentifiable. So the safest is a bit of portraiting – which I have resorted to!
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