Attupurathu Mathew Abraham (11 June 1924 – 1 December 2002), pen name ''Abu'', was an Indian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, journalist, and author. In a career spanning 40 years, Abu Abraham worked for various national and international newspapers including ''

The Bombay Chronicle ''The Bombay Chronicle'' was an English language, English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai (then Bombay), started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1845–1915), a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National ...

'', ''

Shankar's Weekly ''Shankar's Weekly'' was an Indian satirical magazine published between 1948 and 1975. It was founded and run by Keshav Shankar Pillai, a pioneering political cartoonist. The magazine has been compared to the UK's '' Punch''. The weekly print ...

'', '' Blitz'', ''Tribune'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' (1956–1966), ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (1966–1969), and ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' (1969–1981). He was a lifelong

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and rationalist.

Early years

Born in Mavelikara, KeralaMark Bryant, ''Fleet Street's Star of India'', History Today, 57(6) pp. 58–59 (June 2007) as the son of A.M. Mathew and Kantamma, Abu started drawing cartoons at the age of 3. After studying French, Mathematics, and English at

University College, Thiruvananthapuram University College, Thiruvananthapuram, often abbreviated as UCT, is a public college situated in Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Established in 1866, it is one of the oldest colleges in Kerala. The college has been accorded "College with Pot ...

(Trivandrum) and being the tennis champion, he graduated in 1945.

Work in London

In 1953, he met Fred Joss of the London ''

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

'', who encouraged him to move to London. At 32, Abu arrived in London in the summer of 1953 and immediately sold cartoons to ''Punch'' magazine and the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet. The ''Sketch'' was Conservative in its politics and populist in its tone during its existence through all its ch ...

'' and started to contribute material to ''Everybodys' London Opinion'' and ''Eastern World'' using the pen name 'Abraham'. In 1956, after two cartoons were published in ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'', he was sent a personal letter by

David Astor Francis David Langhorne Astor (5 March 1912 – 7 December 2001) was an English newspaper publisher, editor of ''The Observer'' at the height of its circulation and influence, and member of the Astor family, "the landlords of New York". Early ...

, the editor of ''

'', the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, offering him a permanent job as its first ever political cartoonist. Astor asked Abu to change his pen name as 'Abraham' would imply a false slant on his cartoons, and so he settled on 'Abu', a schoolboy nickname of his. He was described in ''

'' as "the conscience of the Left and the pea under the princess's mattress". He also produced reportage drawings from around the world. In 1962 in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

he drew

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

and spent three hours in a nightclub with

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

Return to India

He returned to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

with his first wife (Sarojini, from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, who he later divorced) and two daughters, Ayisha and Janaki, in 1969 to work as the political cartoonist on the ''Indian Express'' until 1981. In 1970 he was given a special award by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

for a short film based on Noah's Ark called ''No Arks''. From 1972 until 1978, he was nominated a member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. In 1975

Indian Emergency The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency across the country by citing internal and external threats to the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddi ...

was declared and the freedom of the press was suspended, and Abu fell out of favour with

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

. The direct result of this was the publication of the book ''Games of the Emergency'' in 1977, which contained the political articles and cartoons that he could not print during the Emergency. As well as illustrating other books, other collections of his cartoons were ''Abu on Bangladesh'' (1972), ''Private View'' (1974), and ''Arrivals and Departures'' (1983). He also edited the ''Penguin Book of Indian Cartoons'' (1988). From 1981, Abu worked as a freelancer, syndicating his work to several newspapers and commencing a new strip cartoon, ''Salt and Pepper''. The crow and the elephant in this philosophical strip begin to take over from the political cartoons, according to his daughter Ayisha Abraham. In 1988 Abu moved back to Kerala. He died on 1 December 2002 and was survived by his British-born wife Psyche. His death was marked by a two-minute silence in the Rajya Sabha and he was cremated with full state honours.

References

External links

Abu Abraham bibliography at WorldCatAbu Abraham's cartoons at the British Cartoon Archive
dated 2 November 2003.

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Abu Indian atheists Indian editorial cartoonists Malayali people Writers from Kerala 1924 births 2002 deaths University College Thiruvananthapuram alumni People from Alappuzha district Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha