DROP THE CARTOON AND CARRY A PHOTO!

DROP THE CARTOON AND CARRY A PHOTO!
(Please read when you are free)
That’s how my cartoon column with Mail Today ended yesterday. That’s how the editor looked at a cartoon and cartoonist’s opinion. That’s how the editor chose to shut a voice!

The cartoon he rejected was about how China is surrounding India by spreading influence in countries like Maldives and others. The editor said the cartoon is ‘Very defeatist and the China problem is being overplayed’

I thought it’s how a cartoonist looked at the growing influence of China around Indian interests.
So I said it’s debatable and cartoonist’s opinion should be valued.
And in response, he asked the news desk to drop the cartoon and carry a photo.
I have been battling to protect my freedom, to protect the sanctity of a cartoon column, for many days. May be for the editor it’s just three column space, but for a cartoonist it’s a whole world. A world where the cartoonist is free to express his opinion. A world to challenge his own creative boundaries. A world to voice protest, criticise, lament, cheer etc.

-First they rejected a cartoon showing cow saying ‘The editor is not too happy with the cartoon with cow’

-For a cartoon on lynching I received this message ‘There’s a bit of an issue. India Today Group has decided not to come out with any community based cartoons.’

-For one cartoon on Modi, they asked ‘if I can replace Modi’s character with any general BJP character’

-And then ‘ Editor is not comfortable with Muslim angle in the cartoon’

-And  ‘editor didn’t like the demonetisation link with 100% electrification’

-And more of ‘this doesn’t make sense’, ‘this is unacceptable’ etc etc.
(And many of these rejected cartoons were used by  other clients and some of them went viral, shared/retweeted by even many journalists)

It was very difficult to do a cartoon, as too many barriers were installed around me.
Out of desperation, I approached many senior journalist friends for feedback. They sympathised with me, some asked me to wait, some asked me to stay strong.

Giving up is easy in such situation as I’m a freelance cartoonist contributing to other clients too.  I thought I need to fight for my right. I thought I need to do justice to the cartoon space that goes with my name.

But at the end, I was rudely reminded that, that space is owned by the editor, the paper.
And they could just drop my cartoon and carry a photo!

Of course, there’s a strange relief. Now there’s a thought that when I sit to draw a cartoon, I don’t have to worry about, what my editor thinks/says about the cow in the cartoon, lynching in the cartoon, Modi in the cartoon or a Muslim/Hindu guy in the cartoon!

But this humiliating experience is hurting.

As a cartoonist I expect my editor to respect my opinion and also trust the boundaries I have drawn for myself. Cartoonists are not bound to mimic editor’s voice. Cartoonists are supposed to and expected to express independent voice.

Of course, editor is within his right to differ with a cartoon and inform the cartoonist. But he should be open to discuss, without being dictatorial.
My cartoons used to appear in Op-ed page of Mail Today, where I thought some of the columnists enjoyed more freedom than my cartoons!

Luckily I have few other clients, where the editors respect my opinion and trust my cartoons, even when they don’t agree with me. Hope we will have more such large-hearted editors.
And I also have social media, where independent voice gets an audience.

Ironically, the personal website of BJP chief Amit Shah carries most of my cartoons featuring him, many of them are very critical of him!

As famously quoted, when they are asked to bend, they chose to crawl!

This 96-year-old Kerala woman who aced her first exam has become a role model, even for Anand Mahindra | The Indian Express

This 96-year-old Kerala woman who aced her first exam has become a role model, even for Anand Mahindra | The Indian Express

Academic writing

What is Academic writing?

While we read a lot of catchy phrases, exclamatory sentences and weird questions in magazines and daily newspapers, we don’t find the exact style in academic publications though the later gets no less of our attention. The reason behind this difference is that academic writing is meant to be direct and scientific.

We come across different styles of writing every day whether in newspaper, T.V, manuals, or books. Did you notice any differences in those various styles of writing?

Academic Writing Theory:

Scholars have studied the styles and usages of languages regarding the purpose of the language, the speaker or the writer, and of course, the receiver. And each focal point resulted in different theories regarding language and its usage. Regarding the purpose of language, Russian American linguist, Roman Jakobson identified the six usages of language including the referential, poetic, emotive and conative function. Other scholars like I. A. Richards also developed language theory discussing the scientific and the emotive uses of language.

In academic writing scientific use of language is highlighted as it serves the many purposes of informing, solving problems, listing, proving a point of view, or discussing a controversial topic. As a result, when we write an academic essay, we are expected to have done enough research about the topic to come with the conclusions that we state in our writing, and we also expect other people to take our writing as authentic to help them write their own research. That’s the reason that academic scholars and academic writing teachers pay a great deal of attention regarding plagiarism.

To avoid plagiarism, one has to read enough about the topic before writing, and also has to use the different techniques of documentation (footnotes, list of works cited, list of resources, etc.)

Though it may seem that academic writing limits us from depending on emotions or generalizations, however it succeeds in rising interests in things we thought we would never like. It is simply because of the step-by-step style of structure, by which we take the hand of the reader into the area of our topic by using simple words and professional terms.

As I have mentioned the word “reader” in a previous sentence, it is important, first of all, to know the audience. On one hand, when the audience has enough knowledge about the topic, it becomes essential to discuss some new ideas or to cover the topic in a new or surprising perspective. On the other hand, when the audience knows little about the subject, it is better to start with an introduction and explain the basic terms before introducing new and complex ideas.

Knowing the audience helps you select the suitable level of writing ranging between simple, difficult, to more professional, of course regarding the terms, the concepts, and the complexity of sentence structure.

To sum up, academic writing is an authentic style of writing that is based on a valid research on a certain topic. It also includes the logic, direct, and scientific argument as its core. And its language is modified depending on the audience we are addressing. For more details on academic writing, stay tuned for upcoming notes on Digital Cutlet.