When the chips are down, what do we do? Some of us would drown our sorrows in tissue restoratives. Some would watch a movie. Some would curl up in bed with one of the anti-depressant narratives of P G Wodehouse. Some others would reach out to their bookshelves, shake the dust off a book of cartoons, and soak in the wit and humour embedded therein.
One of the cartoonists I have always admired is Sudhir Dar. For many years, every morning, it used to be a delight to look up what was in store on the front page of The Hindustan Times. These were invariably timely, uproariously funny and highly pungent. Amidst the plethora of gloomy happenings – a gang rape, a murder, a scandal and what not – his cartoons, published under a caption ‘This is it!’, never failed to lift one’s spirits.
Here are some of his cartoons which continue to be as relevant and apt today as they were when published originally.
These cartoons continue to serve life with its sunny side up and help many amongst us to retain our sanity in these turbulent times.
(Source: The Best of Sudhir Dar, Penguin Books)
(Related Posts:
https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/this-is-it-part-2
https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2013/10/15/the-inimitable-r-k-laxman
https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/the-inimitable-r-k-laxman-2-0
https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/some-management-lessons-from-mario-miranda
https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/of-secretaries-and-the-inimitable-miss-fonseca)
ashokbhatia 
Mr. Bhata has the knack of selecting the intelligent humour which we often pass over. His comments about them are so pertinent that they are no less entertaining. A connoisseur of humour he never falls short of the mark to his readers. We are priveledged to read his blogs.
The cartoons above are so well selected to prove my point.
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Thanks, Lopa, for your kind words. One merely endeavors to provide satisfaction, as Jeeves would put it.
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Wodehouse and comic strips are two of the tissue restoratives I reach for first:) These are great!
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They aren’t of course real tissue restoratives – I incorrectly co opted the use of that word (pardon me Wodehousians!)
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Thank you for having unwittingly broadened the definition of the term tissue restoratives!
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Thank you. There are so many others of his which I still remember after a gap of almost 25 years!
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Good cartoons are such an integral part of life and morning is just lifts our soul and we are ready for the day’s task with vigor.
Lovely post!!!
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Glad you enjoyed it!
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Reblogged this on ashokbhatia and commented:
Our pollution blues keep aggravating year after year. Our politicos keep coming up with innovative ideas to regale us with their antics. A cleanliness drive for our attitudes and our civic sense is much overdue.
Amidst all this chaos and disorder, those who keep dishing out a dose of humour keep our spirits high, our hopes soaring and our faith in humanity alive and kicking!
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The post reminded me of my schooldays in Delhi. We used to get Hindustan Times and every morning I would quickly see ‘This Is It’ before going to school. Thank you for sharing the cartoon strips.
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Welcome. It was the same for me. While rushing to office, one would feel fortified to face the day after having seen one of his works on the front page of HT!
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To indulge in one humourist on the lever of another perhaps presupposes a benign bent of mind- and I realise humour is one realm devoid of schisms. Any dark cloud and a puff of humour- and it is sunshine again. Since you have the inclination to sift, compare and highlight- can we ask for more?
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Sure. Besides Part 2 of ‘This is it!’, there are posts related to the uplifting works of R K Laxman, Mario Miranda and Dennis the Menace on the blog site. In case you need specific links, please let me know. Thank you for your kind comment!
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Brilliant ! Is there any book by Mr. Dar that I can buy and keep in my collection ? Let me check in Amazon. Really fascinating ! Rgrds
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I have one in my collection: This is it! I am sure there will be many others. His cartoons used to cheer up all the readers of The Hindustan Times every single day quite a few years back. I fondly remember many of these.
During a short period in one of the years, many flights landed on wrong airports. One of his cartoons showed the interior of a plane where one passenger was telling his wife: “I thought Delhi airport was known as Palam.” Through the window, one could see a road sign which read ‘Raj Path’!
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