There’s an interesting side to the story of one of Goa’s greatest artistes, Mario Miranda, who glamourised the sussegado Goan lifestyle in his caricatures and showcased it to a pan-India and global audience. On the 90th birth anniversary of the Padma Vibhushan award winning cartoonist, Miriam Koshy-Sukhija, whose ‘Gallery GItanjali’ hosts some of the works of the master, told The Pioneer, that kin of Goans who know ‘Mario’, still look for references to their family and friends in the caricatures sketched by him.
"We have had people walking in and sifting through the folios to search for their own 'Mario stories'. People whose parents and grandpaernts formed part of Mario's Goa and feature in his work," Koshy-Sukhija said.
Mario's Goa sketches are iconic because of the manner in which he captured the essence of the 'Goan life' right from market places, beaches, the elite gentry and the not-so-elite common folk from among Goan Hindu and Catholic community.
Mario, who also had several celebrated stints as a cartoonist in Mumbai working with The Times of India, Illustrated Weekly, etc, also developed iconic characters from Mumbai's human landscape too, which are a part of the exhibition in Goa, which was inaugurated on Monday to his 90th birth anniversary.
"For many others it is the nostalgia that the pocket cartoons evoke, a chance to revisit the well loved characters that Mario created, namely Ms.Fonseca, the underdog, Godbole, the boss Bundaldass, the politician and the beggar," Koshy-Sukhija said.
"While each of these are interesting characters in their own right, they are also significant in that they denote the myriad voices and entities that formed part of the growing urban identity of the post Independence era in Bombay," she added.
Born to Goan parents in Portuguese-held Daman, Miranda passed away in 2011 at 86, but his relevance is not lost, says noted architect Gerard da Cunha, who runs a museum in Goa dedicated to Mario's memories and his precious works.
"His relevance lies In seeing the humorous side to life and issues in a world which is becoming increasingly divisive and violent. His gentle humour to make a point, is what people should strive for," says da Cunha.
"The cartoonist craft unlike that of an author makes him/her inhabit a Utopia. His tools are visual and he has to bring out his punchline in one or a few pictures. Mario's work on Goa is very powerful and mesmerising which adds to this feeling of a fairyland," da Cunha also said.
Mario according to D'Cunha 'spared' none from his canvas as an artiste and was equally content sketching a caricature of a politician to a local harder.
"A cartoonist and caricaturist needs interesting personalities (physically too) as fodder for his work. Mario used the village barber, the sanctimonious Parish Priest, the full of himself local politician etc," D'Cunha said.