Post by Priti Palav

THE MAKING OF A LEGEND - HOW MARIO MIRANDA CAME INTO HIS OWN In sunny Velha (Old) Goa, lies a small, sleepy village called Loutolim in the district of Salcette, redolent of the flavour of days gone by. At the center and heart of Loutolim is the Church, & within a dog's bark of it, is nestled this 300 year old house. The door is open & there stands the owner, Mario Joao Carlos do Rosario de Britto a Miranda - one of India's best known & perhaps the most exuberant and prolific of cartoonists. But he is known to the public only as ‘Mario', his first name. He is above average height, well set, with skin the colour of weathered teakwood. He has plentiful hair, tousled, dark-brown and flecked with grey. His eyebrows are straight and thick. He has a prominent nose, a firm chin and soft-brown eyes, widely set. He is usually dressed in an open necked shirt and cotton trousers. "I am not a political cartoonist," would be his usual quip, "To be quite frank, I am not even a cartoonist. I draw... Give me a pen and blank paper and I will draw... I just love to draw #freepublik #illustration