Drawing cartoons on tragedies is the toughest task, especially in this age of social media overdrive. There’s always a danger of hurting some people, offending a section or even trivialising the seriousness of the tragedy.
But when a cartoon on tragedy touches the hearts of readers, that cartoon reaches more and more people. People share it as their own personal expression.
This cartoon was done an hour after the heart-wrenching train tragedy at Amritsar on Dussehra night. While people were busy watching the burning of Ravana effigy, standing on railway track, they didn’t hear or notice a fast train rushing towards them. In few seconds, many lives were crushed under the speeding train. Many families were destroyed that night. The nation was in shock! How could such stupid tragedies can happen again and again and snatch so many precious lives! First, didn’t the organisers foresee such a tragedy? How can they arrange such an event as Dussehra, which normally attracts lots of people on a holiday, near railway tracks? That was an utterly irresponsible decision.
Secondly, what about the spectators who were standing on a railway track and watching the programme? And there was a warning, as another train crossed the same track few minutes ago, but slowly. How can people be so careless about the safety of their own lives or the lives of their loved ones, who have accompanied them? All these factors lead to believe that this horrific tragedy could have been easily averted. And we could’ve saved so many lives. Sigh!
I’m still getting lots of messages from cartoon lovers who are moved by this cartoon. They shared their grief by sharing this cartoon.
Pray I don’t get to draw such cartoons on tragedies, anymore.
