The cartoonist was K Shankar Pillai—Shankar to a nation that would later grow up laughing at his lines in the Shankar’s Weekly. Now, Shankar had lampooned the Viceroy in a cartoon. In British India where sedition laws were not theoretical and press freedoms were conditional, such an invitation could have meant censure, or worse. They grinned into the camera and mouthed a swaggering line: so what if I don’t look good? Ironically, police departments themselves run chirpy social media accounts, posting memes about traffic fines and helmet rules, hoping to appear relatable.

Source: Indian Express March 08, 2026 06:42 UTC