A Look At The Funny Side Of Life, Through Poems And Cartoons

That I바카라�m a Shakespeare or Shelly I never croon.
But courtesy Edward Lear I love to lampoon
For every rhyme there바카라�s a reason
Whatever the weather or blessed season
Then with my pen and paint I light up my thoughts into a Limertoon

Limertoon바카라�, the portmanteau of limerick (a five-line poem with rhyme scheme AABBA) and cartoon, was coined by the man who loves wordplay; his verse above elaborates this reasoning. Even his own pseudonym, Alexyz, was inspired by Anthony Quinn바카라�s ebullient character Alexis Zorba in Zorba the Greek (1964), as an attempt to outshine competition with a common Christian name, Alex Fernandes. The Mumbai born-bred St Xavier바카라�s College alumnus gave up on his football dreams after an injury, joined and quit advertising within a year because 바카라�I couldn바카라�t keep telling lies바카라�, moved to Siolim to start an NGO with friends, before switching to cartooning fulltime.

The 78-year-old started out as a sports cartoonist with O바카라�Herald바카라�as the paper바카라�s first cartoonist바카라�and launched two books: Sportoons, during the 1982 Asian Games, and Howzatt! Century of Cricket Cartoons바카라�India바카라�s first book of cartoons on the game. After a shift of interests to environmental degradation, mining and urban encroachment plaguing Goa, he authored three books, Goa Paradise Lost; Goa바카라�Goaing바카라�Goan바카라�Gone바카라�?; and Oh To Be in Goa.

While Alexyz바카라�s cartoons can be mistaken for Mario Miranda바카라�s바카라�both have wide-eyed buxom women and potbellied men with diverse personality traits, hairdos, and someone in the crowd is almost always polka-dotted바카라�he says the Padma Vibhushan awardee was incomparable with a different artistic bent. 바카라�He was not a political cartoonist, and more of an illustrator, but I use colour pencils.바카라� Miranda바카라�s cartoons have a jocular vibe, but Alexyz바카라�s technique of delivering hardened truths with a melodic verse plus lively sketch, can make your skin crawl. Cartoons like his crucified Fr Stan Swamy바카라�a reaction to the apathy and injustice that led to the tribal rights activist바카라�s death바카라�earned him the moniker 바카라�cartoon terrorist바카라� in the newsroom. Alexyz, however, always under a hat, flashing a toothy grin, is known as 바카라�a happy, young man바카라� in Goa, who revived the San Jao boat parade. He wants to leave behind 바카라�a little legacy바카라� by penning an autobiography 바카라�only after he finishes publishing a list of titles pending and puts in order some 15,000 sketches lying about the house. 바카라�I can be very disorganised,바카라� he signs off with a chuckle.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Rhyme & Reason")