Google today honoured renowned Indian cartoonist Mario de Miranda with a doodle on his 90th birth anniversary. The Padmashri and Padma Vibhushan awardee cartoonist was known for his trademark stylish strokes which told detailed colourful stories with shades of humour, largely based on life in Mumbai and Goa.
The commemorative doodle was created by another comic artist Aaron Renier known for portraying large crowds.
It shows a rainstorm scene in a crowded Mumbai, with the hazy hint of a prominent landmark building and people of various communities that spice up Mumbai in their traditional attire, running around.
“I approached Mario’s work by pretending I was drawing with him. I chose his most popular style, very flat with criss-crossing interactions. In this homage to Miranda, we see a rich litany of people, each unique in their perspective,” Renier was quoted as saying in an official statement.
“That is what I liked most about his work, trying to pick out who knows who, who’s watching who, who’s annoyed by who, who’s enamoured by who. Hopefully people will see something of (Miranda’s) spirit in it,” he added.
The doodle depicts people struggling with their umbrellas, newspapers, a spontaneous lovers hug, the typical dog chasing a stray cat and dragging his master on the leash.
On a ground floor is someone quietly observing the goings on outside, on the first floor a woman absently empties the bucket of water onto the roads after cleaning her home, while on the left side appears an image resembling Miranda himself struggling with his next creation on the canvas.
Miranda died of natural causes at his home in Loutolim in Goa in 2011.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and was conferred the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2012.
PTI