Career
Shankar's cartoons were published in the The Free Press Journal and Bombay Chronicle. Pothan Joseph, the editor of The Hindustan Times brought him to Delhi as a staff cartoonist, in 1932 and continued as its staff cartoonist till 1946. Thus he and his family settled in Delhi finally.
Shankar's cartoons attracted even Viceroys like Lord Willington and Lord Linlithgow. During this time, Shankar had a chance of training in London for about 14 months. He spent the period in various Art schools, utilising the opportunity to study the advanced techniques in cartooning. He also visited Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Geneva and Paris. When he returned to India, the country was in the thick of freedom struggle. The dawn of independence also favoured Shankar's dreams for a separate periodical. The idea came true when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru released Shankar's Weekly, edited by Shankar himself. However his cartoon also remained neutral often critical to his work, notable a cartoon published on May 17, 1964, just 10 days before Pandit Nehru death, showed an emaciated and exhausted Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, with a torch in hand, running the final leg of a race, with party leaders Gulzari Lal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Krishna Menon and Indira Gandhi in tow, to which Nehru remarked, "Don’t spare me, Shankar".
Shankar loved kids and organized Shankar started the Shankar's International Children's Competition in 1949, and as a part of it, the Shankar's On-the-Spot Painting Competition for Children in 1952. He instituted an annual Competition for Writers of Children's Books in 1978. Beginning with English this competition is now held in Hindi too. It later began drawing children from all over the world. Annual awards from Shankar's Weekly were presented by prime ministers.
He also founded the Children's Book Trust in Nehru House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi in 1957. Later in 1965, the International Dolls Museum too came to be located here. Thus Nehru House became a 'must visit' item for kids going to New Delhi. It has now a children's library and reading room, known as Dr. B.C. Roy Memorial Children's Library and Reading Room and Library and a Doll development and production centre.
Read more about this topic: K. Shankar Pillai
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