Cartoonists take on Chennai floods with sarcasm

It was just a year ago that SN Sharma was transferred to Chennai.
He came with this impression that Chennai was an arid place that received very little rainfall. But when the skies opened up, and flooded the city , and he got stranded at his Chamiers Road home food and electricity for days, he decided to kill time by recording his first `monsoon' experience in Chennai, part of which was a sketch on the waterlogging and Chennaiites' helping attitude. “I remember it started raining on November 7, heard it rained all over Deepavali celebrations, something which in itself was a novelty , for where I come from, it has never ever rained on Deepavali. I had gone back home to celebrate Deepavali with family, and I just couldn't get back to Chennai as planned as trains got cancelled. But somehow, I reached Chennai, and then, on December 2, the heavens spewed its wrath on Chennai... It kept raining, and road after road started going under water. I started worrying, but then, I saw how helpful Chennaiites can be.Everyone started helping each other without any discrimination. And that was the basis of my sketch.
If you look at the sketch above carefully, `Chennai' is clearly visible even in the flood, which shows the spirit of Chennai.“ Like Sharma, there are others, too, who let their creativity and sense of observation take over to help them overcome this crisis.Some drew Chennai's people struggling to stay afloat, and others vented their ire on the mismanagement, which resulted in flood. And, of course, all of them put up their works online, which were then widely circulated.
Cartoonist Vijay Ashokan says, “One cartoon of mine is about real-estate business in Mudichur.Usually we come across a lot of ads about cheap plots there, but considering it is one of the most affected areas, I showed how fish could find realty there interesting hereafter.“ In another cartoon, Vijay mocks how some drunks bluffed about being involved in relief work. “Almost every shop had to shut down, but liquor shops were open. And some drunks created such ruckus at some of the relief camps,“ rues Vijay. Lakshman Balaji, another cartoonist, referred to the Biblical reference of Jesus walking on water, and drew how he felt he was walking on water in Chennai.“Another one is about how low pressure in sea leads to high pressure in Chennai,“ chuckles Lakshman.