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'Monsoon Motorcycling'

Traffic in India is always fascinating and exciting to watch. Being amongst it is equally frustrating, frightening, funny and f. In this cartoon I have drawn a motorcyclist who is clearly in a city as this is where you find policemen and he must wear a helmet by law. Even so he is still merely paying lip service to the law. It’s not a motorcycle helmet but a construction helmet, both are helmets, and the law says ‘helmet’, so what’s the problem. Even though the helmet is clearly on, the strap is still undone, does the law mention anything about straps, well there you are then! Oh and by the way it’s only the driver that need to wear the helmet as they are the only ones who get head injuries in an accident.

This cartoon brings together two elements of being Indian in a single image. Firstly, the Monsoon, an Indian phenomenon that has driven the yearly cycle of life in the region for millennia. One minute you are sweating in the furnace of an Indian summer the next you are engulfed by the full force of the monsoon. From furnace to bath in seconds, but oh what a relief from the oppressive heat. Secondly the ability of Indians to come up with a solution to any problem that would just not be possible in any other culture. It’s raining heavily and it’s still quite hot so wearing waterproofs would be uncomfortable. You would probably get just as wet from sweating in the waterproofs as you would from the rain of the monsoon itself. So, what to do …… an umbrella, it’s so obvious. Umbrellas are designed to keep you dry but not enclosed and they also keep the sun off you in the midday heat when it’s not raining, a double bonus.

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