REDISCOVERING MALLIK

This is the first month of the third trimester, which means I have nothing to do after the classes. The serial quizzes are yet to begin and I am on my voyage of discovering new ways of TP (time pass, in our lingo). That is when I suddenly stumbled upon a Mallik's cartoon in ABBACHAAAA (If you orkut and if you are a gult, chances are that you know this community). Lots of googling and an hour later, I end up with lots of cartoons and updates on Mallik.

On the Republic Day of 2006, the first holiday of the trimester, I miss the parade on TV and discover a treasure trove of cartoons and a site called www.teluguone.com. Mallik was one of my favourites since childhood, back in the times when real paper magazines like andhrabhoomi used to pay a visit to my home. He is probably one of the best telugu cartoonists ever, in the league of Sridhar and Ragati Pandari. He used to write serials and even scripted and directed a film called Parugo Parugu. That was the last I heard of him - that the film left him with huge financial loss. Later the magazines disappeared and so did Mallik.

Now, after more than a decade, I wonder what he is upto. Just a single word googling, I think. But it doesn't turn out to be that easy a task. Thanks to all the googling expertise my MBA course bestowed me with, I finally end up with a single photo in google images, which would give a clue to the life of Mallik in 2006. I find him at photo album of TAMA, Toronto and a couple of webpages later, I confirm its the same Mallik I am looking for.

I don't know where he is now, but must have settled in USA or Canada, with his second wife. He now runs a website called www.teluguone.com, which features some of the Mallik's specials like 'Navvithe Navrthnalu' along with some daily serials, including the one by Suryadevara Rammohan Rao. Time to read some of that stuff now..... and here are some cartoons for you!