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KOCHI: The cartoons donning the walls of Keltron office wall along Vellayambalam-Museum Road can both amuse and inform you at the same time. It narrates concepts using many elements of culture and nostalgia, including the Matsya Kanyaka statue on Shanghumukham beach, apart from popular fictional characters like Pulimurugan, Chhota Bheem and Mahabali. The cartoons were drawn by cartoonists at Kerala Cartoon Academy (KCA) in association with the Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM), as part of the second phase of ‘Break the Chain’ initiative.

The campaign’s slogan is SMS - short for ‘soap, mask and social distancing’. “We are undergoing a very difficult time. As everyone around the  world are doing their bit to fight the pandemic, cartoonists are showing it through their medium. Many of them are doing individual campaigns through their social media profiles. So we thought of unifying these efforts by using them to reinforce instructions from the health department,” says K Unnikrishnan, chairman, KCA.

The campaign was inaugurated by Health Minister K K Shailaja by drawing a cartoon that transformed the coronavirus to smiling emoji. “They were  both drawn using the same circle. People have a scary image of the virus, but that is not necessary. The minister changed it from the circle of death to the circle of a smile,” adds Unnikrishnan. According to him, there is a reason why cartoons as a medium are being used for such a campaign.

“Kerala is a land of cartoonists. Many famous Indian cartoonists hail from here. Our state is a land of compassion, with a good sense of humour. So it is a medium everyone loves and relates with,” says Unnikrishnan. The cartoon showing Matsya Kanyaka in a mask that has turned many heads was drawn by Shaji P Abraham (Shaji Seethathode). “It’s a masterpiece by Kanayi Kunhiraman sir. The statue is part of the capital city’s identity. It makes people think that if a statue is wearing a mask, it must be mandatory,” 
quips Shaji. 

KCA and KSSM have already executed similar campaigns in Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Thrissur. “The theme differs from one district to another. In Thrissur, we used the ‘pooram’ and ‘melam’, whereas in Kollam we used their local slang to form cartoons,” says Unnikrishnan.