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On May 2, Mario Miranda would have turned 90. There&rsquo;s a party planned. Some of his favourite musicians &mdash; the Cotta family, who sing old Portuguese songs; and fado (Portuguese sentimental songs) singer and friend Sonia Shirsat &mdash; will hold a free concert in Goa.
<img title="Mario at 22" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/apr/mario.jpg" alt="Mario at 22" /> Mario at 22
The Mario Gallery will release an illustrated diary of the cartoonist, dated to 1949 and make it available for sale online.
&ldquo;When Mario was young, he would draw everywhere &mdash; on the walls, on tables,&rdquo; says architect Gerard Da Cunha, who manages the merchandising of Mario&rsquo;s work after the artist&rsquo;s death in 2011.
<img title="Pics Courtesy/ The MARIO GALLERY" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/apr/church-and-tavern.jpg" alt="Pics Courtesy/ The MARIO GALLERY" /> Pics Courtesy/ The MARIO GALLERY
&ldquo;His mother gave him a diary to draw in and he continued [to maintain] that habit throughout his life.&rdquo;
Mario was born in Daman to Goan Catholic parents of Goud Saraswat Brahmin origin.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/apr/post-office.jpg" alt="" />
This one charts the course of his life in 1949, when he was 22, studying Arts at Mumbai&rsquo;s St Xavier&rsquo;s College and took a trip to Goa.
&ldquo;Mario was not really interested in studying,&rdquo; says 61-year-old Gerard, who also runs a blog on MarioDeMiranda.com. &ldquo;In Mumbai, he would watch three movies a day and study in between,&rdquo; he adds about the artist who was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2012.
It&rsquo;s his trips to Goa that bring the diary alive. &ldquo;His story-telling skills are developing [during the time the diary was made]; he is freer with his compositions. He describes village elections in which one party offers free beer and another offers chicken xacuti. The one offering beer wins,&rdquo; says Gerard.
The diary charts his daily life in illustrations &mdash; the people he meets on a boat ride; all the friends he goes out with for dinner are drawn in thumbnail. This is also the time when he was gaining work as an artist &mdash; he was asked to decorate the dance hall for a medical college ball and the floats that carried holy statues, like that of the Lady of Lourdes.
Gerard&rsquo;s association with Mario started in 2003 when they collaborated on a book called Inside Goa. He then worked on the book Mario De Miranda in 2008 (The Life Of Mario 1949; Rs 395). When the artist was diagnosed with Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease, he entrusted the legacy of his work to Gerard so that it could support his family.
&ldquo;Mario was unlike the stereotypical temperamental artist,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;He was always smiling, always in a good mood. Never verbose,&rdquo; says Gerard. &ldquo;He was listening, observing, getting others to talk.&rdquo; The only time he would speak, was through his illustrations.
As loved as Mario is, there is a sexualisation of women in his work &mdash; as a band performs, the cello player&rsquo;s hands wander up the singer&rsquo;s bosom; bust lines are exaggerated and men ogle at women in ways that would be offensive in real life.
Gerard is aware of this. &ldquo;There was a different kind of political correctness 30 years ago. There is one illustration which shows a woman in a burqa walking one way and another in a mini skirt walking the other &mdash; both looking at each other as if to say, &lsquo;To each his own&rsquo;,&rdquo; he says.
&ldquo;Humour always looks for a hook &mdash; like a sardarji or a woman driver. One should not read too much into it. We try not to use those pictures, though.&rdquo;
Mario was one of the last in the age of great newspaper cartooning when every daily had a distinctive illustrated voice. He is relevant still, according to Gerard, because a good laugh is always useful. &ldquo;We lose something every day; but we gain something too,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Someone came to the gallery [in Porvorim, Goa] the other day because she is doing a PhD on Mario...&rdquo;

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Mario Miranda's&nbsp;illustrated diary, which he maintained when he was 22, to be released on his 90th&nbsp;birth anniversary

Mario Miranda's 1949 diary to release on his 90th birth anniversary

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Home / Mumbai-guide / Mumbai Food / Article / Mario Miranda's 1949 diary to release on his 90th birth anniversary

Mario Miranda's 1949 diary to release on his 90th birth anniversary

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