Toms, a household name in Kerala for the past half a century and more for his cartoon siblings Boban and Molly, is no more. He was 87.
Nobody knew him as V.T. Thomas, born to V.T. Kunjuthomman and Cicily Thomas in Kuttanad in 1929, for he was for a whole generation just Toms, the creator of Bobanum Mollyum , the characters in the cartoon series published on the back pages of Malayala Manorama weekly for nearly three decades. A whole generation of Malayalis grew up with the impish siblings, their first interface with serial cartooning.
Speaking to The Hindu over phone, India's best known contemporary political cartoonist E.P. Unny said: “He was one of the major comic artists and one who created a comic culture in Kerala.” Toms, he said, moved from home comics to an idea of the neighbourhood. “He gave us a sense of continuity and space,” Mr. Unny said.
Besides Bobanum Mollyum, Toms created and communicated to the Malayali milieu through several characters such as Kunchukurup, Appy Hippy, Unnikuttan, (panchayat president) Chettan and (his wife) Chettathi. Each of his characters found a special place in the hearts of Malayalis.
When asked by a young fan about the genesis of Boban and Molly, Toms said he had named them after two children in the neighbourhood who one day came to him and asked him to draw their picture. In their web page, the Indian Institute of Cartoonists quotes Toms as having said: “This took place after these two naughty children thwarted every attempt of mine to prevent them from jumping the fence around my house and walking through the kitchen, on their way to school.”
Toms was married to Thresiakutty and leaves behind three sons and three daughters.
He was one of the major comic artists and one who created a comic culture in Kerala.
E.P. Unny,cartoonist
He was one of the major comic artists and one who created a comic culture in Kerala
