Dexterity thy name is Nirmish Thaker

“Although drawing caricatures was something I could do right from childhood, it was only during my work as a mechanical engineer that I took up drawing cartoons on social issues and day-to-day political activity more seriously.” However, his stint with the print media did not satisfy him, and he decided to call it a day soon afterwards.

“I did take lessons in tabla from Sudhir Kumar Saxena, who is the only maestro of the Ajrada Gharana of tabla”, says Thaker, adding it was this knowledge that sharpened his other faculties and helped him come out with the eight compilations over the past eight years. Tankaar, a collection of humourous articles, the first of his compilations, was released in 1990. In the same year, Thaker also compiled Ej likhitang which is an interesting collection of satirical poems.

By this time, he had almost stopped writing and drawing for newspapers. “These things fetch money, but I wanted to do something more creative,” says Thaker, who then released Laghav kyay nathi ne kaavanmaa, a parody which gained immense critical acclaim.Soon, he came out with two other compilations, Trishul lidhu haath maa and Shabdona shishasan, comprising humourous articles, poems and cartoons.

Then came the moment, that Thaker cherishes most in his illustrious career. “I shall always remember the day when R K Laxman inaugurated my exhibition in Vadodara and released my book Gujarati sahityakaroni katakshchitro.” The book comprises details, achievements and caricatures of all great litterateurs, who lived between 1829 and 1960.

In the meantime, Thaker invented yet another form, where humour and play of words has been exceptional. He came out with Arth aada thai to, which has Vyang Tazmeen as the subject.

“The idea is to pick up a couple of lines from the ghazals of any great and after adding three lines of my own, present it into an altogether new context.”

His style was praised by noted poets Chinu Modi and Rashid Mir, who said it was not only new in Gujarati literature, but was the first-of-its kind in any Indian language.