ARAI safety awareness drive takes to Tendulkar's cartoons

PUNE: City-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has engaged renowned cartoonist Mangesh Tendulkar to draw images to promote road and vehicular safety.
ARAI will display over a 100 cartoons drawn by him at Balgandharva Rangmandir between September 24 and 26. It also plans to publish these cartoons in a book.
The cartoonist, known for making use of his art to shed light on social issues, will highlight vehicular safety, an area which has engaged him in the past too.
An estimated 1.46 lakh lives were lost on Indian roads in 2015. This translates to 400 deaths on road every single day. The ministry of road transport and highways has announced plans to bring down road-related fatalities by 50% by 2020. "The need is now felt to reach out to society at large and enhance awareness of the common man towards road safety and conservation of environment," an ARAI note said.
"Tendulkar has drawn over a 100 cartoons on this subject exclusively for us. He has given us the go-ahead to publish it in a book," director of ARAI Rashmi Urdhwareshe said.
The institute intends to make this book available to the public and its member companies. "When he visited us here, he was surprised at the amount of technology that goes into a vehicle. He promised to bring in his perception of technology which will be a special attraction in the exhibition," Urdhwareshe said.
Tendulkar draws sketches and uses computer graphics to convert them into a printable version. "His cartoons don't need any text and anybody who sees them can appreciate their meaning," she added.