“In 1996, Cartoonist Triambak Sharma launched 'CARTOON WATCH'  to fill the gap left by the closure of the renowned and much-missed ‘Shankar’s Weekly’. His efforts at creating the only cartoon-centric magazine in India were acknowledged by many well known cartoonists, including Padmbhushan R.K.Laxman, Mario Miranda (Goa) and Abid Surti (Mumbai).& Mr. Pran (Delhi) The Ten-year journey of Cartoon Watch has never been a bed of roses, being plagued by uncertainty and doubts month after month during publication. However, with steel-studded determinaton, the Cartoon Watch team continued with their efforts, and eventually smoothed out the difficulties - resulting in the magazine being published each month without fail! Year on year, the team has improvised and improved the content of the magazine, finally putting to rest any doubts about the magazine’s ability to create humour.” .
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Cartoon Watch Cartoon exhibition inaugurated in London

A rguably India's only cartoon magazine Cartoon Watch exhibited its first ever overseas cartoon exhibition in Nehru Centre London.Amidst a galaxy of notedpersonalities the Exhibition titled Life is a Joke and other theme based cartoons were inaugurated by Senior BBC Hindi Journalist Kailash Badhwar. Prominent among those present on the occasion include daughter of Ustad Alla Rakha Khurshida Aulia, Senior British Cartoonist Ron Mac Gary and upcoming cartoonist Shirley Chan, Nehru Centre Director Monika Kapil Mohta, M Subhashini of Press and Information Bureau, Prabhakar Kaza of HSBC Bank,  Tejendra Sharma,Manish Tiwari,Aakash Verma, Pawan Arya and many others.After inaugurating the exhibition, Mr Bhadhwar said it is indeed noteworthy to know that after the legendary cartoonist K Shankar Pillai's Shankar's Weekly such a magazine based on cartoons is being produced from a small town like Raipur in the newly carved state of Chhatisgarh rather than from Mumbai or Delhi.He added that the cartoons on display portray a vivid illustration of old and new alike and also praised the cartoon series 'Life is a Joke' of Cartoon Watch Editor and Cartoonist Triambak Sharma,saying its sends across a message for life.It gives me immense pleasure that the programme in honour of Ustad Alla Rakha begins with a tinge of laughter and humour,quipped special guest Khurshida Aulia. She further added saying that her father Ustad Alla Rakha was a fun loving person and he wanted that people should have a good sense of humour.Director of Nehru Centre Monika Kapil Mohta who anchored the programme proudly pointed out that it is a rare occasion that a cartoon exhibition is on display at the Centre. She praised the efforts of Triambak Sharma in putting this huge work on display here and added that usually we give a week's time to display exhibits,but this effort needs that extra bit and hence we have allocated two weeks time for the exhibition.Taking a leaf out of his exhibits 'Life is a Joke' Triambak Sharma said that people are admitted to ICU if they are serious,and despite that people dont give up being serious all the times. He said he doesnt want anyone to be too serious in life, rather enjoy life as it comes by and that is what made him take the plunge to make people laugh through his satirical and humorous magazine Cartoon Watch. 
On this occasion, a special international edition of Cartoon Watch was released. It may be mentioned that the exhibition has a wide range of cartoons since the days of  Shankar's Weekly including the Cartoon Watch's 12 year humorous journey. Besides this the exhibition also displays cartoons of its Lifetime Achievement Awardees and cartoons by Shyam Jagota of Delhi, BV Panduranga Rao of Bangalore, Sheeri of Kerala, Nimish Thakkar of Gujarat, Gopal Krishna and Reddy of Hyderabad and Prabhakar Jhalke of Nasik amidst others. The exhibition is on until May 9,2008.

-Alison Rebello