Mahendra Shah, born in 1945, migrated to the U.S. in 1974. Originally an architect, Mahendra has been a successful entrepreneur and businessman for many years.

  Mahendra Shah is now a significant factor in the Indo-American literary equation. Literature is, always has been a powerful force to bring change, any change. Prose, poetry, essay, play, film or any form of media is an effective tool for social or religious transformation. But the power of a cartoon and the caption- language that livens the cartoon, has its own distinct zone, its own remarkable footing in the realm of

Literature. Mahendra has successfully climbed over the footing with the combination of his brilliant thinking, effortless acumen and his dashing characters drawn with powerful strokes.

    Just a few years ago, Mahendra had come up with his “Ame American Amdavadi”—

A Gujarati collection of his cartoons and the readers had accepted it like box of gourmet

Meethai (sweets). And now he is offering a box of gourmet chocolate. His English edition—“I said it too!” With this English collection Mahendra is entering a much wider arena of readership. It’s a step forward and a welcome-one.

     Mahendra has already invaded many many computer screens in the Indo-American homes with his invariably funny and witty weekly cartoons via the internet. His weekly cartoons have become an addiction for some folks. On the weekend, with a fresh cup of tea or coffee in their hands, these folks await his cartoon; and when it pops up on their screen, along with their tea, they sip Mahindra’s compelling humor. It is refreshing to read his piercing comments in his cartoons.

     Turn a few pages of his first collection in Gujarati language “Ame American Amdavadi” and on every page you will find lots of laughter with deep insight about Indo-American (desi) social behavior.

     Here is one sample from his hilarious collection; after a party is over, a guest woman at the party asks the host lady, “What are you going to do with all these leftovers? I can take them all. I have invited a few friends over next Sunday…”

     Here is another classic sample of his sharp-witted satire: In one of his cartoons, four-five siblings are bickering about whose turn it is this month to take care of their aging, disabled mother. Mother is sitting right there in the wheelchair with her head hanging down in depression. This cartoon exposes --with humor and poignancy—the hypocrisy of parrot-like reciting of the traditional Sanskrit prayer “Mother is God, Father is God”.

     Mahendra moves around in the community with a mirror in one hand and needle- sharp pen in the other. He never misses a chance to poke at our weakness. Ouch! It hurts.

     Mahendra has quite a slick dexterity of lifting the rug up and sweeping out the hidden stuff from underneath- without anybody noticing it. Then, very quietly, just pointing his pen at it, he draws our attention towards our cultural follies and absurdities. He does this very skillfully, without offending anyone. He is fearless in capturing our social and religious superficialities.

    Do his cartoons have muscles for heavy weight punches? You bet. Try reading any of his cartoons with serious face and you will feel the punch. Nothing escapes from his alert observation; nothing escapes from the jabs and prods of this pen-wielding cartoonist. He whacks at politics, at social cants and pretenses, at religious bigots, at outdated cultural traditions and beliefs, at husband-wife feuds and so on; he knows no limits.

In many of his cartoons he comes across as a master wordsmith with flawless use of pun. Cartoonists are not wordy people. They are pithy, brief and concise. The precise captions that Mahendra jolts in his drawings are also compact, yet tersely cogent in utterance, stuffed with bursting humor. Like his expressive drawings, his language in the captions is also quite articulate and ticklish. He knows all the aspects of his craft.

     The melding of “art at his finger tips” and the “built-in sense of humor at heart” has earned him the name as notable comic illustrator. Born in the state of Gujarat, India, and educated as an architect, Mahendra immigrated to the US and preferred to go into a business of his own. Though a successful entrepreneur, he just couldn’t contain the urge of drawing cartoons. It was his childhood hobby, constantly brewing within. And now, ultimately, it has erupted with a forceful tremor, filling the void of intelligent and satiric cartoons in the Indo- American Diaspora.

    “I said it too!” will, undoubtedly, be an excellent humor-filled contribution, not only to the Indo-American Diaspora, but hopefully, to the entire English speaking community.

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