Like most cartoonists, Mario de Miranda appeared to be a serious, shy, no-nonsense but soft-spoken person to a first-time acquaintance, but gradually warmed up. Born in 1926, Mario displayed a keen love and interest in sketching and caricatures - using the walls in his own house in Loutolim for practice! Until his horrified mother brought him a book... Though never formally trained in the fine art of drawing, Mario started making small, cutely illustrated personal postcards for his friends for a token payment - earning him some pocket money in his early days in the 1930s-1940. While studying at the famed St. Xaviers College in Mumbai, Mario's eyes were trained on competing for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He went on to study architecture and gave up, before moving to an advertising agency for four years. The restless artist in him finally persuaded him to take up cartooning as a fulltime vocation, around the time when stalwarts like R.K. Laxma
Compendium on Work, Health , Learning , Social and Spiritual Aspects of Leading a Complete Life