Rafiqun Nabi

Rafiqun Nabi (born 28 November 1943), better known as Ranabi, is a Bangladeshi artist and cartoonist. He is best known for creating Tokai, a character symbolizing the poor street boys of Dhaka who lives on picking things from dustbins or begging and having a knack of telling simple yet painful truths about current political and socio-economic situation of the country. He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1993 by the government of Bangladesh.

Early life and education Nabi was born on 28 November 1943 to a Bengali Muslim family in Nawabganj District in India (now in northwest Bangladesh) in 1943. He started drawing in his childhood. In the early 1950s, his father took him to a painting exhibition, held at the then Burdwan House (now Bangla Academy). His first contribution was to Weekly Purbodesh. Later in the mid-1960s, he became a regular in Shochitro Shandhani where he used to illustrate with cartoons the column Kaal Penchar Dairy by Abdul Gani Hazari.