Frederick Noronha
What’s a graphic novel? A comic book for adults? Something anyone can easily read? How is it same or different from the ‘comics’ we all read as kids?
Graphic novels, like comic books, use sequential art to tell a story. But, graphic novels are generally stand-alone stories with more complex plots. Goa has had a limited number of graphic novels or comics created locally. In the past few weeks, prominent journalist Derek Almeida (and artist Fabian Gonsalves) added one to this.
‘Guru, Girls & A Dude Without A Plan’ is just out as an ebook online (Amazon). Almeida and Gonsalves’ work is an all-colour, well-illustrated 136-page large sized work. As an ebook, it is priced at Rs. 299 [https://amzn.in/d/2g63aDg]
The first thing that strikes you is the charming illustrations of this book. Each is almost as attractive as the Tintin and Asterix comics that those who were young in the 1970s grew up reading. The story is equally catchy, and has its own high points and unexpected twists and turns.
What’s the story about?
In short, the protagonist Jag “does not believe in spending hours pondering about life and his place in the universe. It’s too tedious. He just reacts to whatever life throws at him and when, push comes to shove, which is pretty much always, improvises. So, basically, he is a dude without a plan.”
This young man, from the North Indian city of Manojkhand, gets a job, meets a girl, struggles to earn money, then strikes it rich unexpectedly.
But this is only the start of
his troubles.
Things go terribly wrong. But, like any youth struggling to make it against the odds, Jag keeps improvising. He meets all kinds of people in all kinds of places, and this is how the story unfolds.
This graphic novel has the expected disclaimer: “This is a work of fiction…” But, somewhere along the line, Almeida and Gonsalves are encountering so many real contemporary issues. They do so in a genteel manner, which allows you to smile at the unravelling situation.
This is the first graphic novel for both. A word of praise to the artist, whose sketches recreate cities of North India, in a way they live on in our imagination.
Almeida is an editor-journalist and (earlier) a humour column writer who has been associated with almost all English-language newspapers here (besides one in Belagavi and the Goa 365 TV channel). Calangute-based Gonsalves has worked as an illustrator for various media establishments, publications, and local dailies. Currently. he is a freelance and diorama artist. Diorama refers to models representing a scene with three-dimensional figures.
Manojkhand, where the action begins, is depicted as a town in the centre of the country. In Derekesque style, it gets described as: “Not too big, not too small. Not too fast, not too slow. Not too backward, not too forward. Not an enclave for the powerful, not an island for the weak. Not a backwater for tourists, nor a lair for politicians.”
In its colourful pages, the graphic novel’s creators give you hints of the struggles of the young, scenes of life in today’s India, and the determination to somehow make it. You get an introduction to Kerala, its boat races, the risks of a North-South romance, the challenges of food habits.
At the start, Jaginder ‘Jag’ Raj gets a job as a “manager cum waiter cum cashier cum cook” at a restaurant, falls in love and dreams of marriage. His challenge is he doesn’t have
the money.
Then, his plot to steal some grain from his girlfriend’s home turns out more complicated than it might seem at first. But things are working out well when he bets the money he earned on an India-Bangladesh cricket match, and earns a windfall. But, of course, you realise the story is only just getting started here.
Gau rakshaks, gurus, plots and subplots fill the story.
If you get the message, what this graphic novel is telling us is that life can be confusing and tough for a young person. Many youth do not have clarity about what they’d like to do, early on in their lives. Only a few do; the rest just stumble through life. Some find their way.
Almeida says after moving out of journalism, he was often greeted with the “write a book” suggestion. He adds, “But I didn’t want to write a regular novel, because I grew up reading a lot of comics. In Belgaum.”
He started work on it some six years back. Almeida opted for the complex issue of politics. “I thought let’s do it, but let’s take a lighter look, without trivialising it. Being serious is not really my style,” Almeida adds.
Gonsalves, obviously a talented and good artist, was also excited by the idea. Because this is an all-colour work, getting it out on paper proved a challenge. Colour printing can be costly, making books of this kind tough to create. One of the options Almeida is considering now is crowd-funding the book, to allow for a print version.
Sketching is a tough task, which is why the creators of this work took the time needed to complete it. But it makes for a good and easy read too. A print version could surely make it better to access, though colour printing costs can be an issue.
While creating the work, the characters and storyline had to be carefully worked out. The message of the book: “Don’t just give up.” Half of the outcomes in life could well be based on the decisions you take; but, as Almeida believes, the other half is based on your destiny.
There have been a few other graphic works emerging out of Goa.
Amruta Patil, who grew up in Goa and studied at the Goa College of Art, has the graphic novel ‘Kari’ (2008) and ‘Adi Parva’ (2012 and 2021) and ‘Sauptik’ (2016) to her credit, among others. The latter two reimagine the Mahabharat through a contemporary perspective. Orijit Sen’s ‘River of Stories’ (1994) is considered India’s first graphic novel, and looks at the Narmada Dam project from a critical perspective. Sen is also part of the Pao Collective, and the chief editor of Comixense, a comics platform.
Work by Goa’s Nishant Saldanha got featured in the prestigious ‘The Best American Comics 2019’ when he was still in his 20s. Cartoonist Alexyz has been creating satirical takes on Goan society and politics, though more in cartoon form. There are other cartoonists, some known for their work over decades: Mario Miranda, Subodh Kerkar, Uddhar Sawkar, Angela Ferrao, Smita Bhandare Kamat, among others.
In an attempt to bring comics to the Romi Konkani world, the musician-creator Alfred Rose once took a Western comic and converted its captions into Romi.
Serious issues have also been discussed through graphic novels. ‘For Beginners…’, the series started by the publisher-activist Glenn Thompson explained complex political and theoretical subjects (Marx, DNA, JFK, Black Women, Malcolm X, Freud, Logic and so much more) through the world of graphic novels.
Check out the latest one, available via the link above.
