Communication is incomplete without People’s Participation

Anwar came rushing from Dilli Haat to the ComicsCafe of World Comics India. At Dilli Haat his group of artisans from Bikaner, Rajasthan have their stall put up. It has been two decades since Anwar is working with the various folk artisans of Rajasthan. Taking these folk art such as puppetry and music as the tool of communication he has stood tall and strong in carrying out his work for development in western Rajasthan even in the waves of adversity. When Rajasthan was hit by drought in 2002, he along with his group of folk artist, Gavaniyar staged puppetry plays in many schools and villages of Rajasthan. These plays reflected the poignant situation of the drought hit families breaking audience into tears. This way they were able to mobilize students to collect and distribute 400 quintals of grain to the affected families. This was the beginning for Gavaniyar, a group of young folk artist wanting to start their initiative of development with the medium of their folk art. They decided not to register the group so that the skills and energies of artist is not drained into managerial work and to prevent them falling into politics.

Anwar shares with enthusiasm the memories of how they produced amazing characters which the audience adored and enjoyed to the fullest while taking home a message. Their efforts were also covered by the mainstream press. The artist made good money too, which was their fear and concern when they started off with the group. He reflects how such communication is indispensable so that development can reach the people in real sense. As the characters fell into monotony because of the message they carried each time, the charm and impact of the good old puppetry on the audience lost too. There is definitely a lack of innovation and attention there. This experience gives the message how communication for development can fail if we make it too heavy and controlled. Rather this communication should have people’s participation and be such that an ordinary man can relate to it.

The group today does not exist in its previous form. Four groups sprouted of the original Gavaniyar and are carrying on with their art and development work. Anwar has also founded Abhiyan Sahyog along with few artist of Gavaniyar which has produced tremendous result in helping the unprivileged.

Currently Anwar is researching on Meerasi the group of folk singers. Anwar’s work has reiterated the power traditional media can impart to development. Resources and means are always around us we just have to recognize and accumulate them to use in an efficient manner.   

Report by Jyoti Sharma and Gargie Sharma

Anwar @comics cafe

Anwar, a musician from Germany visited comicscafe in Sept 2010 and played what he enjoyed playing most ... the Violin :-)

Tripod in Gutter Space

Looking at panels through the viewfinder­­, comics activists got an opportunity to sit on the rollercoaster of ideas leading to a fusion of skills, visual harmony and technology. 

A three-day intensive workshop on photography and video making had been organized at Comics Cafe on July 12 to July 15 2009. Pankaj Mehta a renowned cameraperson, who organized various workshops across many countries, conducted the workshop. The objective of the training was to enabl

e comics activists to document their work for themselves and made available for mainstream media.

The first day of the workshop began with an introduction to the medium of photography and video. Participants had been previously instructed to shoot footage and it was showcased. It helped the trainer to evaluate the level of understanding of the participants. Lectures were delivered on the steps involved in making of a movie. There was detailed discussion on Shots-its meaning and types. Following this the participants were shown the various parts of the camera, its technicality and how to handle a camera.  Basic lessons on shootin

g with tripods and selecting camera angle were rendered. The participants had been given an assignment to shoot 1 minute footage each, keeping in mind the elements of a shot.

It would be noteworthy to add that the monsoons in Delhi attended the workshop as well! Mr. Mehta in his own tactful way captured the droplets of rain on his camera, in the meanwhile magnifying them on the projector for the participants. The students were overwhelmed seeing him experimenting with the shutter speed, exposure and focus to produce a myriad of effects. By the time when the samosas came in for a break, the participants realized that there couldn’t have been a more practical way to learn it!

The Day two of the workshop began with Mehta’s exclaiming “It is difficult to shoot things as they are...” and the day followed for the participants discovering how. The videos shot were evaluated; however all the participants had exceeded the time limit of the footage. Lessons were conducted on Aperture, Shutter Speed and Depth of field.  Live demonstrations were conducted for better understanding of the concepts.

The final day of the workshop started with the screening of shots by the participants. These shots were analyzed and fac

tors like continuity and compositions were found not to be in order.  Continuity and elements were discussed including line of access and change in continuity.  After being given the basic ideas of composition the participants were able to relate it with their cartooning. However the most interesting part of the day class on Light.

The workshop has not ended here! It is just another beginning for the participants to explore new dimensions of creativity within them. The follow up on the workshop would continue on weekly basis.

Report : Manas Baruah, Illustrations: Amrith Basumathary

 

Pankaj Mehta @ comics cafe to run a "Camera Workshop"

Renowned cameraperson Pankaj Mehta will start a Camera Workshop @ Comics Cafe on 13 July, 2009 at 4 pm. Pankaj believes that everyone can handle a camera, he will train activists associated with World Comics to document their stories and later supply it to mainstream media. Mr Mehta has conducted camera workshops globally and has 20 years work experience. 

 

 

comics for Fun team

Comics creator clockwise Sunder Mohan Murmu, Manas Baruah, Amrith Basumathary, Sharad Sharma and Leif Packalen (both resource persons), Rajeshwari Saha, Nida Shams, Lakhindra Nayak

www.comicsff.blogspot.com

Comics, Films and Coffee

It was a film from Lebanon that stole the show at the Comics café on August 28. Shot in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shateela, the film showed how youngsters were coping up with the trauma and the dilemmas of homelessness. Leif Packalen, Chairman of World Comics, Finland, who shot the film during a comics workshop, shared his experience of working with the people in the Palestinian settlement.

The meeting was attended by a few filmmakers, development workers and people associated with comics. After Leif’s film, the floor was left open for questions.

Anirban, a filmmaker was interested in knowing the overall sentiment of the content produced during the comics workshop in Lebanon. Shikha, a comics lover, was curious about the kind of scenarios painted by the women participants.

Maippi Tapainnen, the Editor of Finnish magazine, Ydin was also present. This was her first trip to India and she shared her experiences of the annual World Comics India workshop in Bhopal, held a few days before the café meet.

Some photographs and videos of workshops held in Africa were also shown.

Finnish 'comic people' in Cafe

Mr Leif Packalen, a developmental cartoonist and the chairman of World Comics Finland will deliver talk on using comics for social change. Ms Maippi Tapanainen, Secretary, World Comics Finland would also be present. The duo would also be sharing their experience of using comics as a medium of communication in regions like Africa and the Middle East.

We would appreciate if you could confirm your participation to enable us to make necessary arrangements.

Time and Venue –
August 28, 5.00 pm at:
The Comics Cafe,
B-3 (Basement), Lajpat Nagar 1, Delhi

For more information contact:
Sharad Sharma
mail@worldcomicsindia.com
+91-9811702925

A poet-labourer and many others

A very interesting meeting of minds took place at the Comics café last Saturday. We had some new members who shared their work with us – Amit, who runs a school for tribal children in Madhya Pradesh and Ajay from Delhi’s Munirka, who is a labourer during the day and writes poems in English, on spirituality, when his body is at rest. It enriched our experience, listening to Amit and Ajay, while they narrated their stories at the café.

Amit, in his school, has devised strategies to integrate education with community development. His manual of education strives at making children aware of various issues and kindles the fire of activism among them.

Ajay, on the other hand, has another inspiring story to share, of which he is the hero. Educated till third standard, Ajay is a self-taught man. Struggling against all odds, he has come up with a collection of his poems. Today, Ajay’s poems are well received across the globe, with his admirers in London and elsewhere.

A film on the journey of Community Radio was also shown in the café by our friend Madhavan. Saturdays are rocking. Rocking at the Comics café.

Weeks gone and the Week Coming !

The past three meetings at the Comics Cafe, held as usual on Saturday evenings, have been very heady. Film screening, impromptu reading sessions and usual discussions over coffee, these are the images which conjure up in our mind when we think of these meetings.

Last week, one of our friends Madan Sharma played some digital stories made by the underprivileged children of Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In these stories the children shared various stories revolving around their lives. The children used the collage of sketches, comics, still pictures and dramatized situations and weaved them together by a narrative to give it a story shape. The children of Tamil Nadu, for instance, relived the trauma of Tsunami through these stories. One of our photographer friends who is a resident of the Tsunami-affected region of Nagapattanam spoke about how the catastrophe has changed the lives of the fishermen there.

Many new friends have joined the weekly meetings. They are from different cultural and professional backgrounds and have lent varied hues of colours to the cafe. We welcome them all.

This Saturday, on June 3, we invite you for a reading session at the Comics Cafe where all those who are present shall read any work of theirs, prose or poetry. You are welcome to read any of your past works and if you have been shying away from it so far, here is the time to pick up the pen and scribble down those lines/images/thoughts which have occurred repeatedly in your dreams or are lurking somewhere in the recess of your heart.

If you still can’t find words, you may read the work of any of your favourite author; any page, any paragraph.

See you then on Saturday, June 3 at 5 pm.

Screening of Kitte Mil Ve Mahi

On Saturday, 6th May, Comics Cafe will screen a film made by filmmaker Ajay Bhardwaj. The film titled 'Kitte Mil Ve Mahi' is in Punjabi with English subtitles. The 72-minutes film is largely located in the Doaba region of Punjab. It opens a window onto the Dalit’s aspirations to carve out their own cultural space through religion, politics and the arts.

This film contends the dominant perceptions of the economic and spiritual heritage of Punjab. It does so through a people’s narrative on the preservation and regeneration of its ‘little’ traditions, which often appear seamlessly cultural and political.

Travel to the heart of Punjab. Enter a world of Sufi shrines worshipped and looked after by Dalits. Listen to B.S. Balli Qawwal Paslewale, the first generation Dalit Qawwals born out of this tradition. Join a fascinating dialogue with Lal Singh Dil—a radical poet, a Dalit, converted to Islam. Meet the last living legend of the Gadar movement, Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, who affirms a new consciousness among Dalits in Punjab and India.

The interplay between the constituents of this mosaic brings to light the triple marginalisation of Dalits--- amidst the agricultural boom that is the modern Punjab, in the contesting ground of its ‘major’ religions, and in the intellectual construction of their 'syncretism'.

The film will be begin at 5 pm (sharp) at Comics Cafe, B-3, Lajpat Nagar 1, Delhi.

Comics Cafe: The Genesis

It took seventeen plastic chairs, three round tables, few comic books and a CD of Latino music to convert a drab basement into Comics Cafe. The first meeting of the cafe was held on Saturday, 22 April. Attended by eight people - a fundraiser, a student, two cinematographers, a writer, a comics artist, a development journalist and a writer - the first meeting was marked by the screening of a film on girl child rights campaign in Rajasthan.

Over coffee and biscuits, a number of plans for the upcoming weeks were discussed. Once that was over, we broke into a discussion on the problem of girl child foeticide and infanticide in many states of India. We also discussed why many students of elite institutes like JNU were being drawn towards the BPO sector.

We pasted posters of various campaigns on the walls, with the help of a Chinese-made stick on. Some of us had got few books from personal collections for display in the cafe. A number of comics books, posters and graphic novels have also been made available. Gradually, the stock will grow. So will, the number of people and coffee cups.

We are meeting again, Saturday, 29 April at 5 pm. You can seek more details, by putting up your comments for this post.

Much 'Adda' about everything