With Shangreiwon Multhou

Shangreiwon Multhou, a professional chef, began her career with ITC in Delhi and the Taj in Mumbai after graduating from IHM in Guwahati. She set forth to California but as we say home is where hearth is, she returned to India to work with Guwahati Airline Catering. She has recently started her own school in culinary, ‘Exotic School of Cooking’ at Dimapur. Her art of decoration with local raw vegetables have been cherished and is a treasured captures in weddings and menus.

Shangreiwon Multhou

Q: How did you start your career after coming back home?

Wedding is a lavish practice here, where decoration of food and cuisines are important and integral part. Initially I ventured into arrangements and decorations of food items in wedding and then there was the demand to learn cooking from those I came in contact. Cooking makes me learn more.

Q: What is close to your heart while displaying your culinary skills?

I love to make something out of raw ingredients.

Q: You could have started the same business in California too taking the ethnic cooking abroad. What makes you start your business back home?

I always wanted to come home and share my knowledge, promote cuisines and connect with the grassroots here with my people and traditions.

Q: How do you familiarize the ethnic taste for those who are not familiar with cuisines from North-east India?

I improvise on the cuisines and try keeping the traditional flavour intact.

Q: How do you see yourself five years from now?

More people should appreciate the ethnic exotic cuisines of Nagaland.

Q: How do you take chef as a career?

Well, nothing is impossible if we put our heart and work hard to live to our dreams.

It is good, I get to travel different places, get to familiarize different flavours, different cultures. It opens up avenues. Cooking is a lifestyle and people are adopting it.

Q: What is your message to our readers?

Chef as career can make you survive in any part of the world. It is a need and lifestyle!

With boom in hospitality industry, a lot of good opportunities are available for trained and experienced chefs. Once a person is trained in kitchen, they can work in Hotel, Airline Catering, and Cruise Liner or start their own business.

CARVING IN RADISH

CARVING IN WATERMELON

CARVING IN GOURD

Thankyou Shang!

We have as our guest Ms. Eju Baruah , an Aeronautical Engineer and an aspiring pilot , who is an example of achieving her dreams by sheer determination and hard work. What makes her so special is that she is from Guwahati , who has carved her place in far off Germany and hence we felt would be just the right person to throw some light on the overseas job and career scenario as well as draw some inspiration from her experience.

FE- You are an engineer at one of the world’s most prestigious aviation company. So coming from Guwahati to Germany, how did this happen?
EB-It was a dream, and belief and hard work, no luck or chance!
As a kid, I enjoyed playing with my only toy jeep, that I could open it up and fix it back innumerable times until I could fix it no more. I was fascinated with machines and how they work, and most of all with airplanes. It was then that I had wished for myself that one day I would be flying and working on these flying machines. And this dream led me to the way, one step at a time, in first forming myself with an academic degree in Aeronautical Engineering and later with an advanced degree in Computational Engineering, and acquiring the skills and hands-on experience while working first two years at an Automobile Industry, finally leading me to the doorstep of the Aerospace Industry, where by the grace of god, I can live this fascination today!

FE-As a person who has done her education from both India and Overseas , what do you feel about the Indian Education System in comparison with Overseas?
EB-I am not sure if I am the right person to answer this question. However, having done my education in Europe, I personally feel that the Overseas, in this case the European Education System, teaches you to learn, understand and question the very philosophy behind the subject, it mostly molds the mind to innovate. The Indian Education System teaches you to learn, understand and absorb the knowledge, it mostly molds the mind to apply and implement. But this is just my very personal feeling.

FE- There has been many opinion and discussions about the brain drain from India. What according to you are the reasons? Do you feel it is justified if a individual opts for an overseas education and job?
EB-Again, I am not sure if I am the right person to answer on this issue. Personally to me, the world is more a global-local village, and I feel that it is justified for an individual to opt for an overseas career and life. Having said that however, if the person receives an education sponsored by a scholarship or likewise in India, I feel that he/she has a moral obligation to serve a few years in his home country.

FE-There are many companies who offer overseas education and jobs , some of whom may not be genuine. How do we tell the genuine from the fraud?
EB-Well, I do not know of companies who offer overseas education. Concerning jobs, normally you would apply for a position the conventional way, which is going though advertisements in the newspaper or the company website and applying as an online or a paper application as preferred by the Company. So far, I have never come across anything fraud.

FE- You aspire to be a pilot and are officially undergoing training for it? Why this switch from an engineer to a pilot?
EB-This is not a switch, it is just the fulfilling of my dream to be able to fly and maneuver an airplane in the sky, and enjoy the freedom and the beauty of the endless horizons!

FE- Which do you feel is harder? Being a Pilot or an Engineer?
EB-Whether you want to be an Airplane Engineer or an Airplane Pilot, you need a lot of hard work, dedication and devotion, coupled with patience and discipline. And most of all, whether you want to work with airplanes or fly them, you have to be passionate about it! Only with passion and devotion to the skill, either or both is possible!

FE-On a rating from 1 to 7, how will you rate the following for a career or job of choice – Luck, Talent, Finance, Hard work, family support, determination, exam performance
EB-With 1 as the highest and 7 as the lowest, I would rate these as — Hard work, Determination, Talent, Exam performance, Family support, Finance, Luck.

FE- If not an aeronautical Engineer , what would you have been?
EB-An Aeronautical Engineer
I tend not to have a Plan B in life, it distracts me from putting all my energy into Plan A.

FE-As an Indian residing as well working in a foreign country, did you ever face discrimination of any sorts out there?

EB-Never

FE-Some words of wisdom, to students who will be facing there boards exam on career choices and for those who think that life ceases to exist beyond a great percentage in exams.
EB–For those who would be facing exams or career choices, my advice to you is that there is no shortcut to success! Put all your energy, dedication and devotion to your skill, and believe that you will achieve what you have set out to achieve!
For those who think that life ceases to exist beyond a great percentage in exams, my advice to you is that life is all about the choices we make! You can choose to decide that life ceases to exist after your failure, or you can choose to accept this failure, get up and give another go. Life, as someone said, is not about how hard we hit, it is about how hard we can get hit and still be able to gear up and go on!

FE- Future plans of yours?
EB-To live the dreams I have realized so far, and to work on the fulfillment of the dreams I have set forth further in life!

Ms Baruah’s brief profile:
- born and brought up in Guwahati, India
- attended schooling in Holy Child School, Guwahati, India
- graduated with a first degree of B.Eng. in Aeronautical Engineering
- further graduated with a second degree of M.Sc. in Computational Engineering
- recently completed a part-time M.Sc. in Composites
- worked 2 years as an Engineer at Daimler Chrysler AG
- working as a Senior Engineer at AIRBUS in Hamburg, Germany
- loves flying, photography, reading, music, horse-riding, gardening,…

Local Kung Fu – Origins

To get a feature film made, one needs to ask oneself the following questions:

Does my dad have a few extra crores that he wouldn’t mind investing with highly uncertain chances of recovery?

Do I have good looks, broad shoulders and big biceps, or a slim waist and a half-decent face?

In my case, all the answers were no. My dad’s bank balance is as middle class as it gets. I’m occasionally termed cute, but as for biceps, I’ll get them as soon as I can afford gym membership.

So how should I pursue my dream career of working in films? The answer came gradually, first in the form of Peter Jackson’s biography, which I was lucky enough to get for 900 bucks less than the printed price, and then in a slew of microbudget and no-budget films like In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Once, El Mariachi, The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project, etc. I read about how Peter Jackson shot his first film – Bad Taste – over a year’s worth of weekends. He’d work at his job as a newspaper engraver for five days of the week, then take his pay and buy 16 mm film and shoot over the weekend with his friends and family. He himself played three roles.

Bad Taste is a very entertaining, fast-paced, gross-out horror comedy. Peter Jackson made excellent use of all his resources; The film and the story of its creation were a big inspiration.

Over my first couple of years in Mumbai, I realized that there were many, many people with short films. And many, many, many, many people with scripts. Including an autowala, a friend told me about.  So how was I going to make myself stand out? Watching The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project was an eye-opener. Shot on a budget of Rs 40,000, it was a complete feature film – technically and artistically sound. I’m really not a big fan of surrealist or existentialist or whatever stuff all that is, but the very fact that someone had completed such a good-looking film on such a low budget was a big inspiration.

So what kind of film could I make? Or more specifically, what was the best possible combination of resources I had? I’ve played guitar with friends’ bands on stage before and composed some songs, so I have enough knowledge to make a musical romantic comedy. With that in mind, I wrote the script that ultimately became the novel Chocolate_Guitar_Momos. Here’s a music video/promo for the book:

The novel got accepted for publication around the time I’d started planning a feature, so I moved on to the next possible concept: a martial arts comedy. Here too, I had the best possible resources – an uncle who’s been teaching martial arts for 20 years now and consequently, a large body of alumni, some of whom were very good friends. Kung Fu comedy it is then!

Now how were we to go about it? I made some calculations. We had already made about 4-5 short martial arts comedies that had become reasonably popular on Youtube. From those experiences, I’d estimated that it takes roughly a day to shoot a minute of good quality action. A martial arts film’s climactic fight would be roughly 5-8 minutes, and there would be at least 3-4 other smaller fights of 1 or 2 minutes each. So we were looking at approximately 15-20 minutes of action, or in other words, 15-20 days of shooting only action – that too, assuming we shot the whole day.

So should we rent a professional camera or buy a handycam? Renting a camera would cost, at the very least, 900-1,000 bucks a day. Hence about 20,000 bucks of rental costs for only the fights, plus another 10-15,000 if we shot the non-action scenes really, really efficiently and quickly. Very, very dicey. And what about hiring a cameraman? Instead of spending 30-40,000 on renting a camera, why not just buy one?

Call it fate, destiny, karma, whatever, but some things just fell into place at the right time. In my case, the DSLR revolution was one of those. Film-level quality at affordable prices.

After a lot of web research and inputs from knowledgeable friends, I ended up buying the Canon 550D. (As of now, the camera costs 40,000.) It shoots HD 1080p and 720p at 50fps. We needed a high frame rate for smooth slow-motion for the action scenes.

Now we needed a good cinematographer. How do we go about finding one? Jyoti Chitrabon in Guwahati has produced quite a few award winning people, so I wondered whether we should look for a recently graduated or about-to-graduate student of cinematography from there. But the big problem was that we didn’t have any fixed schedules. When one actor had an off day and another didn’t have school and a third’s drum class was cancelled, we’d go and shoot a scene that involved the three of them. There was no way we could map out a definite shooting schedule. And then there was also the question of comfort levels. Would we find somebody with the same level of enthusiasm as us? Would he or she be co-operative or stubborn?

I looked around Facebook profiles and albums and came across a couple of possibilities, but in the end, we couldn’t really work anything out, so I decided to handle the camera myself, and in the scenes where I’d be in the frame, set up the shot and let someone else operate.

I knew just a little more than zilch when we started shooting, but we learnt as we went along, learning about shutter speeds, the 180 degree shutter rule, ND filters, depth of field, etc and made course corrections. Needless to say, the internet was the most important teacher in all of this.

Now that the film’s complete, I look back and see many mistakes I made. The basics are in place, but there are some fluctuations in color and lighting in some places, and really bad framing in a couple of others. In fact, I’ve had to drop a fairly funny scene because I used a long lens where I should have used a wide, and the shots look really weird.

But like they say – actually I’ve forgotten who said it – you know how to shoot a film only after you’ve finished shooting it. In my case, since we were shooting with no crew and free resources, we had the liberty to go back and re-shoot several bits and pieces.

I could go on and on about the behind the scenes stuff, but that I’ll continue after the film’s release.  But you can still see stills and the trailer at http://www.facebook.com/localkungfu

Sumitra Senapaty, an internationally known travel writer has seen and done just about everything. She has kayaked the South China Sea, snorkeled Great Barrier Reef & Red Sea, sailed the waters of Seychelles & Maldives, rafted the Zanskar in Ladakh, self driven through New Zealand, cruised the Mediterranean, toured Alaska, Canada, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, France, Australia, camped out in the African bush, and much more. Getting off the ‘beaten track’ is an addiction and she often searches out those special things to do on each trip. Sumitra is also an avid ‘foodie’ and can be found checking out unusual eateries or baking her favorite brownie cake (when she’s in town).

She felt that her treasure of experiences needs to be shared with other women. Her wish turns into reality with WOW Club- Women on Wanderlust, which pioneered the concept of all women travel during the summer of 2005. WOW Club makes your travel dreams come true. Its always, where have you been so far and where do you wish to go – Now pack up and come geared for WOW’s memorable holidays. WOW travel calendar for 2012 includes Uzbekistan, Kashmir, Ladakh, China with Lhasa, Spain, South America, Central Europe, USA, Tanzania and much more.

This issue of Fried Eye, we bring you a short evening of chit chat with Sumitra, the owner of Wow club- Women on Wanderlust, India’s first travel club for women.

How did WOW start?

It all started seven years ago when I realized of a missed travel platform for women travelers. It was a need, important and necessary. The idea was solo. It was conceptualized in New Zealand when I met women travelers from UK. It took a year to give a thought for the start but with families support and discussion, I started the WOW club-Women on Wanderlust. The WOW was born. The first trip in India was made to Ladakh and the first international travel was made to Egypt. Every year we make thirty trips for women all around the world.

How do you define the wow at WOW club?

The trip is different. We choose a central and a safe place for tour. We give ample time for women to explore around. We believe in the idea of making the travel ‘feel the wanderer’ in them. We sometimes go for meditation, do pottery, painting or get involved in wine tasting events.

WOW knows it’s a ‘holiday’ when a woman wants. We believe in the traveler’s interest. WOW women are those who say ‘Okay, I’m out’ from their mundane and hectic routine.

Who is a women traveler in WOW club?

Women travelers do not need anybody. A friend or family member may or may not like the idea of traveling out of known groups but it’s a woman’s interest, It is they who like it and define their ‘fine interest’, ‘ idle opportunity’ to explore and be themselves. Sometimes meeting in family gathering is difficult. Instead of all family members traveling to India, some of them meet during the trip midway and make the trip a memorable family gets together. Once there were three members of family traveling from Bangalore, Ireland and Australia for spending together.

Women of all ages between 25-80 years are travelers. They are 99% professional. They bond intellectually with some common interest , they make friends for life-time. A woman traveler of WOW is someone who is ‘self-motivated’, ‘courageous’, ‘confident’, ‘enthusiastic, ’encouraging’ and ‘share certain interest’.

What tips would you like to give to women travelers?

Women must be sure of where they are traveling. They must know what they want from the destination and should be able to understand where they are headed. They must do a little bit of research by themselves before setting for a destination. Women must always travel light, be alert anytime anywhere and have self-confident.

How do you choose your destination for women travelers?

On basis of what women want. Locations must be out of ordinary. Destinations must have something unique, like rafting in Rishikesh, wellness, trekking tour as in Valley of Flowers. Uncommon destinations and unusual destinations like Jordan, Great Barrier Reef, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Morrocco etc. We look out for destinations where women can spend time in reasonable luxury and pamper themselves, be adventurous and comfortable.

Suggest three top destinations for women 

I would suggest, firstly South Africa where I prefer Cape Town, Garden Route, Krugeer and National Park Safari, secondly, Oman for safe countryside and lastly, one should not miss cruising in Greece. Its ideal without packing and unpacking for women in ocean liners

On Woman’s day Message for Wanderers –

“Be Pink & Footloose! Travel well and be alert always! Choose to explore the unknown in preference to more staid destinations”

Women travelers for cruising at Greek Island

Wine Tasting in South Africa

South Africa

For more details visit http://www.wowsumitra.com/

‘Whoa! Why me?’ Was my first reaction when Fried Eye asked me to write something for the special Valentine’s Day issue of Fried Eye. For my friends I am the perpetual ‘Jane Kyon Log Pyar Karte Hai’ type of guy. Now I don’t think I will end up falling in love like Amir Khan in the movie Dil Chahta Hai. I have always avoided falling in love like the plague. I know I will be treated like a heretic if I say something against falling in love on the occasion of Valentine’s Day and some people are going to gun for my head. But since I have been asked to write about my point of view I am writing it though I am sure no one is going to read this.

Why did you never have a girlfriend? Were you ever ditched by someone? -These are some of the questions I am usually bombarded with by my friends and aunts. Being single, it seems, is regarded a sin nowadays. Much the way being in love was regarded a sin centuries ago. Here I want to make something very clear at the very outset that I am not a misogynist nor am I gay . I don’t think a girl is a gateway to hell or that she is just a bunch of negative traits… I just avoid falling in love for some very practical reasons and I think I have a point.

Unlike some people I do not think love as a panacea to everything. I do not believe Love can do wonders for you when your boss is yelling at you for no reason or your subordinates are behaving like prehistoric fossils who expect you to do the most elementary brain work for them. Love does not make things easy for you as claimed by films and novels. On the contrary it makes life difficult for some people. I have seen a lot of people falling in and out of love for silly reasons. I have also seen men being exploited by their girlfriends and women being humiliated and treated like playthings by their boyfriends all in the name of love. If love is blind it would be wise on our part to prevent such blindness. I am not one of those people who think that life is incomplete without a lover and therefore I won’t waste my valuable time  running after it.

I am not saying that love is bad and everyone should avoid it. What I am trying to say is that you can live without it. Before taking a giant leap we should do some SWAT analysis as we do in case of investments and other decisions. It may be quite possible that you do not have the qualities to be a successful lover.

I find it difficult to believe that someone can love you if you have no quality to be loved. I am an ordinary human being with a lot of imperfections and I do not expect any girl to dream about me. Yet I do not want to waste my time thinking about it and trying to be the Mr. Charming of every girl’s dreams. I cannot rewind my life to my childhood and restart myself to be Mr. Perfect. Nor do I want to create a false impression about myself. I am an ordinary guy and my self respect prevents me from letting someone have pity on me by saying she loves me.

According to sociologists people who do not grow up with siblings or other kids can never make good lovers or spouses. Having never been raised with other kids I don’t know how to adjust with people and am sure will make a horrible life partner. So I feel I don’t  have the right to make someone’s life miserable.

Yes I have been attracted to girls. I also have spent crazy moments dreaming about a perfect someone who can love me with my imperfections. But I do not let those unrealistic thoughts overpower me. Self control is what distinguishes human beings from animals.

Not being involved in a love affair is a conscious decision on my part and I have no regrets about it. Contrary to the belief that single people are miserable, I am leading a perfect life. I have a lot of things to keep me occupied all the time. I have my job, my books, my computer, my thoughts, my parents and a group of trusted friends. As physically challenged people can live without certain limbs, romantically challenged people like me can also live like other people. However I expect people to accept my single status and stop giving weird looks when I say I have never been in love

For me, getting a comic book to read was not easy in those days of being a teenager. When I used to ask my father to buy me a comic book, he replied, “You can’t even complete your educational books, leave aside the comics”. Thus, it became a reason for my being fanciful and feeling jealous about one of my bench-mates in the class. He used to bring dozens of beautifully sketched glossy comics every week and would happily flaunt it in front of us. I remember, ‘Spiderman’ from Marvel Comics was one of them. In the evening, I would eagerly sit in front of our Black and White Television set at home  to watch my most awaited programs in the DD Metro Channel, ‘the cartoons’. But, sometimes I lamented over why we don’t have a cable connection (especially to watch more cartoon channels).  During the breaks, many advertisements especially targeting us would come up. An advertisement of Diamond Comics that I still remember goes like this way –“…paaiyein ‘Chacha Chaudhary’, ‘Phantom’, ‘Mandrake’ ‘Billoo’… WoW!” Being with Mickey and Friends for 15 minutes and temporarily shifting to the world of comics was one wonderful experience. It was a completely different world beyond reality, where people are super human beings possessing extraordinary power. Those super heroes could fly like the birds, walk in the water, can stop a running train and what not.                                                                                                                              As I was on the ‘search mode’ to have some basic study over comics in different websites I found it quite interesting to know what role comics played in molding a young mind and how it started. Comics have a hidden meaning altogether. In spite of dragging the young minds towards the ‘fantasy World’ comics mark the basics of storytelling, education through entertainment, building a character and maintaining the pulse of and most importantly delivering different flavors to people of different age groups. I now feel why ‘Asterix and Obelix’, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ and many more still remains as hot favourites.

In India Comics made its mark almost around late 1940’s. The distribution of comics in India is more recent than the European, American and Japanese industries, but is nevertheless more than 80 years old. Despite the publication of about 100 million copies a year, comics in India are still largely dominated by American characters. Our comics are slightly marginal in quality than the Japanese ‘Manga Cartoons’ thus local production remains marginal. One of the earliest attempts In Indian Comics was by comic magazine ‘Chandamama’. ‘Chandamama’ has published in more than 5 languages since 1947. It developed from the adaptations of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in the 1960s, to educational comics for children, caricatures in print media, and adaptations of American superheroes.

One of the early Indian comic authors was Aabid Surti, who published the first 3 panel strips ‘Dhabbuji’ based on the protagonist who is a lawyer by profession and is witty, in the magazine ‘Dharmayug’. Pran, another Comics Author, created numerous strips, like ‘Shrimatiji’, ‘Pinki’, ‘Billoo’ and the popular ‘Chacha Chaudhary’ in the 1970s. These comics continued to be inspired mainly by newspaper strips, and popular early superhero based Western comics.                                                                               Among local languages, cartoon strips and comic books thrived, especially in West Bengal. Pratulchandra Lahiri created two strips on a regular basis, for the Jugantar newspaper in Bengali and for the Amrit Bazar Patrika in English. One of his creations, Batual the Great is one of India’s earliest superheroes as it was conceived during the sixties.

Comics in the middle years were influenced by the popularity of American ‘Archie Comics’ and series like ‘The Adventures of Tintin’. In 1967, the editor Anant Pai of the India Book House (IBH) launched the series ‘Amar Chitra Katha’. Its objective was to transmit the great stories of historical figures and of those in religious texts of different religions to the children. ‘The life of Krishna’ was the first in the series, joined rapidly by the ‘Ramayana’ and the ‘Mahabharata’. Anant Pai along with IBH launched the first Indian comic magazine for children, called ‘Tinkle’ in the beginning of the 1980s. It was a big success. Tinkle diversified on the educational themes developed by ‘Amar Chitra Katha’, including science, contemporary culture, etc. The magazine introduced numerous recurring heroes like amusing ‘Suppandi’, ‘Mooshik’ the adorable mouse, ‘Kalia’, the crow and the malicious minister ‘Tantri’. ‘Target’, another magazine was an innovator. It had its own artwork and originality and was of a high quality in its time. Manjula Padmanabhan, one of the few Indian female comic authors, did illustrations for Target. She also created a female comic character called ‘Suki’ which was serialized in ‘Sunday Observer’ in the 1980s. Raj Comics, another notable Indian comic publishing house homes to characters such as ‘Nagraj’, (a superhero who has subsequently made the transition to television), ‘Doga’, Super Commando ‘Dhruva’, ‘ Parmanu’ and various others.

In Assam, ‘Rongmon Comics’ was the first coloured comic magazine published in Assamese language. It started its first publication from February 2005. It depicts Assamese fables, stories from epics, folk tale, comic story, science fictions and general knowledge.

 A partnership between Richard Branson’s Virgin group, and India’s ‘Gotham Comics’, led to a new company, ‘Virgin Comics’. In 2006 it geared towards creating new lines of comics rooted in Indian mythology andIndian history. The first series of comics were published the same year, to mixed critical reviews. The main icon of Virgin Comics was the superhero Devi.

In addition to the recent development of more mature comics, in 2004, Penguin’s ‘Corridor’, by Sarnath Banerjee, which was widely advertised as India’s first graphic novel, followed by a second foray in 2007. However, a 60 page comic called ‘River of Stories’ by Delhi based artist Orijit Sen, published in 1994 by ‘Kalpavriksh’, about the Narmada Dam Projects controversy, is an important precedent and can be regarded as one of the early Indian graphic novels.                                                                                                        In 2009, the Virgin Group pulled out of Virgin Comics, and a new company Liquid Comics has taken over with the same core team of Gotham Chopra and his group. Their significant achievements include ‘Devi’, ‘The Sadhu’, ‘Snake Woman’, etc.

  Based out of Mumbai, ‘Level10 Comics’ was founded in the same year.  It owns a flagship publication titled ‘Comic Jump’ that is targeted at the 18-30 male audience. They experiment with a number of genres, namely ‘The Rabhas Incident’ which is a Zombie thriller, Shaurya which is about five young people with Super Human qualities etc. They have also published creator-owned titles.

The art of Indianization

Comic artists such as Grant Morrison’s ‘Vimanarama Comic’, and Marvel’s ‘Spiderman: India’ project, were the first major release by a large comic company. It introduced India-based artists’ talent to the mainstream, and which was published in India by Gotham Comics.

Newspaper Medium Comics                                                                                                                                              

In the 1990s, newspapers started publishing more caricatures of Indian origin. Among the most famous caricaturists are Joseph Arul Raj, Ashok Dongre, Anupam Sinha and Neelabh Bisen. Anupam Sinha’s weekly strip superhero “Rudra” is being hailed as trend setting in hindi newspapers like Dainik Jagran. Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thakeray was also a caricaturist when he was young, and has worked for ‘The Free Press Journal‘, where cartoonist R.K.Laxman has also worked.

Web-comics                                                                                                                                                                     

The increasingly popular Web Comic medium after the radical shift from the mainstream Comics is mostly dedicated to short online comedy strips. It has also been used by a small number of Indian artists or writers. The Indian blog “Daily Humor” also publishes web comics and was featured on one of India’s premiere blogs “India Uncut“. Also famous among youngsters, ‘Savita Bhabi‘, a web comic, is possibly the first pornographic comic in India.                                        

The Offbeat                                                                                                                              

 Very recently a new genre of comics has come up. It is known as ‘World Comics’. The Indian wing ‘World Comics India’ launched syndicated comics service in 2004 headed by cartoonist Sharad Sharma. The idea behind this service was to disseminate information on varied issues to a wider audience. Mainstreaming unheard voices through newspapers is the key objective behind “Syndicate strip service”. These Comics are drawn in four-panel format and are converted into comic strip form, so that it can be circulated to newspapers, magazines and NGOs’ journals. Through this a voice from a remote region of the country reaches the mainstream and is heard across different parallels. These are comics maybe drawn by common people living in rural hinterland and remote towns of the country. So far this strip services were circulated in Rajasthan, Mizoram, Assam and Uttarakhand.

The Final Addendum                                                                                                                                                     

With the advent of India’s potential and demand of quality comics, but lack of institutes for the speciality in comics art, Mr. Anupam Sinha has launched his own ‘Anupama Academy Of Art’ for specialization in departments of creation of comics.

 Moreover, at this time we see a sea change in the mindset of the youngsters and others. With the advent of ‘Cable revolution’ in India, the ‘Comics Readers’ have decreased drastically in the 90’s and the internet and video games have been pouring the salt over it. Children at this age hardly know who ‘Supandi’ is but they know about ‘Doremon’. It is quite ironical that this art is facing severe competition from all sides. Ten years before, thousands like me were compelled not to read comics. But now, we ourselves are ignoring not to read them. Thus, leaving a bleak question open, “Is it going to be another ‘Dodo’?”

Definitely not! On February 2011 A Comics Convention was held at Dilli Haat, New Delhi. It happens to be the first for India that took the San Diego Comic Con (Convention) as its inspiration. This signals its horizon to reach new heights in popularizing Indian Comics over its readers nationally and globally in a more creative and innovative way in the coming years.

   December 22^nd 2011 marked the 70^th year of Archie Andrew’s first tryst with our world. Yes, on December 22^nd December 1941, Mr. Andrews came into our life for the first time and till date has remained a memorable and invincible part of our lives. Needless to say that every other teen has had his share of Archie and his gang in the town of Riverdale, USA.

 Interesting to note that  Archie Andrews, a regular accident prone, lovable 17 year old and his friends Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and the others were created by publisher/editor John L. Goldwater and Bob Montana, basing them on real life people they had met. Goldwater had hoped to appeal the fans of Andy Hardy movies of 1940s and 1950s starring actor Mickey Rooney when he introduced Archie Comics

 The concept of Archie was derived by Goldwater by bringing to light the life of a normal ordinary person to which the readers from various walks of life could relate to. It was “America’s newest boyfriend”, “America’s average teenager”, Archie Andrews. One by one the infamous characters of the ‘Archie brand’ was introduced to the world starting with Betty Copper as the quintessential best girlfriend or the girl next door and Veronica Lodge  as the posh and rich girl friend.  We saw the character of Jughead Jones as the best friend with an insatiable appetite for all kinds of junk food, yet somehow he always managed to remain stick thin. His obsession with food went to such great heights that he would name his pet dog as ‘Hotdog’. Hotdog is also a regular character in the comic series.

Archie found a prankster and competition in snooty Reggie Mantle, both of them competing to gain the attention from ‘Ms. Cynosure of all eyes’, Veronica Lodge. Mr Weatherbee, Ms. Grundy as the principal and the professor of Riverdale High where this bunch of kids attend school. Moose as the jock who was definitely unbeatable in the department of brawn but beatable easily by a child in the department of brains! Ironically, Moose always finds a best friend in Dilton Doiley, a child prodigy with an indigenous gift of gray matter, the local scientist of Riverdale. Over the years, we have seen Mr. Lodge, the father of Veronica and the local multi-millionaire sometimes warming up to the gang but most of the times disturbed and annoyed with Archie’s clumsiness.

Living across the oceans in India, far away from the Archie’s home abode in USA, teen years were fun getting submerged in Riverdale and the antics of all the lovable characters. The world sketched by Victor Bloom and created by Goldwater itself felt so real that when fourteen years or so later I moved to USA and while driving through Bronx, NY passed an affluent neighborhood called Riverdale, surreal feeling just passed me by and it felt as though any minute, I would have a tete-a-tete with my favorite boys and girls. Archie Comic Publication has their head office in the little town of Mamaroneck in New York.

As years have passed by, Archie Comics have seen a substantial change to stay current with the times. To cite an example of which, is the introduction of an openly gay character called Kevin Keller which has met with substantial popularity. Beloved history teacher, Ms. Grundy meets her death and Archie Andrews get married. But the stories of Riverdale will never cease to die as it is almost like a tradition of passing it through generations. For example, my father, an ardent fan of Archies introduced me to the world of AA and I did the same to my sister. Between us, we have a plethora of a collection of Archie comics and digest and with many friends I know, it is the same story. As far as I know, most of you readers are reading this line as you are an Archie fan and can relate to what you are reading.

To the love for the world of Archie- may you never cease to entertain us and engulf us in the antics of yours and your friends. Cheers!

Oh Eco friendly nature ke rakhshak , the song blared out loud from my music system as I clicked on the link that Sanjeeta had sent to me and should I call it a providence, but it led to me an initiative ‘Oh My India-’ about eco friendly lifestyle. I was intrigued and clicked some more which led me on to Green Gangtok which said about itself as Eco fashion for the eco conscious. The common thread to both was the owner Omi Gurung. What was the triangle all about?

Omi Gurung from Sikkim, now based in Bangalore , an achiever throughout , is an activist, a writer and editor, an entrepreneur and also a successful fashion designer to boot. At the age of 22, he was the editor for Dateline Bangalore and later worked as a fashion editor for a youth magazine in Bangalore. He has also been featured in leading newspapers in India like The Hindu,DNA, Vijay Times, TOI,Bangalore Mirror, Talk Sikkim, The New Indian Express, Deccan Herald, Deccan Chronicle, Midday, Prajawani, Usha Kiran, Vijaya Next, Udayavani,Sikkim Mail and many more.At the age of 25 he has proved to the world his commitment to the environment and also has dared to be different with Oh My India and Green Gangtok -an eco boutique, a first of its kind in Sikkim. We had the opportunity to have him as our guest and enjoy a short chit chat with him, here in Fried Eye.

Q1/ Omi Gurung (Sandeep Gurung) ,fashion designer, writer, editor, entrepreneur, visionary: a topper in school and college, award winning designs, editor at the young age of 22, an activist and finally an entrepreneur. all at the young, very young age of 25 years. Who or what has shaped/inspired Omi Gurung to be what he is today ?

I draw my inspiration from the surrounding, it could be anything living or non-living entity. A keen observer and a fast learner I have learned it hard way from the university of life. It was my determination and aspiration to do and be something in life that gave an identity to my name. It would be unfair if I do not mention my parents and teachers, they have played a vital role during my growing years.

Q2/ Opting for a career as a Fashion Designer (which is still considered unconventional in Indian society), was it difficult for you to pursue it? Did you have to face any hardships or objections?

Oh yes, many; where do I begin my story with (lol). Fashion Designing was an alien culture 10 years back and for a bright student to pursue it as a career did raise eyebrows. No one in my family was happy of my decision but as time passed, achievements did help break the silence. Reading about “ME” on national dailies made them feel happy and proud too. However, I was focused and worked hard to accomplish my dreams.

Q3/At the age of 22 you turned into an Editor and writer? How did writing and magazines happen?

Well, designing and writing are two things close to my heart since childhood. When some one asked what do you want to be when you grow up? My answer was always Fashion designer cum writer. I still remember many laughed and said next to impossible for a little boy from hills to make it big. But I knew, if Bandana Tiwari (Fashion features director, Vogue India) could make it, why not me? She too was fom a small state Sikkim. So when I came to Bangalore, I also came along with my dreams. While I was in my fashion college, I made it a point to take out time for writing too and in a year I was writing for several online portals like Burrp and Desiblitz. By the year I graduated, my style tips was published by several publications in Bangalore. Later after few years I enrolled for PG Diploma in Jornalism from Sri Sri Centre for Media Studies and was chosen as editor for the inhouse lab journal. I never came second, first became my default rank in SSCMS. Bangalore had accepted me and so did I, it became my home. I was in love with the place and people there, met several people from all walks of life and explored the city as a localite. I could feel the pulse of the city and knew what was happening. As I graduated from SSCMS, I was offered a post of fashion editor. It was because of my networking skills and past writing experiences, I was the chosen one.

Q4/Which one do you consider yourself more? A writer or a fashion designer

I consider myself as an artist as I design, write and advocate.

Q5/ OMI and Green Gangtok, your pet projects, are both committed to a green lifestyle. Could you please share with us a little bit about them? Their objectives and aims, their functions,. How different are they from each other?

Oh My India (OMI) is not an NGO, it is an initiative that catalysis change in the lifestyle of people in India by creating awareness to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle domestic waste and helping them to get started. We believe that by following 3R concept and going green, we can do our bit to protect the environment and is a great way to reduce environmental footprint as well.

At OMI, we advocate about green living habits i.e. we CARE, we SHARE, we INSPIRE. We care for our mother earth, so we share ideas and information on green lifestyle via social networking sites and in the process, we inspire others to be the change. We also conduct workshop, where we tell you how you can use your household waste to make fashionable stuff and educate people on sustainable fashion and green lifestyle in India. OMI also make upcycled products.

Oh My India was started as a social group on Facebook on 10 May, 2010 . In a short span of time Oh My India has inspired many and evolved to be the change.

Green Gangtok is an eco friendly fashion boutique, first of its kind in Sikkim. The boutique houses an array of exciting fashionable green choices in apparels, accessories and aretefacts.The products are natural, upcycled and as well as sustainable and fair. Green Gangtok highlight designers who are pushing the envelope in eco-friendly design without compromising their vision and aesthetic. The boutique is also committed to the promotion of hand skills, self-expression and craftsmanship, combining a sense of social purpose and the spirit of collective creativity.

Q- How did you come upon or what made you take up environmental issues as your projects or causes?

I have been brought up in hills in a lush green environment with panoramic view of breath taking Kanchendzonga and I have always been used to a green lifestyle since childhood. So green living was always a part of my life. When I came to Bangalore, ten years back it was green (literally) but over past few years it has turned grey, so I felt it is high time we must do something before it turns black. And OMI was a way out , a green initiative to create awareness. Today OMI has traveled beyond Bangalore, changing lives for betterment and inspiring many.

Q6/ What has been the response to OMI and Green Gangtok from the people in general?

It has been a very rewarding experience. It is nice to receive emails and phone calls from people world wide and sometimes celebrities too expressing their love and interest for OMI.

Q7/ Did you face any setbacks while starting up Green Gangtok? What has been the experience like till date?

Green Gangtok is a new venture and hardly six months old. It is too early to comment on it but yes so far it has been a wonderful experience. I get to learn a lot from the customers feedback. It is a new concept to them. Many do not know what is eco-friendly boutique? So, a venture like Green Gangtok also educates and create awareness about green lifestyle.

Q8/ At present Green Gangtok is in Sikkim while you are based in Bangalore. So how do you manage it? Any plans of expanding the chain of boutiques?

Yes, it is tough but not impossible. I travel often to and fro too. Dad takes care of Green Gangtok sometimes or else my small brother is always there to look after. Thanks to facebook, makes my life easier, 90% of communication and transaction happens online, so I take care of it.

Q9/ Any more future projects from OMI and Green Gangtok?

Yes, we do have several interesting plans for OMI. We want more youth to be a part of the green initiative from different parts of India. So, we have plans to travel and conduct sustainable workshops in different places. We will also be frequently updating our weblog www.ohmyindia.co.nr with news and information on green lifestyle. It will also be a great learning source of DIY ideas where people can learn the craft of making fashionable stuffs out of household waste.

As far as Green Gangtok is concerned we are planning to open up e-store, so that people from North East can buy green products staying at home with just a click.

Q10,/ Coming back to writing, you have done a brilliant job for Midday ( from a sting operation to articles on serious issues). please tell us a little about your experience as a writer. Any incident, personality or story that you covered that left quite an impression on your mind?

Yes, I was suppose to do an interview with Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (Hijra Guru). We had a few telephonic conversation but unfortunately I could not do the interview as I left the publication. However, it was so nice to discover how humble and polite she was. Sometimes, it just takes few minutes to make you understand many things in life and my short conversations with her was one. In future I would love to do an interview with her and ask many unanswered questions.

Q12/ Multitasking has been very much a part of your life as you play multiple roles through out the day- Designer, writer , entrepreneur, activist? How do you slip on and off from each so easily ?

If you do things you love and passionate about, it comes naturally to you. It has become a part of my life. I take care of my work, cook , do all the household chores, meet up with friends, coffee and conversation, call my parents and do many other things. It just flows, I think you can’t plan it, you just do it when you feel like and this is one of the perk when you work for yourself.

Q13/please share with us your secret of effective time management.

Shh…come closer, secret is there is no secret to effective time management. Each individual has different lifestyle, so there is no formula to it. You have to build your own way out . All I can say is do things you want and don’t waste your time doing things you don’t want to.

Q14/Any message to our readers?

Life is beautiful! If you do not agree , look in the mirror and ask why? Listen to what the person in the mirror has to say. Now close your eyes and ask thyself why did that person in the mirror said life is not beautiful and try to listen to your heart. There will be an answer to your question.

Q15 / And finally , we would like to thank you for your precious time, but before taking leave could you please share a few fashion/lifestyle tips with us keeping the christmas season and winters in mind.

This festive season, try to make handmade gifts for your loved ones but take extra care to make it special. If time is the problem there are many online stores where you can get up-cycled gifts. Use ecofriendly products to decorate your house and do not go OTT when it comes to decor. For example you can use bees wax candle for a change instead of regular parrafin wax.

Layering is in when it comes to fashion for both sexes. Accessories like beret, muffler and scarves are back in use. Try to go for checks and plaids they have made a come back.

Bhupen da on his last outdoor film shoot

An account by Chuman Das ,

Partner Ideas Inc

Mumbai

5am was the call time. As I reluctantly got out of my bed and drew back the curtain, I saw a man sitting on an old fashioned arm chair taking in deep breaths. I slipped out of my room to see Bhupen da lost in his world breathing in deeply as if almost tasting each breadth he took.

I walked upto him slowly, not wanting to impose on him. As if sensing an intrusion, Bhupen da slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. Smiling he queried. “Do you sniff the air and feel the lingering feeling that this is Assam?” I looked at him in confusion. We were in a remote motel in the outskirts of Satara in Maharashtra. The landscape was dry, barren and brown. Each tree looked naked with no leaves to cover her on top nor any foliage to sheath her below. But in the stillness of the air, the cooing of some birds, the absence of any vehicular noise and perhaps away from the hustle and bustle of city life, Bhupen da had found his little corner of Assam, while shooting for a film called Chingari, directed by Kalpana Lajmi.

Very soon, sounds of early morning activities gathered momentum and our brief moment of solitude was over. I too started getting ready for the business that I had come for. As an entertainment reporter for NDTV, I was on an exclusive shoot of the film which featured Sushmita Sen and Mithun Chakraborty. Leaving Bhupen da in the hotel, we all headed for the shoot.

Mithun da had to shoot in the evening and so he decided to treat Bhupen da and me to some home food, cooked by him no less. Mithun da runs two very successful hotels in Ooty and Coimbatore and like most men from the East of India, is pretty adept in the kitchen. So he decided to cook dal and chicken curry for us. Violent protests erupted from me and Bhupen da. With a Bengali cook, we wanted fish and nothing else.

Mithun da, the true sport that he is, arranged for some sardines or what is locally called Bangda. The favourite river water fish, Rohu was obviously not available in Satara. Shooting was wrapped up early so that we could al feast on Mithun da’s cooking.

The chef was hard at work, having grounded the spices himself. We sat on the table, Kalpana, Sushmita, Bhupen da and me. We were served by Mithun da. We dug in, and dug in fast. Very soon, only the cadavers remained. And while ordinary people like us, thanked him with our words and smiles, Bhupen da’s appreciation came in a form that he knows best and expresses even better. The songster, popularly called the Bard of Brahmaputra, sang out in his rich baritone words of gratitude.

What I shot to showcase the film was telecast on television, but what I saw remained etched in my little heart… A man who kept trying to find his Asaam in varied and distant places, and a man who could find music to express his simplest of gestures…Dr Bhupen Hazarika, a man I personally knew and shared some special moments.

Temperature seems to have dropped down without a Facebook update. The rustling of the Maple leaves against the cold wind is reminding me of those not-so-often-vehicle-transacted peaceful Pine-alleys of Shillong.  It is Thursday evening.  I have grabbed a cup of hot chocolate and a Cranberry Blueberry Bran (muffin) from the Tim Horton’s outlet (a quick service restaurant chain in Canada specializing in some awesome coffee, baked goods and home-style lunches) at the University Centre. On checking my FB account, I find myself getting tagged by my friends back in India on nearly a dozen of Durga Puja images.  So, the autumn is on full swing. This is my third week as a visiting researcher (Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship under Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada –DFAIT program) in the University of Guelph. And, I am starting to miss my home. Basically, I am celebrating my Durga Puja with a cup of hot chocolate. Not bad at all.

I am supposed to cross the road. Out here, the management of the traffic on the immaculate roads with well demarcated paths for the cyclists and the motored vehicles has really impressed me. Here, the pedestrians are given the first preference to cross and the wheeled transports stop (whatsoever speed they may be on) to let the pedestrians go. Boys and girls do take the chance to exchange a ‘big’ (pun intended) hug when the red traffic signal is on.

There goes some Mrs. X with her Greyhound for an evening stroll. I send her a smile. She turns towards me. “So! Big boy, having hot chocolate! Have a great time…” I am overwhelmed by the unique bond these people share with their pets. They are also trying their level best to ‘go green’ and manage waste.

People know the manners of standing in queues, without the hullabaloos and push and pull, so explicitly exhibited in India. I have my University monthly bus pass of CAN $ 60, which permits me to travel as many times as I wish to in the city. I am in the bus now. I am sitting in the middle of a 20-22 year old Asian girl and a hunky African guy- both busy on their iPoDs. I am once again busy with my FB account. So, it’s ‘Bijay Dashmi’ today. Kim aunty (my apartment owner) told me about Durga Puja celebration in Toronto, about an hour drive from my place. Huge affairs! Great celebrations! It’s the Bong connection! I could not make a single minute to visit the pandal and have the devi-darshan (receive blessings) all these days. And, today I am repenting. Whatever!!

 Aunty is a caring Bengali lady, staying in Canada for almost three decades. Son works in Toronto. Daughter is going on some student exchange program to some Asian country this November. Kim aunty is a widow. She is a working lady. She works in Subway. She toils day in and day out to keep her small world geared up. I am supposed to dine with her tonight. I have got down from the bus and heading towards the small market standing at the road-crossing. I am buying a small wall-hanging- a mother pushing a loaded shopping cart home and her daughter holding onto a balloon string- for aunty.

Hey! Who is calling? “O! Ma! I am good. Happy puja!” ….”Yup! I’m having food in time”…. “And, I’m also keeping myself warm! You need not worry. Hope deuta (father) and dada (elder brother) -both are good!! “After reassuring about my well-being, I have taken my home-way route.

So, people out there are finally bidding adieu to the Goddess today- the final day of Durga Puja. I am missing the fun of Bhasan (immersion of the idol) – people dancing to the song, ‘Are you Ready, Nakabanddi’ that has gained the status of ‘isme nahi nacha toh kya nacha!’ (if you have not danced to this, your dance means nothing) over the years. I am missing the throwing and bursting of water-balloons onto some unknown person on the river banks and mass participation in the final idol-immersion in the Brahmaputra. But more than that, my feet, my eyes- they are becoming heavy. Am I going to cry? How can I? A few minutes ago, Mrs. X had said that I am a big boy.

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I am lost. I am leaving my village. I am leaving my catapult. I am leaving my white copy white. I am leaving my borokhi ₍fishing rod). I am leaving the magic of bhaona (dance-dramas) of the Namghar (prayer house). I am far from togor and xewali (flowers, known for their fragrance). Far from the husori (inseparable part of Rongali Bihu)! I am in black. I am leaving my father’s love and spectacled watch over me… I am entering into those tropical jungles- in the dark night.

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I am the ‘thousand sons’ who had said a silent goodbye to ‘my mothers’ ages ago.

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Dear Ma,

I am writing to you because I love you. And Ma, I know you still wait for me in the evenings. I am sorry for I could come neither in Bihu nor in Puja. Nevertheless, we have Holi almost every alternate day. It is 5 or 6 in the morning now. I miss the wood stove and the morning smoke when you use to prepare the zinger-flavoured black tea.

Ma. Do not cry. Your son won’t go unread in tomorrow’s history.

I want to bring the change. I am the one preaching for the liberation. I am the leader. You know- I am ‘the leader’. I do not like insubordination, collapse, disintegration, disorder and desertion in my group. I have to be with ‘my people’ in the forests all the time. They are my people now. I cannot return back - to the main-stream.

Your son is a good leader. I do not know much about the world outside or the white-clad masked marauders – always preaching for across-the-table talks. Their strategy is never a direct bite, it’s always bait. Whatever they are, they are cunning. Their children grow in some hybrid sanctuary. And, we live on fish bones thrown at us. They have different dictions of poverty and freedom. Poor, never to be free!

I can see my brothers’ skins hung on the portico of their bungalows. They stretch out like trampled flowers hanging on tensed lines. I shot those shooters yesterday.

Today, I need to cleanse myself. Sweat, soil, the gun powder and the red fluid- stain me.  This evening, I am to plunge into the Brahmaputra. Do come to meet me. I have some real muscles now. I need to show them to you. Do not laugh at that!!

Ma. You know I often feel chocked. Sometimes, some bada-sahib (big boss) comes deep into the forests with some red bottles (branded liquor). Our throats get real dry. It’s getting cold as well. Please bring some Xazpani (rice beer prepared by Ahom community) and pour over me. You will na, Ma?

I will then sleep for some time.

Yours’ leader-son

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“Boss, you have a text message!!’- beeps my mobile. Dipankar’s SMS. “Hy bro! Wtzup? Bhasan ws rockin’. M comin’ 4rm d’ river-banks. Finally bid bye 2 Ma Durga. Puja-khatam. U tk cre.”

Hmm… What is writing if not catharsis – the emotional cleansing of the tears and other fluids, of someone’s absence, of acute recall of million jarring traumas?

Hey guys! I hope it’s OK. I am good (pals- and self-proclaimed) at preparing pork dry-fry but writing for Fried Eye – Holy ****!!