Ambimama - India

World Comics India (WCI), a non-profit organization founded by political cartoonist Sharad Sharma nearly a decade ago, has conducted close to 400 comic workshops across India.
Today, WCI is represented by a motley group of people from urban as well as remote corners of the country, who are part of a movement to bring about change at the grassroots. All of them focus on issues that concern their daily lives. Says Sharma, We have mainly worked with small and medium NGOs in remote and conflict areas. We believe this tool can help people living there raise their voices and open a debate in society.

It doesnt take much to make these comics. As Sharma says, its not necessary to know drawing, just a willingness to do so and tell stories. Drawn on photostat paper and in black and white, its the message that ultimately matters. Many NGOs take the help of comic activists to spread awareness about AIDS, infanticide, pollution, etc. Some of the strips have been syndicated and used in local and regional newspapers . One single strip produced by a sarpanch in Rajasthan on water scarcity appeared in 50 newspapers in three states, says Sharma who would now like to make this service available in other states too.

A village in North India where uranium mines are found a change has taken place. Harmful uranium dust from the mines is no longer dumped into the fields. The villagers were not even aware how radiation from this dust was harming their lives. Thanks to Surendra Mohan Murmu who started an aggressive awareness campaign through wall poster comics, they were able to put an end to this dangerous practice.

Through development comics, activists talk about local issues and how to tackle them. Most are trained in the art of comic making. Ofcourse, these comics are nothing like conventional Archie or Tintin comics.

Tawna , a young activist from Mizoram, talks about deforestation and how its killing the fauna and flora of the area, thereby affecting their lives. He tells them about the importance of voting. Murmu too is quite active and his most recent campaign has been against Bt Brinjal in Orissa. For the activists, cartoons are a great medium to voice their concerns without resorting to protests and dharnas . Rajeshwari Saha, a trainer with WCI, wanted to be heard. She did it through comics. A native of Kolkata, Saha expressed her concern about the phasing out of trams in her comics. Another time, she questioned whether all the development centered around the Commonwealth Games would benefit anybody.

Also, he wants the comics to go mainstream. A comics anthology Whose Development is the first in a series that he is launching soon. It is a collection of work by 15 activists from across the country, each talking about an issue close to his heart. Sharma, who prefers to call himself a comic journalist, says, Comics anthologies are very popular in Europe and the US but we don’t have a parallel here. I hope this anthology will engage those who are interested in telling stories through drawings.

The words that had the nation all those years ago: ‘‘Miley sur mera tumhara, toh sur baney hamara?’’

Indians needed it and it was given by Doordarshan. A 16-minute film was launched without fanfare on August 15, 1988, and quickly slipped into nation’s bloodstream.

The 60th anniversary of the republic to being ‘‘mahaan’’ is a booster. Entirely re-filmed ‘‘Phir Miley Sur’’ records the new beats of India and it is sung by 69 icons instead of the original 26. ‘‘Phir Miley Sur’’, presented by The Times of India, and supported by Vodafone, Kingfisher Airlines and Taj Hotels, was launched on Monday — the eve of the 60th Republic Day — by Amitabh Bachchan. If Delhi’s fog prevented the I& B minister, Ambika Soni from doing the honours as scheduled, it was arguably the triumph of fitness over form.

The Big B represent Hindi cinema, the country’s biggest unifier, he was also the only icon from the original video to figure in the new one. Not just that, he is the only non-singer who has actually sung the opening bars himself, and then slipping his hands into his pockets slipped into his unmistakable oratory.

Bachchan is there, this time with Abhishek and Aishwarya. It is a continuum of the patriotism parampara and perhaps a link into ‘‘Phir Sur Miley’’, whenever that is made to record the next spike in the India balance sheet. Louis Banks, who arranged the music for this film, is there with his son Gino; Amjad Ali Khan with Aman and Ayan; Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma with Rahul; Zakir Hussain is there with his brothers Taufiq and Faizal Qureshi — and his eight tablas; L Subramaniam is en famille. And Deepika Padukone takes the place of her badminton ace father as she sings in the rain.

‘‘Phir’’ may have the same words but it is palpably, six packs-ly different. You can feel it in the cyber rush of A R Rahman’s finger board, unveiled here for the first time, in the throb of Shankar Ehsan Loy, in the musical tandava of Shivamani and the electronic twang of the instruments.

The timeless India of its religions, its monuments, its languages is as much on show as Rau Sahib’s stunning photography unfolds phir sey. .

You can check it for yourself on Zoom today, and clear for yourself the doubts expressed by one cynic who had asked its CEO, Suresh Bala, ‘‘Yeh item number key channel par Mother India kaisey?’’

Miley sur mera tumhara made the youngsters of this Nation witness a unique kind of thrill and unity in India. This song has been re-done on the eve of India’s 60th Republic Day celebrations. I tried some networks to download the same, but could not. More about it later.

My friend’s mother is in hospital. It is a hospital built and maintained by mostly North Indians. The charges are very little but compared to the big Public hospital slightly higher. It is a neat hospital with Paani poori stalls on both sides of the hospital and chapathis are available at Rs.5/- per chapathi.

When I was having Paani Poori with my friend I was worried about the hygiene. He said that while he was working in a workshop there was a plague worry and the workers came to this Hospital. The Doctor with a confidence, observing the workers said that they were living in India and should not worry like Americans for every small health problem! He prescribed some oral tablets and the workers became alright.

I am quoting the incident only to the health conditions here in India and the common practice followed here. Plague is same everywhere but the Doctor has controlled the fear. May be he could analyse that workers were more worried and not affected by plaque. But Americans are more worried about cleanliness. They do not realize that however clean they may be, we are all born here on Earth and must have the strength and mercy of God to protect us.

Pongal went on well. In many houses though the “thai” tamil month was born at 3.30 pm during which Pongal was to be celebrated, the Pongal was done in early morning. This was due to practical difficulty of taking food, namely Pongal. Some years back Pongal had significance, as it was the day of New crops.

But now, in many paddy fields, sugarcane is grown in plenty. This was confirmed by my relative, whom I visited today. Tomorrow is the solar eclipse day and we should have any solid food before 8.30 am. We should take bath sometime in the afternoon, when the eclipse is over. Though this may sound irrational, we still follow the rules. Anything in the stomach, food might not digest properly and it would do harm. All is belief, we may argue, but this one might have a scientific meaning.