Scribbled Sarcasm

After the hue and cry of 26/11 died down on television,Shantanu Adhicary felt that he had something more to say. Like everybody else,he didn’t do the marches and stop at blaming the politicians. He drew an online comic strip laced with sarcasm instead. The reaction was overwhelming and it gave him a fan base to begin his own series,comicry.org. Adhicary was inspired by an already popular web comic artist Meera Sapra,who had also created a strip on the attack that mocked the system’s way of dealing with the terrorist.

Both artists are part of the growing culture that using the internet to express their cynicism and opinions about everything. The concept of creating comic strips online is not a completely new phenomenon worldwide. US web strips like xkcd and explosm have cult followings throughout the world. Since they all talk about US issues,Indian artists and writers realised that they need a space that satire our own topics too. Here,comics have always been something that was once believed to be a funny section in the newspaper and created by famous writers. Now,everyone has their say and their popularity has grown to an average of 30,000 readers per month for each of them.

Saad Akhtar began Fly You Fools,a hilarious Indian web comic last year and is now a minor celebrity online. “People love to read mockery of everything around us,especially current issues and random situations that they can relate to,” says the 30-year-old.

While sarcastic remarks on current issues bring in a steady flow of viewers,it can also get you some violent reaction from the so called moral brigade. “I do get a lot of complaints from people who don’t like it if there’s foul language. But that’s how we talk and the internet has no censor board,” says creator of Brainstuck.com,Anshul Maheshwari.

Another artist to get slack for one of her strips was Sapra,“When I created a comic against Baba Randev’s views of homosexuality,a lot of people got offended. At the same time it was also then that the popularity of the site grew,” says one of the few girls to have a strip,lifeisacomicstrip.wordress.com.

There are many ways to create a web comic,while some like Sapra use readymade software available online,Maheshwari actually draws them by hand and Akhtar uses a photo collage. With mediums like wordpress,maintaining a site is almost free,though it might be a while till they actually start getting some revenue. “To some extent we can say that Indian web comic people are celebrities already. When you hear the news of a popular Indian web comic being banned in an organisation because employees spend a lot of time there,you feel smug and happy,” Adhicary says.

Tinkle,Phantom and Archies are now passé. With an increasing amount of youngsters taking to the keyboard,mouse and Photoshop,it looks cynicism in images is here to stay.

Guiding Lights
Open a newspaper and more often than not we come across shocking pieces of news involving children indulging in violence,students going on a shooting spree at school,kidnapping and killing their friends for ransom,committing suicide…Wondering what’s going wrong with our world. If we delve deeper,the reasons are not too difficult to understand. Lack of role models leaves the youth lost,as they don’t know which values to follow to live a fulfilling life. With parents too busy pursuing materialistic goals and teachers who do not have the time or inclination to guide and teach,it’s not surprising to find the youth at a loss. They need someone to guide them and tell them right from wrong.

The present trend of evaluating a person by his bank balance,lifestyle and branded clothes has taught the young that these are to be obtained,at any cost. Lack of communication with elders,exposure to violence in the media,lack of physical exercise where they can vent their emotions,are reasons of confusion and frustration.

We need to connect with our children,make them feel they are worthy human beings and that we love them as they are,as well as give them a value system which they can use as a guideline in their life. We need to teach them life skills to cope with life. More than children,we need to grow up first.

Sunaina Singh,Swami Ram Tirtha Public High School,Mohali

World of woes
Oh God! Why have you made this world,
In which people hurt and kill each other.
You haven’t told them
what is good and what’s not
Sabiha Asmat,Class VIII,Swami Ram Tirtha Public High School,Mohali

The brain drain
Brain Drain is referred to as the movement of highly skilled and qualified people from one country to another in the hope that there they will work in better conditions and earn more money. Brain drain is a major cause for less development in India. People of India are intelligent and can do unbelievable tasks. But there’s no use,as these qualities are being used for the development of other countries. Due to overpopulation and corruption,there is unemployment and people are going to foreign countries. So the need of the hour is to provide more job opportunities and give security to the youth of India for a better future.
Chamandeep Kaur,Class IX,Akal Academy Dhindsa