KhepiAri

Book Review: The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa Quote: Until then, my life had been limited to the modest territory of Satoru's apartment and a small area around it. A decent-sized territory for a cat, really, but pretty modest compared to vastness of this world. A cat could never see all the sights the world has to offer in one lifetime. There's just so much out there. ___ A lone Satoru finds a stray male cat who loves basking on his silver van. An accident makes the cat seek his help. And since then cat is named Nana, a name he is not enthusiastic about and they live together happily for five years. Until one day Satoru sets off on a journey with him to re-home Nana, because of unforeseeable reason. They drive through towns and Nana witnesses things for first time; sea, horses, deers, farmland, mount Fuji, graveyards. The book is primarily told from Nana's perspective and shifts to third person narrative when required. Nana is sarcastic, witty an

Book Review: Black Wind and Other Poems by Deepti Naval. Poetry is an art form I tend to look at with scepticism. I enjoy a Neruda (now with a lot of self-loathing), I enjoy Frank O'Hara, Ginsberg is beau, I weep because of Alice Walker, Anjum Hasan has a special place too. And Ruskin Bond is my comfort food. But poetry is something I will judge strictly. While looking for poetry books for references in office, I stumbled upon this little book. Deepti Naval is an amazing actress I grew up watching on screen. From the sensual village dame to middle-class housewife to murderous old sarpanch, she is striking. Hence it was a surprise to find out that she writes poetry. A collection of poetry she had written in the 90s and early 2000s: the book has long narrative poems, short line poems, middle length musings, and epithets. The primary focus is on: the experience of loss, mental illness, grief, hypersensitivity, childbirth, miscarriage, suicide. Themes well explored yet

Book Review: #Orangetoons by Shreya Sen Quote:You are anyways going to carry the baggage right? So how about caring nice things in it? Just the perfect little pocket size comics you need before you end your day and curl up under your dohar. Hilariously illustrated, gives you what was once known as pearls of wisdom and what we would call as: two penny thoughts every millennial carries in her purse. Superbly relatable if you wear glasses and have untamed hair and have a thing for boxers. I deliberately did not photograph the inside of this tiny book. But it is a good example on how to do your independent or self-publishing gig right, the size, the colour and the binding are to the point and nothing extravagant or flashy. A lesson for young creators of comics can learn from, keep it short and simple. Just get your own copy from @shreyasensagoli. I especially loved the art with the caption: Allow objects to change if you wish to preserve them!

Book Review: Ghost Teller by GTT (Link at bottom.) Quote: Are ghosts as terrifying as they may seem? We like to think not. Humans will fight. And hurt. And kill. Over, and over. And over again. Yet you call us worse than them? The grim reaper, the maiden ghost in white, the creepy child ghost, the sexy succubus, the horned demon, and the headless ghost have set their table up for a night of stories. Stories of lust, greed, anxiety, betrayal, love, and insecurity. But most importantly, they are cruel. The grim reaper begins with: What I'm about to tell you, is more terrifying than any ghosts. It is a tale of humans. So each of our paranormal narrators picks a tale, each tale beautifully illustrated and at the core of each story is human greed. The Story of Woman: deals with an insecure woman who gets 'perfect life and happiness' in exchange for two tragedies. And how this deal manifests. It was predictable but it was a satisfying end. The Story of

Book Review: Blind Eye, and Pineapple Cake by Aamir Rangwala, and Shirin Kekre The cons of the word 'alternative comics' have always been that it gets dissected under the hands of academia who at times refuse to use the word 'comics' or 'graphic novels' to make it elusive. Came across a Facebook post recommended by a friend about two young independent creators selling last few copies of their self-published alternative comics, so I got my copies of two short graphic stories called Pineapple Cake, and Blind Eye. Blind Eye, is black and white, with a strict sense of paneling and a really scary story. It's about a boy who sells green dyed chicks to rich kids. For such a short story it touches upon multiple themes of poverty, child prostitution, drugs, cruelties and ingrained inhumanity of our species. The story is also filled with juvenile angst against the powerlessness of an individual in a selfish society. Pineapple Cake, is set in the dark of t