One of the things which I wanted
to do this year, was start the graphic novel and fantasy genre & science
fiction – which I have never got into. Being emotional at heart – what attracts
attention is fiction which has great story telling through the eyes of family,
character, situation etc. I am sucker for list and all my last 5-6 books were
featured in some list and found their way to my library. The other thing which
I have been reading a lot on conflicts and hence the impact on human life
especially South Asia/ Afghanistan / Pakistan mix.
Last weekend I read the review of
Vanni in HT Lounge, which had all of what I wrote above (except being on a
list) & it was a graphic novel. It took no time to order and it landed on a
Tue. It was almost like a prized possession which I wanted to savour every
moment of read it. I knew I cannot do justice to it by reading few chapters
every day and a long reading over weekend.
So, I devoted yesterday evening
to it and I was almost in tears by the end of it. Typically, when I read a book
I get a lump on my throat and cry in movies. But this was a different
experience all together. The tragedy of 2 fictional families who stay in Vanni
(which is a real) and how LTTE, tsunami, Sri Lankan army batter their life one
after the other, their family members are killed, they are uprooted from their
families, their village and finally from their country. And, this is not
something which happened when we could not read or write but 10 years back –
when we were busy building our home.
Unlike a book which is fuelled by
writer’s imagination & readers visualisation, here the authors had to go to
details of the bullock cart, jungle, jeep, tents etc. One thing was the story
but the details of the drawing and the research which went behind it (it took 7
years in making) – for any movie maker this is like bound / visualized script.
This happened only because Benjamin Dix (who wrote) was part of the UN Peacekeeping force and stayed in
the conflict zone for almost 4 years – befriended many families and were
shattered when the UN Peace Keeping Force was asked to leave on 16th
September 2008. They have sat with families of Sri Lankan’s diaspora who fled
Sri Lanka and is now spread across the world, recorded oral testimonies, went
through 1000’s of photographs which Benjamin had clicked – for them it was not
a book, I think it was something which was stuck somewhere inside and had to
come out.
Benjamin recounts in his epilogue
that after he came back from Sri Lanka where he spent night after night in
bunkers, seeing people being killed or maimed, he went through a post-traumatic
stress disorder. He had read Maus & Palestine, both legends in Graphic Novel
and wanted to use that to tell his story. During this phase he met Lindsay
Pollok (who illustrated it) through a friend and that’s how Vanni happened.
I often tell my younger daughter
who is in 11th going to 12th in 20 20 – do what your
heart says. This is just an exam, do well enjoy the last 2 years in school. If
there is one piece of advice which I want to give to her – you have no clue
what is going to happen in future, so don’t think of controlling it. Life will shape
you; you will find what you want to do in the process of living and not in books
& degrees.
Benjamin ended up doing a PhD on ‘methods
& ethics of producing the book Vanni’ & starting a not for profit organization
positiveNegatives(positivesnegatives.org) which works internationally with
academic institutions adapting complex research into visual arts and works with
artists from across the world.
