Cartoon-o-scope # 2

How many of you reader still remember that Arunachal Diary had earlier started a series called Cartoon-o-scope? Not many I guess.

So, here is another cartoon to continue the series. Enjoy!


The above cartoon is part of the series of caricature of the LS Election candidates, that I'm trying to do based on my observation of poll campaign speech and the candidates themselves. Watch out for this space for rest of the series.

Cartoon-oscope #1

In continuation to my earlier cartoon series (1, 2, 3) where I tried to address the issues through the protagonists, I would now try to do cartoons on present state of affairs not restricting myself using only the protagonists, in a series called Cartoon-oscope beginning with the cartoon above. However, the protagonists too would continue to appear off and on in this series.

Hope you would enjoy the series :)

Cartoon-oscope #1

In continuation to my earlier cartoon series (1, 2, 3) where I tried to address the issues through the protagonists, I would now try to do cartoons on present state of affairs not restricting myself using only the protagonists, in a series called Cartoon-oscope beginning with the cartoon above. However, the protagonists too would continue to appear off and on in this series.

Hope you would enjoy the series :)

The dilemma of the Wancho's

The Wancho’s of Tirap district is caught in a ‘Catch-22’ situation and the government seems to be of little help in bailing them out of the situation. They have to live in constant fear of intimidation by the UG elements on the one hand and on the other of being violated by the army of having being links with the UG elements active in Tirap and Changlang districts.

This became apparent when after failure of police and district administration to act upon the FIR (First Information Report), the WSU (Wancho Students’ Union) wrote to the Chief Minister to secure safe release of 39 kidnapped students, some as young as students of primary standards, from the clutches of NSCN (K). However, when no effort seemed forthright from the government towards safe release of the abducted boys, the WSU stated in a press on 4th February that they [Wancho’s] are in a situation they don’t want to be in (where they are always under scanner of being supporting the UG elements) and that they have no other option left but to go for talks with the UG elements for the safe release of abducted boys and a protest rally on 10th of February.

One wonders, how abduction of such large number of youths could have been possible from right under the nose of the army? Where were the army, the police and the district administration when the demand notice for making available 227 youths for recruitment was in circulation? It may be mentioned here that Tirap and Changlang districts are the two districts that is declared ‘disturbed’ in this otherwise peaceful state and where the ‘draconian’ Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), 1958 is in force. The kidnapping of such large number of youths only makes you question the effectiveness of this ‘draconian act’.

The move for demand of safe release of abducted youths has ever since been joined by various students’ bodies and organizations and by the Apex Students’ body of the state, AAPSU (All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union) who had boycotted the ‘Statehood Day’ yesterday by giving a ‘Bandh’ call in the wake of failure of their 10-day ultimatum served to the government for securing safe release of abducted youths.(The 'Bandh' call at Ziro-Hapoli Township was total with business establishment downing their shutters and vehicles off the road. With this Ziro-Hapoli Township witnessed second 'Bandh' of the year).

On government’s part, the Khandu government has given a distress call to Prime Minister and union Home Minister for a concerted effort to drive out ultras out of the state and for securing safe release of the abducted youths, since the issue had assumed international dimension with the hostages being taken deep inside the forest of Myanmar.

Now, giving a twist to the story and contrary to what WSU (Wancho Students’ Union) had claimed, NSCN (K) has denied the kidnapping theory. They claimed that all the youths came voluntarily to them in response to their recruitment drive call for 227 members. And that reported as being managed to escape was actually sent back as because either they didn’t fulfill the recruitment criteria or they were minors and that they don’t recruit ‘minors’.

Whatever the case may be, the situation hasn't improved for the Wancho's and with government doing little to bail them out of the situation they are still under 'Catch-22' situation-join the outfit either voluntarily or under threat, bear the brunt of the army; if not, bear the brunt of UG outfit.

Footnote: - I’ve only tried to attire the Apatani protagonist as Wancho. In no way, the attire/costume of the protagonist may be construed as the true representation of attire of the Wancho’s.

The dilemma of the Wancho's

The Wancho’s of Tirap district is caught in a ‘Catch-22’ situation and the government seems to be of little help in bailing them out of the situation. They have to live in constant fear of intimidation by the UG elements on the one hand and on the other of being violated by the army of having being links with the UG elements active in Tirap and Changlang districts.

This became apparent when after failure of police and district administration to act upon the FIR (First Information Report), the WSU (Wancho Students’ Union) wrote to the Chief Minister to secure safe release of 39 kidnapped students, some as young as students of primary standards, from the clutches of NSCN (K). However, when no effort seemed forthright from the government towards safe release of the abducted boys, the WSU stated in a press on 4th February that they [Wancho’s] are in a situation they don’t want to be in (where they are always under scanner of being supporting the UG elements) and that they have no other option left but to go for talks with the UG elements for the safe release of abducted boys and a protest rally on 10th of February.

One wonders, how abduction of such large number of youths could have been possible from right under the nose of the army? Where were the army, the police and the district administration when the demand notice for making available 227 youths for recruitment was in circulation? It may be mentioned here that Tirap and Changlang districts are the two districts that is declared ‘disturbed’ in this otherwise peaceful state and where the ‘draconian’ Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), 1958 is in force. The kidnapping of such large number of youths only makes you question the effectiveness of this ‘draconian act’.

The move for demand of safe release of abducted youths has ever since been joined by various students’ bodies and organizations and by the Apex Students’ body of the state, AAPSU (All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union) who had boycotted the ‘Statehood Day’ yesterday by giving a ‘Bandh’ call in the wake of failure of their 10-day ultimatum served to the government for securing safe release of abducted youths.(The 'Bandh' call at Ziro-Hapoli Township was total with business establishment downing their shutters and vehicles off the road. With this Ziro-Hapoli Township witnessed second 'Bandh' of the year).

On government’s part, the Khandu government has given a distress call to Prime Minister and union Home Minister for a concerted effort to drive out ultras out of the state and for securing safe release of the abducted youths, since the issue had assumed international dimension with the hostages being taken deep inside the forest of Myanmar.

Now, giving a twist to the story and contrary to what WSU (Wancho Students’ Union) had claimed, NSCN (K) has denied the kidnapping theory. They claimed that all the youths came voluntarily to them in response to their recruitment drive call for 227 members. And that reported as being managed to escape was actually sent back as because either they didn’t fulfill the recruitment criteria or they were minors and that they don’t recruit ‘minors’.

Whatever the case may be, the situation hasn't improved for the Wancho's and with government doing little to bail them out of the situation they are still under 'Catch-22' situation-join the outfit either voluntarily or under threat, bear the brunt of the army; if not, bear the brunt of UG outfit.

Footnote: - I’ve only tried to attire the Apatani protagonist as Wancho. In no way, the attire/costume of the protagonist may be construed as the true representation of attire of the Wancho’s.

Conspiracy Theory..??

What’s the ‘buzz-word’ doing round these days in the political circuit of the state? ‘Conspiracy theory’-it is.

A scam is unearthed and it becomes ‘conspiracy’ to bring down the government, because it is unearthed now and not before. Good logic.. may be. An UG operative is arrested from former minister’s residence at Itanagar and it becomes ‘conspiracy’ to tarnish the image of the former minister as the minister didn’t knew the identity of the UG operative while allowing him to stay at his residence. May be. And, when this conspiracy bug is biting the politicians of the state, would the ‘Apatani Protagonist’ be spared from being affected by this conspiracy bug? Watch below.

[click on the image for larger view]

Conspiracy Theory..??

What’s the ‘buzz-word’ doing round these days in the political circuit of the state? ‘Conspiracy theory’-it is.

A scam is unearthed and it becomes ‘conspiracy’ to bring down the government, because it is unearthed now and not before. Good logic.. may be. An UG operative is arrested from former minister’s residence at Itanagar and it becomes ‘conspiracy’ to tarnish the image of the former minister as the minister didn’t knew the identity of the UG operative while allowing him to stay at his residence. May be. And, when this conspiracy bug is biting the politicians of the state, would the ‘Apatani Protagonist’ be spared from being affected by this conspiracy bug? Watch below.

[click on the image for larger view]

From Black & White to Technicolor

If you remember, around this time the previous year, I had introduced 'Apatani Protagonists' who was supposed to address the issues of Ziro-Hapoli in particular and Arunachal as a whole. But, after making a brief stint, they disappeared. Now they have graduated from B&W to Color and below is the new improved avatar of male protagonist and hope that improved avatar of female protagonist would appear soon and they would be addressing the issues again.

Till then, watch out for the new avatar of female protagonist and how they address the issues in a days to come.

From Black & White to Technicolor

If you remember, around this time the previous year, I had introduced 'Apatani Protagonists' who was supposed to address the issues of Ziro-Hapoli in particular and Arunachal as a whole. But, after making a brief stint, they disappeared. Now they have graduated from B&W to Color and below is the new improved avatar of male protagonist and hope that improved avatar of female protagonist would appear soon and they would be addressing the issues again.

Till then, watch out for the new avatar of female protagonist and how they address the issues in a days to come.

Conventional v/s Digital Way

Last night I was going through the back issues of now discontinued ZIRO MIRROR, when I came across the cartoon that I did for the 5^th issue of that fortnightly.

It was done in a zippy in flat 15 mins time as the issue was ready at press, about to roll but hold back for want of cover page. Introspecting, I thought, how it would have looked and how much time it would have taken had I gone the digital way. So, I sat on my computer and with the help of Adobe Illustrator 9.0, I managed to come up with this with caption and all (see below) and guess what, it took me whopping 6 hours to redo that cartoon the digital way. Quite a time you would say-I agree and it reminded me that I have lots to brush up my knowledge on Illustrator. For instance, how to apply hatch so as to give that pen and ink look. :)

Conventional v/s Digital Way

Last night I was going through the back issues of now discontinued ZIRO MIRROR, when I came across the cartoon that I did for the 5^th issue of that fortnightly.

It was done in a zippy in flat 15 mins time as the issue was ready at press, about to roll but hold back for want of cover page. Introspecting, I thought, how it would have looked and how much time it would have taken had I gone the digital way. So, I sat on my computer and with the help of Adobe Illustrator 9.0, I managed to come up with this with caption and all (see below) and guess what, it took me whopping 6 hours to redo that cartoon the digital way. Quite a time you would say-I agree and it reminded me that I have lots to brush up my knowledge on Illustrator. For instance, how to apply hatch so as to give that pen and ink look. :)

Hands on Illustrator

Well, creativity bug bit me these past few days and I thought of trying my hands on computer illustration. With sketch by Cho handy with me (hey that's creativity indeed ;-))

(Cho's Sketch)

I fiddled with Illustrator to get the feel of its various tools and finally after more than 6 hrs I came up with this (see below).

(Finished Artwork)

C’mon, I know there are lots of flaw in this illustration, but it's my first try on anything like computer/digital illustration. I hope I would be able to explore more of this wonderful software-Adobe ‘Illustrator’ in days to come and would be able to improve myself on computer illustration.

P.S. Hope I was able to do justice with sketch work of Cho.

For the above work I've extensively used Guassian Blur.

Hands on Illustrator

Well, creativity bug bit me these past few days and I thought of trying my hands on computer illustration. With sketch by Cho handy with me (hey that's creativity indeed ;-))

(Cho's Sketch)

I fiddled with Illustrator to get the feel of its various tools and finally after more than 6 hrs I came up with this (see below).

(Finished Artwork)

C’mon, I know there are lots of flaw in this illustration, but it's my first try on anything like computer/digital illustration. I hope I would be able to explore more of this wonderful software-Adobe ‘Illustrator’ in days to come and would be able to improve myself on computer illustration.

P.S. Hope I was able to do justice with sketch work of Cho.

For the above work I've extensively used Guassian Blur.

The Bandh Culture

During my brief stint at Manipur I observed that once into Manipur you can’t plan in advance when you can leave Manipur and once out of it you are not sure when you will be able to return to Manipur because of ‘Bandhs’ which are like the weather of Ziro during this month – you never know when there will be rain. And to go by the people of Manipur, the state has earned the sobriquet of “Bandhpur”.

Coming back to our state, it seems we Arunachali’s are also following the Manipur’s way. The ‘Bandh’ seems to have become the mantra to register your protest about anything-be it lottery imbroglio, power cuts and the most recent- to force resignation of Minister on morale ground. And in doing so, let the common people be damned, the student community, which is the future of state, be damned-this was what the Papum Pare District Youth Welfare Society (PPDYWS) exactly did, by calling 10 hr Capital ‘Bandh’ on 1^st of March, incidentally when C.B.S.E. exam began, to force the UD Minister Nabam Tuki, to step down from the Post on morale ground.

Here, what I couldn’t understand was, why the PPDYWS resorted to Bandh Call when PIL was filed at Guwahati High Court against the alleged involvement of UD Minister in corrupt practices and that too when thousands of students in the twin Capital City of Naharlagun and Itanagar were to sit for their Board Exams. Why was the hurry? Shouldn’t they have waited for the law to take its own course? Or even if they wanted the Minister to step down from the post on morale ground, wasn’t there other form of protest like sit-in-dharna or taking out peaceful procession etc. Or was there any vested interest of certain section of people? (BTW..how do you justify taking entire population to ransom for fulfilment of interests of certain section of people?)

The Bandh Culture

During my brief stint at Manipur I observed that once into Manipur you can’t plan in advance when you can leave Manipur and once out of it you are not sure when you will be able to return to Manipur because of ‘Bandhs’ which are like the weather of Ziro during this month – you never know when there will be rain. And to go by the people of Manipur, the state has earned the sobriquet of “Bandhpur”.

Coming back to our state, it seems we Arunachali’s are also following the Manipur’s way. The ‘Bandh’ seems to have become the mantra to register your protest about anything-be it lottery imbroglio, power cuts and the most recent- to force resignation of Minister on morale ground. And in doing so, let the common people be damned, the student community, which is the future of state, be damned-this was what the Papum Pare District Youth Welfare Society (PPDYWS) exactly did, by calling 10 hr Capital ‘Bandh’ on 1^st of March, incidentally when C.B.S.E. exam began, to force the UD Minister Nabam Tuki, to step down from the Post on morale ground.

Here, what I couldn’t understand was, why the PPDYWS resorted to Bandh Call when PIL was filed at Guwahati High Court against the alleged involvement of UD Minister in corrupt practices and that too when thousands of students in the twin Capital City of Naharlagun and Itanagar were to sit for their Board Exams. Why was the hurry? Shouldn’t they have waited for the law to take its own course? Or even if they wanted the Minister to step down from the post on morale ground, wasn’t there other form of protest like sit-in-dharna or taking out peaceful procession etc. Or was there any vested interest of certain section of people? (BTW..how do you justify taking entire population to ransom for fulfilment of interests of certain section of people?)

The 'Apatani Protagonist'

This past week had been quite hectic for me keeping me out of regular blogging and making me itch to be back on the net to update my blog.

The week witnessed first disaster of the new year, where around 28 houses at Bulla Village (Reru) were reduced to ashes and another around 27 were dismantled (to prevent spread of fire) in the fire on the Republic Day. No loss to human lives were reported.

Do you remember, I promised in my earlier post to introduce you to 'The Apatani Protagonists'? This past week was quite fruitful in the sense that finally, I was able to coax them to come out in open and here they are.

Hope they would address the issues of Ziro Hapoli in particular and entire Arunachal Pradesh as a whole.

The 'Apatani Protagonist'

This past week had been quite hectic for me keeping me out of regular blogging and making me itch to be back on the net to update my blog.

The week witnessed first disaster of the new year, where around 28 houses at Bulla Village (Reru) were reduced to ashes and another around 27 were dismantled (to prevent spread of fire) in the fire on the Republic Day. No loss to human lives were reported.

Do you remember, I promised in my earlier post to introduce you to 'The Apatani Protagonists'? This past week was quite fruitful in the sense that finally, I was able to coax them to come out in open and here they are.

Hope they would address the issues of Ziro Hapoli in particular and entire Arunachal Pradesh as a whole.