KARIs melancholy & the infinite (Indian) sadness

Published: July 24, 2023, 4 a.m.

b"\\u201cIndia is this place that's known, but distant to me. The Indians I knew were always my parents' generation, so I can only observe its youth culture through books like this.\\u201d\\xa0\\nEver wondered what it's like to be a female South Asian advertising writer working on women's hair care products living in a big and bustling smog city, cramped into an apartment with several single women, while also Queer and saddled with a sense of regret and ennui? Well either way, you should read KARI, the 2008 debut graphic novel by Indian artist Amruta Patil, who's since gone on to become a leading voice in the Indians comic scene, illustrating a number of projects - including a reimagining of the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. In Kari, we meet the eponymous protagonist upon her surviving a heartbroken suicide attempt, and we follow her to at work and at and home in the hustle and bustle of smog city. A marketing and advertising exec who turns her creative eye on the world, she lives a semi-closeted Queer life, living with many single women, befriending or romantically rebounding with a business colleague with weeks left to live, and just surviving in a monsoon drenched city. In deeply drawn black and white chapters we journey through Kari's crowded loneliness, sleeper success, and death - all in the shadow of her departed partner. The book is a sensuous yet wry commentary on life and love and unlike anything we'd ever seen. This is a bonus episode from Raman\\u2019s OTHER podcast, Quarantined Comics, but this graphic novel\\xa0is one that fits the Modern Minorities mission for all of our majority ears - and one of the rare episodes where Ryan and Raman agree on (almost) everything.\\n\\nLEARN MORE\\n\\nCOMIC: Kari (Amruta Patil) - goodreads.com/en/book/show/3174768\\n\\n\\nARTICLE (GQ India): gqindia.com/get-smart/content/india-first-female-graphic-novelist-amruta-patil-graphing-the-future\\n\\n\\nCreator: instagram.com/amruta_gauri\\n\\n\\nPOD: Quarantined Comics - qtdcomics.com\\n\\n\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices"