Graphic non-fiction from India: Read this excerpt from 'The Same, Everywhere'

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from ‘The Same, Everywhere’ from First Hand: Graphic Non-Fiction from India. Orijit Sen and Vidyun Sabhaney who have curated/edited the anthology tell Firstpost of its genesis:

When I first thought of this collection, I had in mind a ‘zine’ — a short experimental publication, which would put together a handful of writers and artists to make non-fiction comics. Several of them were friends whose first-hand accounts of their fieldwork or research (which largely dealt with migration, displacement, mining, etc) led me to understand more about the forces that were shaping the world around me than before, both because the stories they were telling find little space in mainstream media, and the visual details that they used took me back there with them. The question was — could this be amplified?

The project quickly grew from there, with Orijit suggesting that we turn it into a full-fledged anthology instead. This was followed by a tentatively issued open call for entries; perhaps there were others who were interested in this kind of comics making?

— Vidyun Sabhaney (From Preface)

In a typical comics book, every time a page is turned, a new segment of time is revealed, and we have an overview of the entire segment before re-entering the flow of story. This has the subtle effect of slightly alienating us from the flow of story — like a diver periodically coming up for air—fracturing our identification with the characters, reminding us that we are separate from the story and at liberty to experience the events differently from the way the characters are experiencing them. This is one of the reasons why comics allow us to explore the world around us in both objective and subjective ways, providing us intensely close, intimate encounters just as easily as god’s-eye- views of situations. We have every opportunity to move between fact and fiction without losing the plot, or the integrity of either.

— Orijit Sen (From Preface)

Excerpted with permission from First Hand: Graphic Non-Fiction from India, Volume 1, edited by Orijit Sen and Vidyun Sabhaney, Yoda Press.