"Kujum Chantu, the Universe, lay on her back..." so begins River of Stories, regarded as one of the first India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n graphic novel

Graphic novel

A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

s, written and illustrated by Orijit Sen. This short work tells the story of the environmental, social and political issues surrounding the construction of the controversial Narmada. It was published with the help of a small grant from an NGO.

Author

Orijit Sen is probably one of the earliest graphic novel practitioners in India. He came out with the ‘River of Stories’ in 1994 and subsequently went on to do many shorter comics for magazines like Chemuranga. He is also one of the co-founders of People’s Tree and is currently creating ‘Karnama’, an animatic, and a graphic novel on Kabir. Orijit studied graphic design at the National Institute of Design, and has worked on several exhibition and museum design projects in India, the UK and Russia.

External links

• Orijit sen - an article from Tree People
• Orijit Sen in Conversation with Amitabh Kumar