Friday, October 22, 2004

Comics!

World Comics of India seems like an interesting project: "WCI emerged from a wide variety of backgrounds to formulate a social movement that identifies comics as a powerful tool to perpetuate social change. Workshops organized for NGOs and activists have fetched manifold returns. Numerous grassroots activists and people with little formal training in illustration and story writing have used comics to express their issues and ideas." The website seems a little unfinished right now--clicking on "English" takes you to something which looks like Punjabi or Hindi, and clicking on "Mizo" takes you to something that looks like English. But it's a neat idea. I grew up reading a lot of Amar Chitra Katha (glad to see their website is finally up), and while loads of fun, it would be great if the medium became more widely accessible and politically active in India, as it has here.

Let me take a moment to plug a good cause along similar lines: Asha for Education, spreading literacy in India.