Hero
Cat on a sand heap. Relaxed yet alert. The trait of a true thespian.
Our hero is a performer with a bisected brain. Chilling out on his armchair, narrator-half blows the latest tale-bubble.
Alert-half however takes in the listeners’ reaction while improvising, smudging out flaws and even looking out for Banwari’s tray of goodies.
Armchair adventurer cum pensive puffer.
Our cool-headed hero confronts a Herculean hoodlum
His adventurer alter ego is also deceptively cool.
Not a flicker in his facial muscles as he confronts a hunky Yankee. Even the Yeti.
But in two ticks the gangster lies groaning.
Alert-half has silently struck!
Artistic Interpretation
Discovering a Schistocerca gregaria (locust) afloat the Bahr al-Arab…
Pratul Chandra’s no-nonsense protagonist (Left) is tense with excitement.
Gupta’s quirky self-mocking Ghanashyam (Right) remains stoically impassive.
Story-teller also leads a double life.
The boarding house youngsters are treated to science-scented adventures and modified myths.
But come evening, and their Ghanada is transformed into the respectable Ghanashyambabu. This gentleman regales an elderly audience of strollers with retellings of history. Chronicles of his ancestors’ deeds.
For a skilled craftsman, drawing a tall, bony, uncertain-aged hero is not a challenge.
But interpreting the in-between lines calls for an intelligent imaginative illustrator.
