a glimpse through amruta patil's 'Kari'

In the realm of Literature, many alleys are still unexplored despite being published by giant publishers like Harper Collins. This story presents one such work in the field of Graphic Narrative which demands to recognized in order to understand the deepest mysteries of modern life- like existentialism, sexuality and love. Amruta Patil. the country's first female Graphic Writer pens and draws a tale about a young woman who questions the terms of her existence, in the illusionary city of Mumbai.

The two lovers, Kari and Ruth, Source: Google Images

A woman makes her way into the dark alleys of a place she called ‘smog city’. The city chokes her and her entrails churn with the bitterness of a heartbreak that promised to be one of a kind. Surreal and serious. Unapologetic and unbidden. This young woman with burning pointed eyes is called Kari, and she is Indian Illustrator Amruta Patil’s creation who challenges and represents the non-binary people in India. Highlighting their daily struggles and aspirations, to fit into a frame whose shape remains a mystery, even to them.

Amruta Patil is a Goan Illustrator and writer with accolades like the TED Fellowship to her name. Patil identifies herself first as a Writer and then as an Illustrator and the Graphic Novel Kari was her first work published by Harper Collins in 2008. With the publication of Kari, Patil became India’s first female Illustrator to have shown the audacity to write about an intricate and sensitive domain of sexuality, at a time when the country was still comprehending the difference between gay and bisexual.

Patil focuses on the issue of sexuality for the prime reason that India needs to be educated about the various crevices of the LGBTQ community in India, as the country battles to recognize same-sex relationships as legal. Patil strictly confirmed the Novel as not autobiographical, but the concerns put forward mirror Patil’s consciousness. The smog city represents the metropolitan city of Mumbai, the place where the cult of romance emerged in India.

Patil attacks the pollution, the misty smog which envelops Mumbai as a result of increased opaque pollution. In the murky and muddy streets of Mumbai, her non-binary protagonist Kari works as a ‘boatman’ to tether her heart and the city away from all the wasteful elements which swarm around in abundance.

In this way, Kari represents those lost souls in the city of Mumbai, which once was a heaven of dreams for outsiders but now the city has unfurled its colors, showing the decay that lay inside the seams, contaminating the normality of being a different human in the city of dreams.

Amruta Patil, Source: Google Images

Patil’s art reflects the spiky, dark, and morose abyss which she intends to resonate with the muted and grey life of Mumbai. Separate all the glitter and the filmy paper from human lives and one can see the scars which look rotten in the smog of Mumbai, questioning the aliveness of its people.

Kari says that the city chokes her, that soon the need for a new pair of lungs would arise as humans must need to mutate to escape such a deranged reality, while suicidal thoughts swirl in her head. Her beloved lover had left her and now she bounces back from one corner of Mumbai to another trying to find a life.

What makes Kari both incredulous and incredible at the same time is that Patil represents people as they are, their characters laid bare and open for the scrutiny of the readers. Yet there is an illusionary element to their life that reflects their daily dilemma and inner chaos, which remains incomprehensible to the reader.

In this way, Patil tries to portray the sheer mystery and uncapped illusion that life is. Suicidal thoughts swam inside the head of every individual and death is an inviting prospect, but still, people go on. They imagine the end and still go on. Through Kari,

Cover Image of Kari, the graphic novel, Source: Google Images

Patil urges all non-binary people to become like her, to adopt her nonchalance to survive in this country where people judge every small detail of others’ personal life in the most stereotypical context. Patil urges to be unapologetic and unconcerned about others’ opinions, not even thinking to feel guilty about one’s life choices and sexual orientation.

Mumbai represents such people, and Kari represents the warriors which are needed to brave the oppression of being called and cursed as different. Like Kari one should learn to survive, cleaning away the sewers which pollute the streets of Mumbai, while making way through life, like an unafraid boatman.