My First Book

In the year of 2001 A.D., I was looking for ways to spoil my Sunday. In my bed was lying a copy of Balamangala Chitrakatha, a Kannada fortnightly comics magazine. An idea had been in my head for some time, to create a copy of the comics magazine, but with my own story. All it needed was 1 pencil, 2 notebook pages, 12 pieces of crayons and some free time. 

So, I tore 2 middle pages of my school notebook. Cut each page into four parts, and stapled it. There. I had a 16-page book. 

Then I drew the cover of my first book. It had the magazine logo, with their trademark superhero flying on top of the magazine name. The title was “Ajayana Sahasa” (It translates to- An adventure of Ajay). It showed our protagonist, Ajay, discovering the footprints and a speech bubble of him exclaiming the same. The next few pages showed the victim shouting about theft, Detective Ajay coming to aid and solving the case by catching the thief, and in the end, the police congratulating Ajay. All colourful panels in 8 pages. 

But wait. That’s not all you get for 3 Rupees 50 paise (which was the price of the actual magazine at that time). You will get 2 additional jokes and a puzzle, as well. One of the jokes was my first attempts at plagiarism. Hey, don’t judge me. If you are in the business you have to try it all. The other one, I do not know if it is a joke. But it is an honest attempt.

The puzzle was to find where the pictures are in the comics. There would be few pictures. One has to find, in which page and in which panel the picture appears in the magazine. This kind of puzzle was there as competition in the actual comics magazine, every fortnight. 

In the last page, I teased a story for the next fortnight, as is the usual case in the magazine. Of course, this being my only comic book until now, you will not find the story that was teased anywhere (even in the darkest recesses of my brain).

Then came the part to fill in Back cover and inner covers. For the inner cover, I advertised a sister magazine of Balamangala Chitrakatha for pre-kindergarteners, called Gilivindu (It translates to- Flock of Parrots). In the back cover, I advertised a confectionery, which was always advertised in the actual magazine.

So, my first book was a comic book. After completing it, I was creatively fulfilled. That fulfillment inspired me to write more picture books. I did not write any more comic books, because I found it challenging to draw the same face of a character in two different panels. Also, I guess, I was too lazy to draw so many pictures required for a comic book, not to mention colouring them as well. Also, I am not a good artist.

Even today if I read this comic, I feel happy about it. Make no mistake, this comic book is definitely not up to the standards of Alan Moore’s Watchmen or Amruta Patil’s Parva Duology or even the comics magazine which inspired my comic. 

But it is my first book and it is close to my heart. It is my first creative creation, apart from all the arts and crafts done in school. All my other picture books, short stories, poems and attempts at novels, it all started with this small book written on a Sunday. And, who knows, if I had not written it, I would not have started my writing journey or would not even have thought of being a writer. So, I am proud of my first book, like Alan Moore, Amruta Patil, Alison Bechdel or creators of the magazine would be of their best works.

APPENDIX

Pictures of my book for reference

Above: Front Cover (Time and travels responsible for the worn out state)

Above: Back Cover

Above: Front Inside Cover and First page of the story

Above: Last page showcasing upcoming attraction and Back Inside Cover

Above: Last page of the story and the Puzzle page

Pictures of one issue of comic magazine for reference

Above: Front cover of the comic magazine

Above: Back cover of the comic magazine

(Author Notes: I wrote this personal essay as an assignment for the creative writing workshop. We had to write about one object from our life to which we are emotionally connected. Here's the story of this book. (SPOILER ALERT!) At first there is a theft, and it turns out the friend of the owner is the culprit. Detective Ajay solves it by tracking footprints to a hideout, where friend is hiding the jewels, and is later getting away from. Ajay gets congratulations from the police at the end for solving the case. Trademark superhero's name is Dinga (in Kannada). The superhero is a mouse. More about Dinga here. Once, my colleague and I were discussing about Balamangala magazine (parent magazine of Balamangala Chitrakatha) and Dinga (Dinkan in Malayalam) in particular. He mentioned there is great following of Dinga in Kerala, and they have created a parody religion. They call it Dinkoism.)