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Preface

In the 21st century, graphic novels have evolved from their past status of comic

books to texts that address serious social, political and environmental subjects. The

provision to couple the prowess of the cartoonist and the caricaturist along with its

capacity for words marked by sarcasm, irony and wit has elevated the contemporary

writer of graphic novels to the status of a graphic activist. In the present Indian scenario

one can identity a number of such graphic activists like Orjit Sen, Sarnath Banerjee,

Vishwajyoti Ghosh, Amruta Patil and Appupen among others.

The project titled “The Politics of Drought: Delhi Water War in Sarnath

Banerjee’s All Quiet in Vikaspuri” takes into consideration Banerjee’s fourth graphic

novel All Quiet in Vikaspuri, published in 2015. Considered by many as India’s first

graphic novelist, Banerjee in the novel explores the socio-political circumstances that

underlie the water crisis in Delhi. The novel illustrates the flawed political machinery that

has not only created droughts in Delhi but has destabilized the environmental conditions

of the country at large. It foregrounds how short termism and corporate hooliganism has

put at stake the lives of millions of people who are denied even the basic rights like

access to clean drinking water.

The project is divided into three chapters, beginning with an introduction that

delineates a brief history of graphic novels along with the contemporary trends in Indian

graphic narratives. The chapter identifies Sarnath Banerjee’s position as a graphic

novelist, discusses his style and outlines the water stress in Delhi that forms the subject

matter of the novel.

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The core chapter titled “The Politics of Drought” examines how Banerjee presents

the Delhi water crisis by unfolding the story through the life of a psychic plumber Girish,

who gets employed in a mission to find the mythical river Saraswati. The chapter

examines how Delhi has gone mad due to water shortage and how the middle-class

neighbourhoods fight brutal and apocalyptic battle for water every day. The chapter with

the aid of secondary sources explore the politics behind the crises like political

negligence, abuse of power, misuse of resources, nepotism, water racism and short

termism to exposit how the water crisis in Delhi is often manmade to help the private

tankers who gouge money from the hands of the poor.

The concluding chapter summarizes the project by shedding light on the ability of

the graphic medium to illuminate socially and politically significant subjects. The

limitless and exciting possibilities of the graphic text has made it a powerful genre

capable of evoking emotional and sensual response in the reader at a greater pace than

descriptive prose. The chapter underlines how Sarnath Banerjee has made use of the same

in his novel to raise his voice against lopsided policies in politics and business, the

harmful effect of privatising basic resources, the media’s apathy towards human subjects,

corporate hooliganism on the environment and the paradoxical nature of development.