This post is guest written by Subir Dey, a Research Scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.
‘Teenta’ means ‘Three’ in Nagamese language. All the three stories in this book are adapted from ‘the book of Naga folktales’ published by Department of Art and Culture, Nagaland. Folktales are the hidden treasure of our culture and transforming the folktales in comics format was an attempt to unearth the hidden treasure and make it more interesting. The comics presented hereby are work of hard labour, brainstorming and numerous pencil strokes, which are completed over a period of 3 Days, as part of ‘Comics-Comics! A Comics Making Workshop’ conducted by Subir Dey. The main objective of the workshop was to understand the persistence, patience and commitment required for making comics. The art styles are raw and bear certain honesty towards the stories which is rarely seen in today’s polished and flamboyant world of superheroes. The essence of the stories lies in their grounded nature. They tell the stories of spirits, tigers, stepmothers, jealousy, foolishness and so many other emotions and expressions that are part of ‘modern life’ too.
The representation of characters and environment in this book is completely imagined by the artists and may or may not bear resemblance to the Naga culture. This is due to the simple reason that giving out the message of the Naga folktales was given more priority than the exact representation of Naga culture (which would not have been possible in 3 days!).
So, enjoy some of the gems from Naga folktales.
Happy Reading!
To view these comics, please click the link below:
Comics Forum 