Graphic Novel
Berlin with Brighu
Sarnath Banerjee created a Graphic Novel about his time in Berlin for the Indian daily newspaper The Hindu. The creativly complex and critical work combines experiences from Berlin with memories and historical events as well as cultural differences.
Sarnath Banerjee created a Graphic Novel about his time in Berlin for the Indian daily newspaper The Hindu. The creativly complex and critical work combines experiences from Berlin with memories and historical events as well as cultural differences.
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Episode 1: Arrival. Brighu arrives at the quaint and outpostlike Tegel Airport in the middle of a blizzard. Earlier, an unexpected upgrade to Business Class and several glasses of single malt have made him philosophical about life.
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Episode 2: Winter nights. Who holds it together in a single symphony? Is it the composer? Questions which Brighu asks himself remembering eventfull winter nights in Delhi while exploring his first night in Berlin.
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Episode 3: At the Café. Brighu is sitting in his favourite cafe. Thinking about the words of Robert Walser about Berlin. The winter has been dark that year, but one should go out, so the advice. He is drinking a coffee.
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Episode 4: Spring awakening. Spring has exploded and entered Brighu’s East Berlin apartment like a positiv-minded friend. Brighu feels the pressure of a sunny day. Everybody thought that he would inherit his mother’s nose, instead he inherited her anxiety.
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Episode 6: Alternative. Recently a new bottle was cracked open in the German political tavern. Some say that the name „Alternative“ is in response to Angela Merkel’s comment that „there is no alternative to the euro“. Let’s be open-minded, but simply no doubt: Geniuses should never act.
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Episode 7: THE KNIFE in Berlin. Brighuʼs friend came to Berlin to attend a concert by the Swedish brother and sister duo, THE KNIFE. Before going to the concert Brighu felt a little unnerved. When was the last time he went to a concert?
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Episode 8: Love. “Don't you want somebody to love / Don't you need somebody to love / Wouldn't you love somebody to love / You better find somebody to love” – If not, the following may happen.
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Episode 9: Absence of love. Yet there are those with money and power who become heads of sporting bodies. Absence of love makes them destroy whatever they touch – an age-old game, for example, built over centuries.
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Episode 10: Caledonianian Antisyzygy. Caledonianian Antisyzygy – not only typical for Schottish psyche and literature. Today one travels far and wide to collect words, foreign words that offer a deeper understanding of home.
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Episode 11: Returning home. Brighu stood outside Schönefeld airport, taking in the Berlin air. The pleasant feeling is soon replaced by the familiar anxieties of returning home. What is home? Where is home? When do I feel at home?
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Episode 12: In Neukölln. Brighu was sitting in a Sudanese dhaba in Neukölln, with a famous Lebanese writer and a German trade unionist born to Pakistani parents. They were discussing NATOʼs imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan and the stringiness of Sudanese cheese.
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Episode 13: Experiences. Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the hierarchies of angels? – Rilke said: Verses are not merely feelings, it’s about experiences. Brighu had a decade ago his first cancer alert.
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Episode 14: Smoking. Quitting smoking doesnʼt come naturally. One either has a great strength of character or else fate slams him with a nice big health scare. The latter happened to Brighu. It turned his world upside down.
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Episode 15: Society. Individualism and collectivism. Individualism is well and good, but people sometimes need to work together. A whole generation in India followed the status quo, while many countries in Europe had discarded the uniform.
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Episode 16: What parents want. All parents want the best for their children. South Delhi parents want their children to become amateur golfers, Bombay wants to become Shanghai and smart Europeans want their children to learn Mandarin.
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Episode 17: Indian men. Men in Brighuʼs family turn soft with age, no matter what they do. Brighu managed throughout his twenties and thirties to continue looking good no matter what he ate or drank. It happend in Berlin when he turned 40.
