Meet our Guests
Reinhard Kleist

Reinhard Kleist from Berlin, Germany, has authored a number of graphic novels. He conducted live drawing sessions, workshops and presentations in Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi and he participated in DeCAF – Delhi’s first comic art festival – in December 2017.

My first impression of India…
Somewhat chaotic! For Germans the traffic surely is quite unorthodox. I had to get used to the noise and shambles. In Pune my driver even had to explain how to cross the road: “You have to walk like a tiger.”
 
Things in Delhi that remind me of my hometown Berlin…
Actually a stationary store only! Two Indian fellow artists were kind enough to take Arne Jysch and myself there. A big signboard on the outside read “German drawing quality” even though most of the objects originated from Japan.

One thing I’ve noticed in India (that’s not so typical in Germany)…
Certainly people smiling all over. In Germany you find the corners of people’s mouths rather turned down - especially in Berlin. Here people seem to be laughing even when in bad, forbidding surroundings and circumstances. How much of this is merely a façade I cannot say.

A lasting memory of India…
Definitely the amazing live drawing concerts I could do together with brilliant Indian musicians. They ranged from Jazz via Goa style techno to traditional songs with a Chennai children’s choir.