Comic strip

I have created a comic strip based on the concept of one of my favourite cartoon shows Doraemon in which Doraemon lends gadgets to his best friend Nobita while Nobita misuses them.

Suhas

30 April 2013

Back to home

The Mystery of Austin's Outskirts

Once upon a time, on a winter morning in Chicago, it was the first day of holidays for the children of high schools, 'Rhodesweeps' and 'Rustberry'. Albert and Max aspiring to become detectives came out of their homes, were shivering because of the morning breeze. Albert was from Rhodesweeps and Max was from Rustberry. Albert, shiveringly says, “Good morning Max! Its a long time we haven't met”, “Looks like we have work out there near the outskirts of Austin. Max says, “Why not call Susie? She would love to take part in our mystery adventures”. Walking towards Susie's house, they tell each other about their previous adventures. Susie feeling dull, looking out of her window, sees the boys coming towards her house. Before they could even ring the bell, Susie sprang out of her house to welcome Max and Albert. After seating themselves comfortably, Susie asks them, “Would you prefer tea or coffee?”. They together say, “A cup of tea please” laughing aloud.

Now, Albert willingly asks “Would you both prefer coming with me in a mystery adventure?”. Thinking for a while, “Why not, it would be our pleasure” says Max followed by Susie. Susie in hesitation says, “Can we take Brownie with us?” Brownie was Susie's pet dog. “Yes why not! I anyways am fond of him” says Albert; turning towards Brownie he says, “Right! Brownie”. “Woof! Woof!” says Brownie as if he understood every single word that Albert said. Albert now being serious says, “Robert, a businessman on the outskirts of Austin in Texas says there is a blood-sucking vampire which is torturing him in his business”. Getting ready with their bike, which was gifted to Susie by her father on her fifteenth birthday, Albert says, “Hurry up, we are getting late”. They called Robert to inform him that they are coming there to investigate the matter.

They were travelling all through the day towards Austin through the cold breeze of the morning, the warm breeze of the afternoon and the freezing breeze of the evening. It was 24^th December, the Christmas eve. Albert says, “All through the previous years, the vampire appeared sharp at 12 at night of the Christmas day”. “We must hurry, its just 5 minutes to 12”, said Max switching on the light in his watch. The moment they reached the place, they were greeted by the blood-sucking vampire. Although they went through it, they weren't aware that they were very near to finding the truth.

Just as the vampire disappears into thin smoke, Robert gives them a warm welcome to his house. Max was in a shock to speak anything. By then, Albert very excited and puzzled says, “Can we start our investigation now itself??” “No, no! Not at all, I cannot put my guests to work at their first day itself” says Robert. “Well, can we get a nice place to sleep?” asked Susie sheepishly. “Ofcourse!” said Robert and he led them to a warm and cozy tent. On their way towards the tent, Robert says “If you need anything, there is a shop just a quarter mile away from here on the west”. The next day morning, they couldn't find Robert anywhere. Forgetting their morning meal, they set off to work.

They divided themselves the work, Albert going towards East, Max towards West and Susie, and Brownie towards South. During the course, Brownie felt hungry and couldn't walk anymore. Susie finding sacks of oats in Robert's barn, led Brownie to it. Brownie, eating a handful of oats, was choked by something. Susie after helping him take out the piece from his throat examines what it is and off she bumps into a clue, a 'keyboard key – 'k' from a laptop!' She was in the seventh heaven. She was too happy to continue the course. “Woof! Woof!” said Brownie in chorus. Max had gone to examine the road and found that there were many 'tyre marks, fresh and old too'; this made him think critically as he felt it very odd. This ended up such that they found out another clue. On the other hand, Albert searched far and near but couldn't find a single clue.

Robert, on the other side had gone to the shop he had previously mentioned, whose owner was George. He had gone to buy a new hologram machine as he had postmortemed the older one that had broken down. As it was lunch time for the young detectives, they had come back to their starting point. They discussed their searches and decided to go to the jungle towards North where they thought the vampire lived. They once again didn't realize how near were they to the truth...

After Robert came, he was surprised to see them find two clues so fast! They ate their meal heavily so that they won't be disturbed by hunger once again. Off they set towards the jungle. Robert was now very scared to know that the truth was almost to be exposed. Examining the jungle area for a while, the children get one more clue – parts of a hologram machine. Now, they were satisfied with their three clues. Coming back, they were surprised to find Robert sweating a lot even sitting idle on a rocking chair. Suspecting him, they ask him for his laptop. As he didn't want the suspicion to come on to him, without hesitation he handed over the laptop, and indeed the laptop didn't have the key – 'k'.

They all were so happy as the mystery was solved and the culprit was Robert himself. They asked him how did he bring out the vampire. He told the truth, “I used a hologram to make the vampire and I did it using a laptop”. When asked the reason behind it, he says, “So that people feel pity on me and donate money for my poor condition”. The three tell him the slogan that “Hardwork is the only key to Success”. He apologizes for his mistake and started putting in hardwork. His business expanded all over Texas and he became famous. Whenever he earns money, he thanks Albert, Max and Susie in his mind for teaching him a lesson and never forgets them.

Suhas

10 July 2011

Back to home

Quadraouters

Genre: Adventure and love (between close friends)

Theme: The result of over-belief is always bitter.

Characters:

1. Maydee Sohl (21yrs) – Maydee is from Cardiff, United Kingdom. She is a static and sympathetic character in this story. She is a static character because she is same from start to end and always helps all her friends.
2. James Drake (24yrs) – Drake is from Chicago, the United States. He is a dynamic character. He changes from bad to good. He is rude in the starting of the story but later learns the value of being polite. Drake is the captain of an adventure team in the story called the 'Quadraoutings'. He dies in the end due to a leopard attack.
3. Channu Midia (22yrs) – Channu is a resident of Mumbai, India. Channu is also a static character because he is good all through the story. He is the second person to be attacked by the same leopard during the expedition. He is not killed but is injured badly.
4. Tsan Luo (21yrs) – Tsan is from Guangzhou, China. He is a static character; he is always good and tries to use his strength in a good way. Tsan is the bravest and strongest in the four outers. He is the future captain after Drake. He is the one who kills the leopard to avoid further attacks.

Setting:

This story is based in Mumbai in India. Mumbai is a city expanded into the forest. Leopards have not left their homes. This story is based on the killings of many people in Leopard attacks. It is set in present time in 2012. The part of the city where the story is set is a scenic area from where we can see mountains, rivers and remains of the forest.

The "Quadraouters"

On a bright sunny day in Mumbai, Channu gets up early to catch his train for his office. He lived in the outskirts of the city towards the edge of the Mumbai forest. The river Dahisar was in direct view from the River-view apartments. He often sat by the river through his sorrow times – the river was his pastime friend. He was so surprised that morning to see three apartments being vacated. He had a talk with each of the owners because he knew them really well. All the three families are related. They were going to go to Germany because the head of the family was transferred from the Mumbai Volkswagen branch to the Frankfurt branch. He asks them who was going to come. Being from business side you can understand who were coming – it was three foreigners; an American, an English and a Chinese.

Channu was so unhappy to find out that it was them to come. He went off for his office in disgust. He didn't want any foreigners living next door. Three days passed by – he had no one to talk to, his favourite neighbours were gone. Now, Channu was really unhappy. He goes to his pastime friend – the river! He sits there for the evening. Two more days pass by very quickly. Two foreigners arrive in a short gap – they were the English woman Maydee and the American man Drake. Channu tries interacting with them and the three become good friends overnight. The next morning, one more arrives – it was the Chinese this time. He being an enthusiastic lad without hesitating starts interacting with them and he too becomes a good friend.

Maydee was a good cook and she worked in Pizza Hut. Drake was a software engineer and he worked in Intel Corporation. Tsan lived as a Kung-Fu teacher and was really good in it. He taught teenagers. Soon, they knew each other well. They understood that they all loved adventure. They decide to make an adventure team. Should it be “Great four” “No, no, no, no! It will be MDTC” “Pooh! It will be Quadra...” “Outings!....Yes great! Quadraoutings!”. Till then the other three never knew that Drake was a proud man. He declares himself the captain of the team. After this incident onwards he was really rude proud of being the captain. He later browses on his “Intel powered laptop” on where they should go for their adventure. Unable to decide, feeling sad he goes to the window and there was the answer! - They were going to the Mumbai forests.

For three days they went up to a specific spot, which the four admired a lot. They used to sit there and watch the scenery of the river eating Maydee's home-made pizzas. Every day, they had to listen to Drake's proud tales. “Once in Siberia, I killed a tiger....” “Once in Africa, I went really close to an African elephant....” “Once in America, I shot down three birds in a minute....”. The three were fed up. They trekked between the trees, over the slippery stones and the sticky swamps. By the fourth day, they decided to go further. They went deeper and deeper into the forest. Sometimes, it would be the next day by the time they reached home. This went on for seven days. They saw many different flora and fauna and insects. By the time the week passed by, they could not resist themselves from going to the forest.

The eighth day was to be the same; that's what the four thought. None of the four could imagine what was going to happen that day. As usual, they went deeper than the previous day. They did not know what was waiting for them. They finally saw a leopardess. It was watching them with its beady brown eyes. The three except Drake are scared at the first instance and run away for that time. Drake who was over-confident tries fighting the leopardess which did not try to attack them. What would happen next; the two had a bloody fight. Drake trying to relieve himself from the clutches of the leopardess becomes unconscious. At that moment, the three come back in search of him. They scare away the leopardess by throwing three branches at it.

Drake was still lying unconscious severely injured. Thinking about the proud tales they would have to hear, they consider leaving him like that and go away. But then Maydee shows her kindness and compels the other two to save Drake. They take him to a nearby hospital. Drake regains his consciousness after two days but he very well knew that it was not for long. To die a good death he starts speaking to them in a very polite way which made impact on them. They were finally touched by how he spoke to them. Maydee starts serving Drake day-night. One day, Drake saying his last word “Quadraoutin...” succumbs to his injuries.

The three were really very sad. Their irritating but good friend passed away. Even after serving him day-night for three weeks they could not save him. But then what could they do – the things everyone do when someone is dead. They all mourned for four days. But they could not stop at that moment in their life because their friend was dead. They decided to go ahead with their life. But they had a small problem – they could not decide who would be the next captain or should they really keep this team still going. They decided to keep it going, but for that instance they left it to no one being their leader.

On the fifth day, being fit and fine, the three get out of their houses for the adventure once more – this time on their mountain bikes. They go till some depth until they realize that next would be the spot where Drake was attacked. They move ahead more cautiously but this time the leopardess wanted to attack; so it attacked in a different way. It hid on the branch of the tree and pounced on Channu when they reached there. They get into a bloody fight. But Tsan did not want to have any more deaths in their group. So gathering courage and also seeking revenge, he removes his knife from his sling bag and then pounces onto the leopardess like how the leopardess had pounced on Channu. He stabs the leopardess four times using his Kung-Fu techniques of defence and offence. The leopardess limps away bleeding. Channu was badly injured and was in Maydee's care. Tsan follows the limping leopardess to find out it was dead in the thick bushes.

They then take Channu to the same hospital. This time the doctors were even more determined to save Channu. But Channu was not like Drake, he kept hope that he was not going to die. In two weeks, Channu totally recovers from his injuries and is totally fit and fine. But, although the three friends knew that the forest was then safe for them, they decide to not go there anymore. They just go to their favourite spot for the last time and then decide never to go back. Three months passed by, after coming back from their work, they used to feel bored. They had a thirst for a new adventure but they did not know where they should head. They resign from their work and decide. They did not care about their career. The thought they had time later in their life for that. “Siberia!” “No, it should be the Amazon!” “Are you crazy? Wait wait....! Death Valley in America would be the best option!” “Yes!!”. After these brief arguments, they decide to go to the Death Valley. This they not only did for adventure but also in the memories of Drake......

Suhas

10 March 2013

Back to home