Pragash
Personal comic, written by my best friend V Kaul
Pragash is an anthology in progress, which is a collaboration with my best friend, V Kaul. V is a Kashmiri Pandit. I have grown up listening to their stories of Kashmir and their mystical house, Pragash. The central theme of this project is memory, and connected to that is the idea of play as experienced by a child. The narrative revolves around a house in central Srinagar, that generations of Kashmiris have grown up in. My friend spent many childhood summers in its rooms, trying to make sense of the world in a place that didn’t always make it easy. Through stories and make-believe, they imitated the outside conflict by linking it to fairytales they heard and read; the prince bombs the dragon to get to the princess, the army makes a surprise appearance in Dracula.
I am grateful to have been trusted with their stories, and hope to loyally capture their memories through visual storytelling. This version of Pragash was incubated during the Kochi Biennale Fact Checker workshop, mentored by Sarnath Banerjee. We hope to apply for grants to develop this into a larger memory project. Please do reach out to us if you know of anyone who would like to fund this.