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“The blue northern star questions me, how long shall I remain aimless,” something that young Priya of Kolkata often asked. Her dream was to set-up her own bakery. And on the other hand, there’s the confident, happy and adventurous city-boy Ashok; who had not taken life seriously.
Opportunity beckoned. Ashok opted for a vocational training course for roof-repairing in Germany; while, Priya moved to France for bakery lessons. They find success. The two meet. And the rest as they say is history.
Sounds like a fairytale? Yes it is.
This is the story of a comic book, “Priya and Ashok in Europe”, released on Wednesday by the Consulate General of Germany in Kolkata. The back-drop obviously is promotion of vocational training.
“Often blue-collar workers do not get the professional respect or income despite them having specialised skills. In India, a white collar degree is given more respect,” Rainer Schmeidchen, German Consul General, said.
German expertise in vocational training, he maintained, can be used to cater to the rising number of Indians (approximately 12 million) taking to the labour market here.
Comic Workshop
Incidentally, the idea for a comic germinated during the ‘1st International Kolkata Comic Workshop’ organised jointly by the Consulate General of Germany and France in November 2013.
According to the German Consul General, the workshop was not just about promoting comics or graphic art; but also providing “recognition to blue-collar workers”.
Internationally renowned cartoonists and graphic artists, Joerg Reuter from Germany, Charbak Dipta and Sarnath Banerjee from India and Oliver Tallec from France were the chosen mentors.
“This comic (Ashok and Priya in Europe) will be distributed free of cost,” Schmeidchen pointed out.
Future
Ashok and Priya (the two protagonists) may have married and lived happily ever after like all fairy-tale couples. But, the ball for the International Kolkata Comic Workshop, however, is yet to move forward.
Schmeidchen admits that the second edition of the workshop has not yet happened. Consulates alone cannot do it. Help have been sought from the State government too.
“I am hopeful that we will organise a second edition of the workshop in the coming days,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.
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