1. Woman’s Era ● October (Second) 2014 89
The ʻAam ladkiʼ who decided
to become ʻkhaas.ʼ By Megha Jetley
“The strength of a woman is not
measured by the impact that all her
hardships in life have had on her; but
the strength of a woman is measured
by the extent of her refusal to allow
those hardships to dictate her and
who she becomes.”
– C. JoyBell C.
B
orn and brought up in
Lucknow she started
working as a cartoonist
even before completing her
bachelors. Confident
enough to voice her
opinions aloud not just
about talking on issues
related to women but also
to represent the opinion of
Indian women on social and political
issues. Karnika Mishra, a 33-year-old
cartoonist, got provoked into creating
Karnika Kahen, an ʻaam ladkiʻ
(female equivalent of the common
man) who fights social injustice. With
her efforts and hard work the
Mumbai-based cartoonist, has won
the “Award for Courage in Editorial
Cartooning” for 2014 and an
invitation to visit San Francisco to
collect the award in annual
convention of The Association of
American Editorial Cartoonists by Dr
Robert “Bro” Russell of Cartoonists
Rights Network International. After
the Nirbhaya case the so-called god-
man Asaram Bapu made a statement
saying, “Only five or six people are
not the culprits. The victim is as guilty
as her rapists…She should have
called the culprits ʻbrothersʼ and
begged before them to stop…This
could have saved her dignity and
life”. Later when Bapu was found
accused of raping a 16-year-old girl,
karnika got provoked and she chose
the medium of cartoons to show her
anger. Excerpts from an interview:
How did the idea of showing
anger through cartoons strike in
your mind?
Nirbhaya faced such brutality and
ultimately died and some religious
gurus make such heinous comments
which were shameful and when the
news came that police was searching
for Asaram Bapu for allegedly raping
a minor girl, I just wanted to express
myself, my anger. I have cartooned
since I was a kid and drew on the
floor and the walls and being an
artist, cartoon was the best medium
for me to show my annoyance.
Being threatened many times to
be killed? What kept you going
forward?
It all depends on your will power
and stubbornness that push you
forward once you determine to fight
back. Thanks to my husband who
stood by me everytime.
How do you see the sense of
humour for cartoons in Indians?
We Indians do not have sense of
humour and are so insecure that we
get offended on everything. Cartoo-
ning made me happy in a way that
nothing else did. But what if I couldn't
sell? Now, I have thousands of
cartoons on hundreds of subjects. I
find people who agree with my sense
of humour and sometimes not.
What's your perfect work
environment? What really gets
your creativity going?
The perfect work environment is
at home, a cloudy day, a cup of tea in
my hand and no one calling on the
phone.
What are your thoughts on
stand-up comedians?
George Carlin and Bill Hicks are
my favourite stand-up comedians.
They raise issues of society and try
to create awareness.
THE AUDACIOUS
‘SHE’
Karnika Mishra
We
“The best revenge is massive
success.” – Frank Sinatra