Introduction
As a child living with my family in Washington DC, I got hooked on the fad of those days: comic books. Easy to read and entertaining, I became an ardent reader of Archies or Little Lulu and anything else available in comic format.
On return from my father’s posting, I missed reading comic books as none of them were available. I was studying Premedical but my heart was in Fine Arts. I doodled in the margins of the science books. Finally, I took the plunge and changed my academic subjects to Fine Arts and Literature.
After graduation and still, without local comic books, I decided I would make them myself.
Gogi is created
Gogi was born in 1970.
Before I started producing comic strips formally, I already knew that my central character would be a female; educated, smart, modern, confident, and misunderstood. She would have the energy and zest to do something –change the world perhaps.
I started off with the mundane things in life, everyday life humour. Gogi was fearless and did what she thought was right. Those were my “Fun and Frolic” days.
Over the years she became a symbol of the enlightened and adventurous Pakistani woman who refuses to kowtow to authority. She finds humour in the most challenging situations, especially women’s issues.
By the 80s she became a household name. I branched off into television and told stories through pictures. I drew them live.
Gogi would adopt a getup according to the environment she was symbolising. A “lacha” in the village with a computer on her head instead of the pitchers of water (cartoon of village men). However, with the dotted fabric her brand was ever-present.
With time and successive postings abroad, I reconciled myself to a chequered career. Gogi went into the background.
When she touched the surface, it was with a mature approach to life such as giving social messages through cartoons on public buses on topics like women’s rights, girls’ education, children’s rights, good governance, environment, and so on.
Thirteen buses in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, four in Lahore, and two coasters later I decided to let Gogi take a break and she started appearing in public hospitals on murals with pedagogic messages about health and hygiene.
They were not funny. However, Gogi was already a well-known character and became an inspiration for many. The impact the sponsors were looking for was achieved. Five hospitals later I went into doing illustrative work for books along with animated spots (whiteboard animation).
I came to the point of producing a story for any issue that bothered me, and there were plenty. Back in the day if I was annoyed, I would draw a Gogi cartoon or a comic strip. Now I would write a storybook. I ended up doing over thirty. Some were illustrated manuscripts, others were authored and illustrated.
Gogi went from role to role, not always central (The Garbage Monster), and 6 awareness-raising comic books where she did not feature at all. Secondary characters outside the Gogi caste took over for the awareness-raising comic books.
One consolation for Gogi is that she does not age so she represents the youth with up-to-date fashion and style.
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