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1 This two-page verbal-visual montage sets the tone for the rest of the narrative, introducing four broad concerns: first, Natarajan and Ninan re-inscribe the text Gulamgiri ( Slavery) through foregrounding Jotiba (1827–1890) and Savitribai Phule’s (1831–1897) struggles against caste oppression and their contribution to social reform in India in the 19th century. Walking past this incident, they halt at a poster of the film Batman Begins, and Ninan exclaims why she understands the need for superheroes: »to swoop down out of the sky and kick the baddies to bits« (GITW, 9). As they walk through a New Delhi neighbourhood, they witness a group of children being beaten and abused using references to the ›untouchable‹ caste by a (supposedly) pious upper-caste man for inadvertently kicking a football into his house. In the opening pages of A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty (2011), the authors, writer Srividya Natarajan and artist Aparajita Ninan, appear on the page discussing their plan to ›adapt‹ the 1873 work of Jotiba Phule, Gulamgiri ( Slavery) (Fig. Reinventing Biography, History and the Comics Form in A Gardener in the Wasteland
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