Guarding daughters

Debasmita Dasgupta’s version of Kashmir is quite impactful

- REYA MEHROTRA

TERMINAL 3
By Debasmita Dasgupta
Published by India Penguin

Kashmir is a land of paradoxes. For the 13th century poet and scholar Amir Khusrau, the valley meant heaven. For many, it meant living in uncertainty and on the brink of violent death. The land of thriving dreams and crushed desires. The scenic land of snowcapped mountains that turns red and smoky in the blink of a moment. The land of food and culture, and yet the land of conflicts.

When graphic novelist and film producer Debasmita Dasgupta sat down to sketch her rendition of Kashmir, in the form of a graphic novel—Terminal 3, published by India Penguin—she looked at it through the dreamy eyes of a teen, Khwab Nazir. While many voices from the valley have narrated the tales of disintegration of lives, Dasgupta’s version is a fairly simpler, one-of-a-kind and impactful one. Her illustrations bring the story and its characters to life.

A jiu-jitsu player, 17-year-old Nazir grows up in a family that pushes her to achieve success despite their kin complaining about her getting tanned due to long practice sessions, and nagging the family about her marriage.