A Tale of Two Hilsa Lovers

Bengal's unending appetite for Hilsa could spell doom not only for the fish itself, but for coastal ecosystems along the Bay of Bengal. The demand escalates exponentially in the festive months, to meet which, unsustainable methods such as bottom trawling are employed, threatening not just fish stocks and marine environments, but also artisanal and sustainable fishing practices. With Durga Pujo around the corner, things are only likely to get worse for Hilsa, as well as predators like sharks that depend on Hilsa and other estuarine fish.

Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Feeling Ilish

Hilsa, or 'Ilish' as the Bengalis call it, has faced indiscriminate exploitation in recent times. With Durga Pujo around the corner, are things going to get worse for Bengal's favourite fish?

Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Diwali 2018

Diwali 2018. From my column with The Hindu BLink.

Eco-friendly Diwali Tips from Wild Animals

Green Humour wishes readers from India and abroad a happy and eco-friendly Diwali. The comic appears in my column with Sunday Mid-day.

Prints and greetings available on my webstore here. For orders within India, write to me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com.

Green Ganeshas for the Green You

Here are just a few of the many eco-friendly Ganesha options available in India. Of course, the more creative ones among you can always make one yourself!

Green Humour wishes Indian readers all around the world a very happy Ganesh Utsav.

What's Sankranti without Kites

A Black Kite makes a humble appeal this kite-flying season. Wishing Green Humour readers a happy Sankrant/Pongal/Uttarayan.

From my column with Mid-day.

Diwali and Owls

On owl-poaching and firecrackers from my column with Mid-Day.

Happy Diwali, folks! Please celebrate responsibly, and cracker-free. 

(And to religious trolls who are going to come for my throat as usual, saying, "Where were you when goats were slaughtered during Bakri-Eid?": Green Humour deals with wildlife conservation and environmental issues. The poaching of owls is illegal, and an offence against wildlife. Burning firecrackers results in environmental hazards. If the celebration of Eid causes harm to wildlife in any manner, please let me know, and I will draw about it. If inciting communal hatred is your only agenda coming after me, try elsewhere. There's tremendous scope for your breed online these days. And a happy Diwali to you too!).

Another one on firecrackers and stray dogs in India-

The Snake Torture Festival

It's that day of the year again in India, when thousands of snakes across the country are captured from the wild, have their fangs hammered out and burned, and are subjected to the worst form of torture, including force-feeding with milk and sprinkling of vermilion into their eyes. Naag Panchami is a festival meant to worship and revere snakes. The best way of doing so is to leave them alone, in the wild. 

The comic appears in my Sunday column with Mid-Day today.

Read a series of cartoons I created in collaboration with indiansnakes.org that debunks snake myths here. Celebrate Naag Panchami cruelty free.

Snake Myths Busted

I collaborated with the amazing folks at Indiansnakes.org  to bring out some cartoons that debunk snake myths that are prevalent in India and lead to harassment, capture and even death of snakes. Naag Panchami, a festival in which snakes are meant to be worshiped, ends up being a day of horror for snakes; particularly cobras, as they are captured from the wild, defanged and rendered helpless, force-fed with milk and tortured.

Indiansnakes will soon be publishing vernacular versions of the cartoons and distributing it as posters. Thanks to the dynamic Shaleen Attre and Jose Luis for teaming up!

Let this Naagpanchami be cruelty free. Say no to snake worship and report the capturing of snakes to your local forest department.

Easter with the Red Foxes

A family of red foxes wishing Green Humour readers a very happy Easter, from my Gocomics page today!

Holi Greetings from the Dwarf Kingfisher

Here's one of the world's most colourful birds, the Dwarf Kingfisher wishing all Green Humour readers a happy Holi (the colour festival)! Please celebrate a dry, green, pollution and wastage-free Holi.

Kites of India

Every year, Sankrant or the Kite-flying festival celebrated in the month of January in India claims the lives of hundreds of birds. Kites with glass-coated strings (manjas) pose a very serious threat, most often causing fatal injuries on collision. Even if they are not coated with glass particles, kite strings often result in entanglement and related injuries, many of which cause deep wounds, deformities, starvation and death. The problem is even worse in the north-western states where populations of the critically endangered Gyps vultures reside.

So how many of you are flying the Killvus killvus this year?

Diwali 2013

Well, it's that time of the year again! Another peril that the festival brings along is the sacrifice of owls to please Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, which is again a paradox considering the fact that the owl is recognized as the vaahana or mount of the goddess. Please remember that this practice is a criminal offence. Let's celebrate Diwali 2013 like a festival should be celebrated. Have a cracker-free Diwali.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Elephant in India

The Asian Elephant is so synonymous with India that it was chosen as India's National Heritage Animal by the environment ministry in 2010. However, various problems continue to plague these gentle giants, 29000 of which struggle to cope with deforestation, man-animal conflict, habitat loss and train accidents in an ever-shrinking space. Although poaching for ivory is not as rampant in India as it is in Africa, it only makes the animal a lot more vulnerable to the threat of extinction. Even though the government has announced several schemes and measures to overcome the threat from train accidents, they have not been implemented effectively. Ironically, 'Bholu the Elephant', is the mascot for Indian Railways! The very species that endorses the locomotive is being violated and slashed by it. 

This comic is a part of Sanctuary Asia's Elephant special issue (October 2013) along side Vivek Menon's cover story on elephant conservation in India. Always a special feeling being published in Sanctuary Asia!

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Go Green this Ganesha Festival

The celebrations during the Ganesha festival in India are a major source of pollution to both inland and coastal waters. The pollution can be attributed to several factors, the foremost being the immersion of idols made of Plaster of Paris and coloured in chemical paints. Several other factors include noise pollution, increased emmissions owing to traffic jams during the festival, release of plastics and other waste into water bodies along with the idols. Environmental awareness is on the rise among devotees, with many resorting to greener ways of celebrating the festival such as clay idols, idols made of recycled material and immersion in indoor tanks. A lot still needs to be done if the environmental impacts of Indian festivals are to be minimized, and I don't think it will be a bad idea to resort to the gods themselves for help- I don't mean just praying, but little tweaks in the design of the idols such as in the cartoon, shouldn't do any harm!

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Indian National Animal

15th August is the Indian Independence Day. The Tiger isn't called India's animal 

for nothing. A careful look at its hide and its habitat will reveal that within them lie all

the colours of our national flag- saffron, white, green and blue (represented by the numerous Indian rivers originating from and flowing through tiger habitats). Gives us all the more reason to do 

our best to protect this charismatic cat from extinction, does it not?

This cartoon was a result of Tinkle Digest asking me to do an Independence Day themed cartoon, and was published in their August 2013 issue-

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Green Humour Diwali Greeting

What was meant to be a festival of lights, is celebrated as a festival of deafening noise, boundless pollution and uncontrolled emission of climate change-inducing, mutation-causing agents. We forget the fact that most animals have much more sensitive ears than ours, and make them the worst victims of such festivals. Another heinous practice associated with Diwali is the 'sacrificing' of owls by Hindu fanatics to the goddess Laxmi. An illegal and severely punishable offence, this is still practised in most parts of the country, being more prevalent in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Idol-talk

Unfortunately, almost every Indian festival ends in the same way- causing almost irreversible destruction to aquatic habitats, apart from alarming amounts of air and noise pollution. I have never understood the concept of idol immersion and am dead against it, and i feel it must be boycotted and done away with, without any delay.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Kite-flying and birds

Kites have done immense damage to avifauna in India. Bird deaths and injuries commonplace during 'Sankrant' or the kite-flying festival held in January each year. The use of glass-coated 'manjas' or threads used for flying kites has claimed thousands of bird lives. Even though activists have managed to bring down the use of these manjas through campaigns and demonstrations, the ordinary threads too pose a risk of entanglement and death by starvation or injury. In Gujarat, where the festival is the most popular, the already endangered Gyps vultures face a grave threat from kite-flying and urgent impositions need to be made if the skies are to be made secure for our feathered friends.

Another one on the harmful effects of kites on avifauna

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

The Troubled Tusker

Water pollution during the Ganesh festival has been reaching alarming levels of late. Huge idols made of Plaster of Paris and coloured in toxic chemicals are immersed into both inland water bodies and seas. It doesn't end there; this is usually accompanied with a lot of food, flowers, offal and plastic wastes being dumped into the water. Aquatic life has suffered gravely at the hands of Indian festivals. Although several groups have emerged that practise eco-friendly idol making and immersion, a complete switch must be made from P.O.P to biodegradable materials urgently to prevent further aquatic hazards.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.