Book review: 'Stupid guy goes to India'

Stupid guy goes to India
Author: Yukichi Yamamatsu
Publisher: Blaft & Tranquebar
Pages: 395
Price: Rs 230

Yukichi Yamamatsu, Japanese manga artist, was 56 years old when he, broke and unemployed, decided to come to India and sell his manga comic. India, where manga was yet to gain in popularity, would surely be a ready market for this new art form, reasoned Yamamatsu.

Yamamatsu faces the Sisyphean task of selling manga comics to an audience whose language he doesn’t speak; but first, he has to jump through the hoops of getting mundane tasks done, such as finding a place to live, eating unpalatably spicy Indian food, finding a clean bathroom quickly when at the mercy of an incontinence problem, and buying a decent pair of sandals without getting ripped off. Stupid Guy Goes To India is a detailed (perhaps too much so) account of his attempt.

It is only halfway through the book that Yamamatsu starts looking for a translator and illustrator for his book. The book, written in the traditional manga format — back to front, and right to left reading — is initially a little difficult to get used to. The first half of the book has him getting repeatedly ripped off or misunderstood, by unscrupulous or confused landlords, auto drivers, cops, realtors, shoe sellers and various street vendors. The second half has him struggling to find a translator and illustrator, grappling with the printing press, and looking for a roadside stall to sell the finished product at.

There are many seemingly positive words one can use to describe Yamamatsu’s book — candid, detailed, matter-of-fact — but entertaining isn’t one of them. Yamamatsu’s amazement and anger at various debacles (expressed by a ‘GYAHH’ or later on, with a ‘NAHIIII’), though initially deserving of a smile or chuckle, begins to wear thin after the first dozen times. His shock and amazement that everything doesn’t fall into place in a third-world country where he has appeared seemingly with zero forethought or preparation is baffling — the word ‘stupid’ in the title was possibly not inspired by self-deprecation. There are only so many times that a logistical or financial obstacle will elicit amusement, and Yamamatsu doesn’t seem to know when to stop.

There is no dramatic arc other than Yamamatsu’s ill-fated attempt to get his manga comic translated and sold. The art is quirky and humorous, but is let down by the complete lack of a compelling story or fleshed-out characters (other than a confused Yamamatsu). And Yamamatsu’s observations are neither revelatory nor insightful. They remain superficial, and do not go beyond what the individuals he encounters have to say, either about the country he is visiting or the author himself. To consider this book as a representative of manga would be doing an injustice to the art form. Blaft is well known for its brilliant, wacky titles, but they seem to have gone wrong with this one.