How to begin

Sarnath Banerjee enters the room. All of his 17 students and his co-teaching artist Nina Prader have already assembled around a big round table. Sarnath has a cold. His sneezing interrupts his relaxed welcoming speech. Next comes a round of introductions. The first student considers to make an autobio graphic novel and Sarnath elaborates on the merits and limits of the autobiographical approach that carries with it the danger of self-indulgence. Asked about his particular interest in the graphic novel course the next student says:"Theory. I would like to go up on top of the mountain to get an overview."

Sarnath immediately transcends this metaphor. "There are people who have an even greater overview than from a mountain top. They have seen things from an airplane." And he then compares the two kinds of overview: from the mountain top you can see the whole way that led you to where you are now. From the plane you have an overview over a landscape that you have not gone through yourself. In this way Sarnath already links the topic of the first student (autobiographical approach) to the one of the second (theory). Theory remains abstract as long as you can't connect it to your own experience, is how I understand it. The third student is interested in how to create a universe for a comic story, the fourth student works as an electric engineer, the fifth student wants to accelerate the introductions and works as a journalist, the sixth has troubles with how to end a story.

Sarnath connects the topic of universe-creation with the other topics that are already on the table. He asks the electric engineer how electrical diagrams are visually appealing to him and after the journalist has questioned the very deep going and thus slow round of introductions the answer is that this kind of round of introductions is right: deep, slow, connective. The journalistic work of "objective" truthtelling is in a crisis Sarnath elaborates further. The need for subjective and honest truthtelling is served by the graphic novel. I am amazed by the way Sarnath turns the round of introductions into a lecture about all these aspects of the particular art form.

The session before noon is intense. I meet Kamil from Moscow at the coffee machine. He is the only male student in the course of cinéma copains he says with a smile. When I remind him that he has a girlfiend he says something interesting.