"Oh, Dakuwaqa!" - The Shark comics and cartoons

Food!

2023-10-18T11:41:00.006+05:30

It was World Food Day a couple of days ago. This year's focus is water as an important resource for food production. We take a lot of it for granted - whether it is water or food. Even in a country like India where a huge part of the population goes hungry every day, those who are blessed with plenty tend to forget that we need to ensure everyone gets to eat. After all, food is one of the great pleasures of life - something we need as well as want. It could be a big unifying force in this broken world. If only we all took the time to have a meal with people. My extended family can talk about food A LOT - and it does seem like we often live to eat.

Which is why it surprised me that I hardly had any posts about food. I have 3 old ones - all done during covid-19. So I suddenly decided to do one with food from my part of the world. When people abroad think Indian food, unfortunately most of them only seem to know "naan bread" and "chicken tikka masala" or "curry" and "biryani". South Indian food is in a league of its own. South Indian breakfast is comfort food. Sambar is life. I wanted to do a bunch of my favourites from these regions - like parotta and beef, idiyappam, etc but finally decided on a simple idli dosa vada combo.

Sharktober: Shark Band

2023-10-18T11:28:00.006+05:30

As you know, I've done several shark bands over the years: Blues band, Rock Band and Country Band. Instead of a simple repost, I decided to update them. The country band has probably gone through the most change with the Opry tribute background.

Sharktober 2023: Candy Shark

2023-10-12T15:45:00.003+05:30

I really felt like playing around with this one. There were a few more chocolate brands I wanted to try but decided to stick with my favourite ones. Let's see if you can figure them out.

1. Cadbury Twirl - Spinner Shark - Carcharhinus brevipinna

2. Gummy Shark - Mustelus antarcticus - also known as Flake. Cadbury Flake is an all-time favourite.

3. Snickers - Or any peanut candy

4. You probably said Nerds but I was going for Smarties.

5. Turtles - Or any Pecan candy.

Sharktober 2023 #1: Fairytale Shark

2023-10-09T23:09:00.005+05:30

Let's see if you can guess the Fairy Tales and the sharks!

1) Mako shark

2) Lemon Shark

3) Oceanic whitetip

4) Tiger shark

5) Blue shark

6) Thresher shark

7) Sleeper shark

8) Pinocchio catshark Apristurus australis (I only just found out such a shark existed!)

9) Bonnethead shark

10) Silky shark

11) White shark

12) Dwarf lantern sharks

13) Dwarf catsharks

14) Dwarf gulper shark

Angels and Devils

2023-09-15T13:09:00.002+05:30

I enjoy comics/ cartoons that had this battle between the little devil and angel - Tom & Jerry was probably the earliest I can remember.

I've been MIA for months this year. A lot of the time, my dry eyes cause so much strain that I don't feel like drawing. But I need to persevere. Can't give in to the side that says I can do it later.

I had a couple of scripts done for this but it seemed so much more intriguing to leave it to your imagination.

Valentine's Day 2023

2023-02-14T09:56:00.000+05:30

The first one is a rip off of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, sealed, delivered" album cover.

I drew the second one because I could hardly find any cute shark cupids (or is it cupid shark?) out there.

The Shark Podcast: Valentine's Day

2023-02-08T11:18:00.001+05:30

What better day to revive The Shark Podcast than for Valentine's Day? It's that one most overrated and annoying day of the year. I would find just as overrated and annoying if I wasn't single. I buy myself flowers if and when I want.

That being said, I do have my own list of love songs that I think are truly beautiful.

You're still the one - Shania Twain
Always and forever - Shania Twain
Ain't no mountain high enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Come what may - from 'Moulin Rouge'
Lost in your eyes - Debbie Gibson (I wanted to draw the little copepod sitting in the Greenland shark's eyes singing this song)
It's your love - Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
When you say nothing at all - Alison Krauss
Beautiful in my eyes - Joshua Kadison
Top of the world - The Carpenters
Everything I do (I do it for you) - Bryan Adams
Have you ever been in love - Celine Dion
Deeper than a river - Olivia Newton-John

Sharks and Recreation

2023-01-11T22:10:00.008+05:30

I wanted to kickstart the year with a masterpiece but this took me way longer than I thought. I'd actually sketched this out about a year or two ago and never got around to finishing it. It is inspired by "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat but I, of course, had to name mine "Sharks and Recreation".

Sharktober 2022 - Prehistoric Sharks

2022-10-13T15:30:00.004+05:30

Yeah, I'm running with the Meg with the teeth. Some day the scientists will thank me or sue me for misinformation.

The Mighty Meg

2022-10-13T15:27:00.003+05:30

What if the Mighty Megalodon was indeed just a regular sized shark with oversized teeth?

Shark Week 2022

2022-10-13T15:24:00.005+05:30

Generic battle one

"Pig vs Shark"

"Shark vs Kraken"

I couldn't do all the episodes because almost all of them seemed like "this vs that" or some kind of attack/battle so I picked my favourite titles.

Ninja Turtles Tribute updated

2022-02-22T22:03:00.005+05:30

A quick sketch to commemorate today's date - 22.2.22

I didn't really want to make Leo a blue shark but then again I did't want a bunch of messages asking why Leo isn't a blue shark.

Invasive siblings

2022-02-18T23:52:00.005+05:30

My sister will tell you that this isn't just a thing of the past but a regular occurrence even today. This simply means that we aren't done growing up.

When life gives you lemon sharks

2022-02-18T23:49:00.003+05:30

What you see is what you get

2022-02-18T23:48:00.003+05:30

A friend gave me this idea - based on the cat looking in a mirror and seeing a lion/tiger.

Happy Shark celebration Day!

2022-02-18T23:46:00.003+05:30

I updated an old comic for Valentine's Day, sorry - Shark celebration Day, this year.

Balloons and chocolate - Valentine's Day 2022

2022-02-12T21:55:00.002+05:30

Balloon sharks (Cephaloscyllium sufflans) are a species of catshark - they can inflate themselves with water to defend against predators. They probably can also stuff themselves with chocolate and not share.

The cat's pyjama shark

2022-02-11T15:11:00.004+05:30

The cat does not look pleased with its pyjama shark.

I've got you under my dermal denticles

2022-02-11T15:09:00.004+05:30

I really got a kick out of this one. ;)

Christmas 2021

2021-12-02T20:46:00.003+05:30

Where has the year gone?!

Oh well, let's step into the Christmas season with joy!

Why so paranoid?

2021-07-16T19:09:00.003+05:30

I'd scribbled this idea down ages ago and it still cracked me up so I'm glad I finally got around to drawing some version of it! I will probably make this paranoid shark a recurring character.

The Shark Podcast: Shark Awareness Day

2021-07-15T23:51:00.000+05:30

I almost missed "Shark Awareness Day". I'm very aware that I've not been participating in all the many many #SharkWeek posts because a) it's not airing here, b) I've been quite caught up with work and c) I didn't find any of the episode titles that catchy. But I didn't want to miss the shark action so finally got around to do some comics.

I'm really happy there's a Shark Awareness Day - because a friend who isn't a shark-freak (yet!) reminded me of it this morning so obviously it is reaching people and making them aware.

Shark Awareness

2021-07-15T23:46:00.003+05:30

Sorry I'm a day late with these! It's been a while since I did a comic with the other characters and the human so it seemed rather apt.

The Shark Podcast: World Oceans Day Special

2021-06-07T21:28:00.001+05:30

What blows me away about the ocean is the fact that we still don't know so much about it. Life as we know it started in the waters. And us humans, being the only ones capable of reason and creativity were supposed to take care of all the other creatures. We failed miserably because we took care of ourselves, not knowing that to take care of the planet was to take care of ourselves. Now all of it suffers. It's time for us to do our duty and take care of what has been taking care of us all these millennia. We need a healthy ocean in order to have a healthy planet. Hence we need a good and healthy shark population. This is a shark podcast, after all.

The Shark Podcast: Episode 4

2021-05-31T21:26:00.006+05:30

I made one more panel but wasn't sure if it was necessary or not. Here it is anyway.

* My list of some things to stock up (sorry, vegans, I need my cheese. And some other stuff):

Eggs
Milk/ cheese
Bread
Butter/oil
Flour
Rice
Sugar/ sweeteners/ honey
Salt/ Pepper
Pasta/ noodles
Coffee/Tea
Cereal/ Oats/ Muesli/ Granola
Chocolate/ candy
Instant noodles
Peanut butter/ Nutella/ Jams
Tinned foods - beans, corn
Fruits & Vegetables
Frozen meat/ready-to-cook
Cooking sauces/ seasonings
Drinks of your choice
Snacks - trail mixes, chips, etc
Baking essentials
Cleaning supplies
Pet food if you have a pet
Emergency cash
Medicines*
Personal care - soap, dental care, etc
Batteries/ Power banks
Candles/ matches/ torches
Books/ Art supplies
I'm going to add "instant pot" because that has saved my life

* Prescription medicines as well as ones like paracetamol, probiotics, Vicks, pain balm, cough syrup, multivitamins, antacids etc.