The Contractor & The Engineer
The narrative revolves around the character of a twenty to thirty year old Indian engineer living and working in Manhattan, New York. He takes a three-week vacation to travel to Vizag, his hometown in India - and to his work mates in New York's surprise - returns to America a married man. His fiancée asks the "engineer" Anand to sign a prenuptial agreement as a condition before the wedding - so that the "contractor" can annul the marriage without asking the rest of the questions. While Roopa remains in India for her travel papers to move in with Anand, Anand begins a romance with his bisexual friend Prinny Alavi, who lived in the building next door before his marriage. Roopa eventually reaches Manhattan to be with Anand. On the final leg of her journey from Vizag to JFK in New York on an Air India flight, she befriends a Kuchipudi dancer and Ph.D. Hyderabad Central University candidate Protima Narayan who is travelling to New York to offer a one-month workshop at NYU's Tisch School of Arts. Protima's hostel in Manhattan - is just a 10-minute walk from Anand and Roopa's apartment in the West Village. Protima finds a kind of unhappiness in Roopa's marriage: with Anand returning back to the couple's apartment looking exhausted, as he's in the office most of the day. Apart from Anand, with the help of Protima, Roopa gets to know the classic sights and hidden beauties of Manhattan by daily wanderings.
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After Protima moves back to Hyderabad Roopa enrolls in the MFA photography program at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she was accepted while in Vizag. She slowly falls in love with a fellow student named Sunil Ghanshani, an undergraduate from JJ College of Arts, Bombay. A year and a half after the wedding in Vizag - Anand and Roopa face marital problems when Anand is told by Roopa she is in "love" with Sunil. Protima, who is in town again for another workshop at Tisch - advises Roopa in the interim as to how to go about mitigating an unwanted pregnancy - with the father of the unborn baby being Sunil. What happens is understood by all, the story has been written in countless variations and combinations in books, movies, and other stories presented in various media. In contrast to his previous graphic novel work, Rao notes that the writing and artwork are a detailed consideration of quality issues - particularly the 3D Application Daz Studio and GIMP software that effectively translates Rao's vision (both of which are available on the web are freely available). Rao thought to present this story in individual panels in similar page layouts. There were no compromises due to the limitations of the software - and considering that Rao had no freehand illustration or painting skills: everything was done using a mouse and keyboard. Rao stated that he intends to present the first story in comic book form, addressing issues related to marriage and relationships from a unique cross-cultural narrative. The story "The Contractor & The Engineer" is based on Rao's own student memories of summer vacations in New York and India.