Grass War

During the SARS period, everybody was fearful of the sneezing and coughing of the person beside him/her. Everybody was fearful of stepping onto somebody's spit.
It was a time of environmental awareness and cleaniless. This was one of the poster to bring accross the message.
When I saw this poster, it jolted back a thought I had. I have ever wanted to draw a comic on Grass War. It was the time I really hated human being spitting onto the grass. I was conjuring a story to allow the grass to fight back ....



'Ah-choo'
And the cold virus landed onto the ground.
This is how the grass got to know this newcomer.
As the grass continues breathing, it absorbed some genes of the virus.
And it starts to mutate.
It starts to have a special ability to impentrate the human body system.
And it propagates fast since virus do propagate fast.
And whenever a human being step on these mutated grasses,
they get cut by the grass so that the virus can escape into the system.
More and more man gets infected.
Doctors are unable to figure out a cure,
saying it is as weird as the SARs virus.
And it seems like the end of the world....

Pretty Park

A park was born 2 years ago. It was to be a pretty sight. There would be lots of greenery. Places for people to rest. Kerbs to sit and admire the lovable Mother Nature.

Then it slowly dawned on these residents that the kerb is in the way. That they have to make a detour to get to their destination.

And they decided to spoil the pretty sight at the expense of convenience. A path was born. An ugly sandy path. cutting right through the grasses. As long as the kerb. And the park lost its beauty.

Grass beside the sidewalk

"Excuse me!"

"Ring!!!" "Wheez!"

"Hurry up, it is the green man already"

"Don't block my path!"

"Grr.. make a detour"

A pavement near the road. Grasses near the pavement. Or rather grasses that used to be near the pavement.

A pavement overly visited by human and bicyles alike. The passer-bys have only one thought, "Why can't the pavement be wider.. Why must there be grasses?"

And the grasses have accepted their fate the moment they learnt of their birth place.

Sloping Grass

"Ooo I'm growing on a slope, I'm growing on a slope. I'm far away from human, I'm far away from human. Nobody is going to step on me, nobody is going to step on me. I will live forever, I will live forever."

Alas, this cannot be the thoughts for these grasses. Although they grow on a slope, they are surprisingly disturbed daily.

"Whiz! Whiz!" A bicycle tyre had just cut pass them. Then the cyclist reached the top. And the journey got easier as he embarked on his bicylce and cylce away to work.

"Pant! Pant!" A lady slowly climbed up the slope. Admire the morning sun around her, she felt she accomplished alot when she climb up the slope. The forbidden slope.

"Will I be able to grow back? Will we never be disturbed again? Will this slope be back grassy again?"

A dream that is impossible for these grasses.

3 paths to a station

Long long ago, here was a green nice slope. A nice little stairs sit in the middle of it, for the commuters to travel to and fro the train station and the bus stop. Further up, a little slope of cement is created near the traffic light path. However the people crossing the traffic light decided that the slope is too much a distance for them to cover. They chose to create a new path. A path between the cement slope and the stairs. A direct cutthrough to reach the station. This cut the grasses once. Then the people alighting the bus stop decided that stairs is too troublesome to climb. They make a mini slope besides the stairs. This cut the grasses twice. On the final blow, the commuters realised that the little slope is not sufficient for the human masses. They make another little slope besides it. The third blow for the grasses.

Ever been stabbed in the heart once? Ever been stabbed in the heart twice? Ever been stabbed in the heart thrice? These grasses have. And on rainy days, they cry and bade goodbyes to the sands. Which will be washed away and accumulated on the pavement. Such is the fate of these grasses.

Author's Note

Grass Tales was an idea I conceptualised after I graduate from university. That was in 2004. 2 years have passed and I'm ashamed to say that this idea is still in infancy stage.

In 2004, I had thought of coming up a comics. To enact the stories that the grasses encounter in their short life span. I only got as far as drawing the characters - A Mr. G & a Ms. G. The storylines are still in my brain, but I am unable to draw them out. People says a picture speaks a thousands words, in this case, the picture I wishes to draw speaks an idea so strong that I am incapable of illustrating it.

Thus I shelved this idea away, and got busy with my working life. Till Jan 2006, when I bought a new handphone. A 2 megapix camera handphone. Then I told myself, now I have a pocket camera which can take pictures as and when I wish to. And this Grass Tales of mine could have a new life. As I am nearing Feb 2006, I finally took a few pictures. The grasses epict in these pictures all have a sad story to share with.

While I tell you the stories, there are many other pictures that lies deeply etched in my memory, waiting to have their stories told to...

Introduction