In the times we live in, you have to be deadpan. The humour in Pearls Before Swine is deadpan, but very topical. Then Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, liked the strip and told everybody to read it. So while I was still practising as a lawyer, I submitted the strips to syndicates in the ’90s.

That led me to drawing for all my school papers in grade and middle school. I would miss a month in school and my mom would give me pens and stuff so I had something to do lying in bed. Growing up in Los Angeles, I used to be sick a lot, and every winter, I had bronchitis. So when I finished college, I went straight to law school. It’s like aspiring to be a professional cricket player in India. I never thought I’d take a chance at being a syndicated cartoonist because it’s so hard to achieve. You quit your job as a litigation lawyer to begin cartooning full-time. Pastis, when we meet in Mumbai, makes no promises: “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be like a bull in a china shop!” Rat asks him not to “offend anyone”, Pig adds: “More than usual”. So when he drew himself, clad in a kurta, on that Facebook announcement, Rat and Pig noticed. Pastis frequently makes appearances in his own strip. Rat is sarcastic, Pig is naïve, while Goat is philosophical. Its animal characters Rat, Pig, Goat and Zebra display human characteristics, have conversations about religion, death and censorship, frequently satirising comics themselves. Published in 750 newspapers across the world, Pastis’ comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, takes on contemporary living and its problems with dark humour. Within minutes of Pastis announcing his India trip on Facebook in December, his page was flooded with comments, with fans even bribing the cartoonist with beer to come to their city.

(Photo: Aalok Soni Location courtesy: Trattoria at Vivanta by Taj President) I’m so ready!” Cartoonist Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine. He also read eight books about modern Indian politics. He was particularly impressed by Gangs of Wasseypur: “In the US, they broke it down into 10 episodes and I watched them all in one night. He saw 30 Bollywood films, including Chak De! India, Queen, Wake Up Sid and Rang De Basanti. Before his first trip to India to talk about cartooning this February, Stephan Pastis spent three months “preparing”.

Pastis comic