Patil describes Kari as a gentle tale about human relationships, about love and loss. On a dark and desolate night in stuffy Mumbai, Kari and her soul mate Ruth attempt suicide together. Both survive but Ruth leaves the city. Saved by the sewer she fell into, Kari attempts to return to a life of normalcy. Her job as a copywriter in an ad firm lends itself to a few adventures between the high streets and low life, as Kari carefully guards an alter ego that was born the night she tried to commit suicide.

The book started off with small episodes that Patil drew in her journal. While some were autobiographical, others were borrowed from her surrounding. Kari seemed to be a conscience unwittingly carried by Patil, as she drew on experiences from her days at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and her stint as an art teacher in a Bangalore school. But two years ago, there came a fork in the road. HarperCollins’ VK Karthika discussed basing an entire graphic novel on Kari with Patil, and soon she was working on a completely new book. “The visual style of Kari has oscillated wildly from 1999 to 2008, echoing my own preoccupations and experiments as an illustrator. While the illustrations were hip and edgy in the ’90s, they are more moody and layered now,” says Patil whose illustrative style continues to change as she works on her next book titled Parva/The Epic, which is based on characters from the Mahabharata.