Uncommon man

an english daily is doing a feature tom on r k laxmans common man . they wanted me to write a piece on what the common man means to me . here goes .

The un-common man .

It's strange that India’s most endearing common man was conceived, created ,brought to life, and sustained for decades by India's most uncommon man. R.k. laxman .

The one living legend  who went beyond being india’s best-ever cartoonist and became an iconic creative genius  whose prolific creations surpassed standards of excellence on a daily basis .

To create the common man , to draw him in the way he dressed , ln the way he looked , in the way he behaved was great art . to make him forever mute was  pure genius . in his muteness was captured the very essence of a common man . a helpless , mute spectator , un noticedly camouflaged in the background , watching with speechless bewilderment the life enfolding around him .

and doing just that . watching .

not participating , not commenting , not complaining , not changing ….. just watching . and that’s what made this common man and his creator so uncommon . and so identifiable and so endearing.

Poets ,painters ,  playwrights , novelists , filmmakers have it easy .they are required to get flashes of creative brilliance when they feel like it , when they desire to create . with long gaps of hibernation . they don’t need to get great ideas everyday . they are not required to create on demand ,on a daily basis . this common man was as regular as the sunrise , and as dazzling .

‘you said it ‘ even in its most literal sense was ‘you ‘ saying it . the common man never said anything , he just heard . he was silently omnipresent . existing with his sound of silence . everything that makes a cartoon character interesting , change of clothes , change of expressions , change of attitude , was denied to him , and in this denial , he was given a personality that everybody empathized with .

he didn’t represent a particular community , or a socio-economic segment , or a political point of view -he represented them all . every reader saw in him a reflection of his own frustration with the life around him . he spoke for , or rather didn’t speak for , all of us .

to me , this common man meant a constant reminder of the limitation of my own creativity . a constant humbling presence . as an advertising person ,who wrote the topical amul butter hoardings for many years , I was aware of the pressures of writing topically relevant messages every week or so , of reaching out to millions with just a few words and hoping they would appreciate it everytime . but then I had help , help of colours , help of cute characters who changed clothes , who changed  expressions , help of  the comforting knowledge that one week it could just be a pun on a word , that’s all and nothing more . and more importantly I had the help of brilliant illustrators , who could magically bring that little amul girl and boy alive . I had to just write the line . not draw the visual . and I had to do it once a week , or sometimes ,if a good thought didn’t  occur in time , then take a few days more . and it was a heady feeling to reach out and touch so many people so regularly .and being appreciated and applauded for doing that .  a feeling that could easily have gone to my head . but thankfully , there was this gigantic presence , which did way better creative topicality on a DAILY  basis . to see a man who thought of the lines AND  drew the pictures AND  did that every day AND with the excellence that you couldn’t even dream of achieving in many lifetimes . the common man and his creator was gods way of pointing out to me how insignificant my creativity was and giving me a constant daily reminder lest I forgot .

as a playright who wrote topical plays , and satires that changed at every show , again this uncommon pair , of the creator and his creation , were , to me , a constant yardstick against which I measured my  own feeble attempts . there again , I had help . I had to just write the lines . again I had help . help of some of the best actors India has to offer , to make those words work . it was team work . I wasn’t a one man orchestra , like mr laxman has always been . one man everything .

I know , I gush . I gush more than many other admirers would . but that’s because I have worked in that zone . I am aware that taking on something that requires you to do something topical is like riding a tiger . you cant get off , you cant let off . through health and sickness , through happiness and despair , through flowing ideas and writers blocks , you’ve got to deliver . with demanding regularity and hopefully with some level of excellence .

And that’s where the common man and his uncommon creator work as an inspiration . to show you that its doable . it can be done . the way Olympic athletes show you what human body is capable of doing . to show you that these are the stars , and if you get inspired and try and reach for the stars , you can at least hope to reach the top of a tree .

And I have the great fortune of knowing The man . of interacting with him many times . and that’s where I am luckier than most . I have seen from close quarters how this mind works . how when the highest level of intelligence is combined with the most acute sense of observation , what magic can be created .

Once he dropped it in at my office on his way to work .now our Zen office was , and still remains, albeit in memory , the most brilliantly creative interior ever created ( why be humble when you don’t have to ) we had trees , a talking mainah , golden macaws , a dog , monkeys ( and not just the ones on our payroll ) piranhas that swam under your feet etc . and this man came , sat for a cup of tea . and when he was leaving ,was spotted by somebody from our studio and the whole office rushed to meet him and take his autograph . someone asked him if he could give us an impression of our office .and this dapper little genius , asked for a paper and pen and standing there at the receptionist’s table and without pausing to think , or look around , drew on that paper the kind of details that we didn’t know existed in our office . and as we watched awestruck , we realized why the that mute little common man speaks so much . because he observes so much more than all of us do . in marathi we have a saying “ je na dekhe ravi , te dekhe kavi ‘ ( what the sun cant see , a poet can ) .

And that , to me , is the secret of the common man .

I will always be thankful to mr laxman for giving me the common man .

And to god for giving me mr laxman .

creative freedom

alman rushdie controversy has erupted again . heard ex solicitor general soli sorabjee saying how no right is absolute and how creative people can't create things that cause hurt to a community or a religion .
i agree . for too long have the creative writers , painters , poets believed that they are not bound by any social responsibility , and they can create what they want and feelings be damned . surprisingly people who support the freedom to create , have never created anything , they just love the idea of creative freedom for others . i feel having an intelligent opposing view is fine but you can't denigrate religeous books , figures , gods or even godmen ( although most of the last lot need to be condemned ) . in law we say " your fundamental right to swing your arm as you wish , ends where the other man's cheek begins . " i don't think rushdie is right if he has insulted the prophet , i don't think hussain was right in depicting nude hindu goddesses . being creative doesn't mean you are above the society you live in .

and here i am putting my money where my mouth is . my play bottoms up , got many admirers during its record breaking run , but i had a skit which was a satire on cheating slimming centers and it ended by showing slides of malnourished refugees from ethiopia as satisfied members . a single gentleman met me at the end of the show and politely told me that , that hurt . no protests by angry mobs ,or vested political interests , just one polite hurt man . but i told him , if it hurt him , i will remove it in the next show and i did.
. another of my plays , monkey business had a song making fun of jain food , a lady doctor from bandra wrote me a letter saying she enjoyed the show as did the audience that day , but felt hurt at the fun poked at jain food , i dropped the song and sent her complimentary tickets for the next show . these were not mass protests , nor media frenzy but to me every member of the society who sees my work is god . if they don't like what i write they can go jump , but if my writing hurts them and if i can ( even at a lot of trouble and expense ) change it , i would , and i did .
any creative work by greats like rushdie or hussain or by small fries like me , have to respect peoples feelings .if you want them to buy it , read it , see it , you can't hurt them and cock a snook at them .

just not cricket .

are we crazy ? getting ready to denounce and lynch the indian cricketers ? its a game damn it , no matter how passionately you feel about the game , its still a game . you don't win every time , and thats why its fun to watch .its the uncertainty of not knowing who will play how and who will win . thank god we only play cricket which only a handful of other countries play and our probablity of winning is higher , and not football ,which almost the whole world plays.

these are a good bunch of guys who play the best game they can , they win sometimes , lose sometimes . lets not make their temples when they win , and burn their effigies and houses when they lose . they are not irresponsible , you are .
you want to find someone to blame ? blame the bcci , which fixes 365 matches in a year , treating these players like machines ( even machines have metal fatigue , damn it ) , or blame the media for whipping up your emotions 200 times in a day , or blame yourself for believing that you have a right to this yo-yo reactions because you are so passionate about the game ( sachin never promised you that he will score a hundred hundreds ? ) as my friend sunil gawaskar once said , most of us haven't even played galli cricket to know how it is psychologically and physically , to be out there day after day and play the best in the world .

come on year , give them a break . unless of course , you have never faltered and fallen flat occasionally in your professional or personal lives .( it will be intersting to ask your wife , won't it ? )