As the 'Common Man' Views It

As the 'Common Man' Views It

By Deepak Parvatiyar

(This report was published in the Free Press Journal, Bombay on 6th December 1992. FPJ,as Free Press Journal was popularly known as, was very close to Mr. Laxman's heart since he had started his career from here. Indeed he was fond of me too and after I had joined the FPJ, he invited me to his exhibition on a rainy day. I was drenched and was reluctant to be there. But then, my editor, late Mr. Diego Silveira, insisted me to go. I reached there and Mr. Laxman promptly took me around his illustrations. What to say. I was completely overwhelmed by his gesture. So much so that the curator of the Cymroza Art Gallery was prompted to make even me sign the visitor's book. Today Mr. Laxman's death makes me sad. RIP, one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. Reproducing my report of the above mentioned exhibition)

For once the famous common man had removed his age-old check shirt to come to a world where he really belongs -- the world of a water melon seller, of a bidi smoking patriarch, a carefree child, a quarreling neighbour, an amorous bird watcher in the hilly terrains of Darjeeling...and what not.

Yet he is as silent as he had been for the past so many years as a voyeur in a world of political disarray.

The trivialities of his big little world continue to speak for him. he quietly showed his admirers the hues of Indian life at the prestigious Cymroza Art Gallery in South Bombay last week. The occasion was the first ever national exhibition, entitled 'Indialife', by RK Laxman, the creator of the inimitable common man.

The canvas that the little man adorned had no colour in it. "But even dreams are in black and white," explains Laxman. And just as in dreams, the common man's world too reflects the serenity that everyone aspires for.

As Laxman put it, the idea was to present those precious little things -- "situations, trivialities which the common man observes" -- which otherwise remain unnoticed due to the hustled life of a man.

Yet it is interesting to note that the common man actually began his evolution in a crowd, as Laxman used to draw "quite a lot of people" to show that a particular political or social issue was applicable to millions.

One day, however, the cartoonist was "left with a single archetypal individual who was able to stand as a symbol of the mute millions".

"The little man is the epitome of joy and sorrow of life," commented S.A.Sabavala, who once had used his position as a Assistant Editor in Free Press Journal to favour Laxman over another cartoonist, Bal Thackeray.

"Today the man I favoured is a darling of millions while the other person is a leader of a section of the Bombay crowd," the obviously proud Sabavala told a select gathering of closefriends and admirers, after inaugurating the exhibition.

Conceived by Workshop, Calcutta, and sponsored by Tata Steel, the exhibition will tour four cities -- Bangalore, New Delhi, Calcutta and Jamshedpur.