R K Laxman , the immortal common man

The news about the eminent cartoonist R K Laxman suffering three stokes and being admitted to a hospital in Mumbai was one which would not have been classified as a banner headline in a newspaper or as a breaking news one on a TV news channel. But it was still disturbing as if this was a tragedy in our families.

R K Laxman through his cartoons especially the “you said it” series in Times of India had a constant presence in our Drawing rooms. Through his cartoons he immortalised the “common man “ a much neglected creature in our society. I personally feel indebted to him because when I started reading newspapers in my early teens the only thing that was attractive in the paper was his cartoons . The speciality of his cartoons was that the character “common man” never spoke while all he did was watch and observe the events happening around

The character with his checked shirt , dishevelled hair and a constant confused look on his face was made immortal by the great cartoonist.

Such was laxman’s status that people felt privileged to be featured in his cartoons. He had caricatured leaders right from Nehru thru Indira Gandhi down to Vajpayee ,Advani and leaders of our times. And everybody appreciated his work and never felt hurt by the caricatures.

His work was never censured or censored even during the worst days of Emergency in 1975. That shows how objective his cartoons and the comments in them were. He was one of most celebrated cartoonist of his time and served “Times of India” for more than five decades.

There are stories around his arrival and stay in Mumbai ,Bombay then. He has reportedly observed that when he came to this city in the early fifties the most striking image of the city was the dug up roads He had resolved then that he will leave the city once all the dug up roads get filled up. But he says that he was forced to stay on in this city as we still are living with dug up roads.

For once we must be thankful to the corrupt contractors ,politicians and the civic officials for giving us some joy because it was due to their effort ( or lack of it ) that we could enjoy the presence of this great man in our city .

Ultimately he had to leave Mumbai and settle down in a much quieter Pune in 2003 due to continued ill health which left him partially paralysed. But his cartoons still appear in the “ Times of India “ but with a lesser frequency.

We as mortals will all have to take a bow one day and leave this world . But in the case of RK Laxman our irrational mind wants him to be left immortal so that he and his work can amuse ,and educate the generations to come who will otherwise be deprived of It. If and when he departs the void that he may leave behind will not be breached .

It is a ferverent plea to the almighty to grant good health to this great soul and if he needs the presence a wonderful cartoonist in heaven ,this man should be eased out with the minimum of pain and suffering. This is the least that god can do to a wonderful person who has given a trillion moments of joy to a nation for more than five decades.