Very, very common jokes

RK Laxman's cartoons never brought in a chuckle; but they hit a place much higher and much deeper -- memory

Two farmers converse so on a paddy field. “Oh! I simply spray cola drinks these days,” one of them says. Needless to say, this cartoon appeared while Pepsi and Coke were in the midst of pesticides-in-their-colas controversy, which is now out of public memory.

Jawaharlal Nehru drops a coin in the bowl of a beggar with Andhra Pradesh written on him. Next, five beggars chase a Nehru running almost out of the frame of the cartoon. The beggars had Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, written on them. The time of this cartoon is unknown, but surely Nehru was paying for his generosity to one of the states of the country, in times when it was a Congress stronghold.

He had his fun with Congress during its bad times as well. While they were talking about how they bring in stability, a man in an easy chair said this to his sari-clad (house) wife, “We know they are unreliable and incompetent. But at least, they are consistent.” No coincidence for sure, but the BJP won the National Elections.

His cartoons never brought in a chuckle or a smile. But they hit a place much higher and much deeper -— memory. That is why we remember Laxman’s cartoons years after he stopped Times of India regular. The newspaper did fill the gap with words, but never with another cartoonist. Well done ToI. There is no replacing his work.

Laxman however does have a side which is much darker than the lighter side of what he sketches. He made the ‘Common man’ famous. He also degraded him. While the West came up with fictional supermen, we came up with a Common Man, whose no-super power was to do nothing. Likewise, all Laxman cartoons had the Common Man looking dazed or surprised or dejected or sometimes with a wry smile. All this while, the Common Man was silent. Was a signal or was it too real?

The Common Man was not a part or a party of his cartoons either.  He was merely a bystander. He was neither the cause nor the effect of any topic of the cartoon. All the same, he was there. Why was he there? If he can say nothing, do nothing; he should also be nothing. That, unfortunately wasn’t to be. He was there—-a representation of the weak, the poor, the tired and huddled masses that remain silent in the front of every decision and calamity of this country. R K Laxman is a cynic. R K Laxman is dead. Long live Common Man.