I ndia lost R. K. Laxman two years back, one of the best cartoonists and political satirists that the country has ever produced. Looking back, the hitches and glitches that Laxman drew for decades are still faced by Indians everyday – whether it is poverty or corruption or our dwindling economy. Has India remained unaffected or could Laxman foresee the skeleton that refuses to change?
Laxman’s common man observed, listened and endured everything and everyone – whether its the politicians or bureaucrats, ministers or managers – not to forget his wife – the one with the most perilous comments. A cartoonists’ cartoonist; Laxman’s brush strokes were as exquisite as it was minimal. Different faces and postures of us, the confused Indians, came to him naturally. He spared no one, from doctors to engineers, artist to cricketers, scientists to economists. We didn’t protest, rather, the whole of India continued to cherish Laxman’s cartoons every morning. The potholes and pavement came repetitively in his columns as also the innumerable unfinished foundation stones. One wonders how he could create such ingenious comments every now and then – ‘It seems the nation’s economy has improved! Come let us go on our round of begging’. Laxman had a unique knack for depicting the Governments effort (or the lack of it) of drawing graphs – from growth rate to inflation to bonus to cost of living – the graphs were in every direction. Laxman teased the religious and political fanatics with equal zeal but didn’t belittle any. In the increasingly humourless India, as we are making it to be, the dearth of ‘You said it’ and its creator will be felt for years.
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There is not much debate on which politician he portrayed most accurately – no one comes closer to Indira Gandhi and her impeccable hair-style. Second? Well there’s V. P. Singh’s cap, Vajpayee’s Uttariya, Thackeray’s beads and the ever-smiling Lalu with cud chewing cows in the background. Fortunately, the politicians did not object that much then – even with those incredible epidemics that he coined –‘Narsimietis’, ‘Chandrix Sawmisis’, ‘Jayantis Lalista’ to name a few.
Even in politics, the span of his ideas knew no bound! The alliance and coalition, the break-ups and dissidents, the ideology and the mockery of it – he penned everything. The classic introduction in one such cartoon sums it up all – “I belong to the extreme left wing in the reactionary right group among the moderates in the party.’’
Laxman’s black and white palette was full of colours and it was not limited in the newspaper column only. While our previous generation swore by the immaculate ‘Star I never mate’, we grew up with the sketches of Malgudi Days and the expression of Gattu. His crows were omnipresent, vultures stood with poverty, the up-tailed dogs mingled with the slum and pipe dwellers and the face-down goats were clearly visible in scanty-grassed villages. There are so many books that he penned down, and thankfully many new collections are being published. Perhaps it is time for an all-encompassing Laxman omnibus – that’s the least we common men and women could hope for.
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(The author is an Assistant Professor in Delhi University)