THE ‘UN’COMMON MAN

Saturday 21 January 2005 - I personally met and interacted with the most popular humorist of India, R K Laxman.
Two art savvy friends of mine (I’ll call them C and G) and I had registered ourselves to an event “Face to Face with R K Laxman” held in our organization. The program was to start at 10 am, thanks to the nocturnal nature of C, we were all late by half an hour, the delay proved to be a boon in disguise, because we got to see the icon himself ,up close, in the parking lot as he dismounted the car that brought him to the location. I had goosebumps all over as I watched him. Although aged, his personality radiated sharpness. He was wearing a red shirt and black trousers. He was accompanied by his wife, and he needed assistance to walk. He saw the three of us, watching him with gaping mouths. I’m not aware for how many seconds his sharp eyes met mine, but it seemed too short a time for me to cover up my excitement.
The program began with a book reading session; excerpts from his books were being read by some fat ladies (boring!)…The three of us were broke as usual, so we ran to the ATM counter meanwhile to draw money for his books being sold at a special counter.
We made it before the Q’n’A round. Most questions were asked by all the kids who had gathered to meet “Laxman Uncle”. The following section is entirely based on the memory of a forgetful person- Myself, so omissions and mistakes are an integral part of it. The questions and his responses as I can recall were as follows.
Q) A little girl: “Sir, what was the first cartoon you ever drew”?
A) “ I don’t remember, it was long ago”, then he noticed the little girl’s face fade he quickly added, “I think it was of my nephew playing in the garden”
Q) A gentleman: “Sir, name one politician whose cartoons you enjoy drawing most”?
A) Laloo Prasad Yadav
Q) A young man: “Sir, will ‘The Common Man’ ever participate in the events around him or will he always be an observer”?
A) “He will always be a mere observer”
Q) Me (I had to move up real close to him to ask the question, I was asking him the question to his face.): “Sir, I have seen a lot of your works on crows, what medium do you prefer when drawing crows”?
A) Lamp Black.
Q) A gentleman to Mrs. Kamala Laxman. “Do you get to advice or suggest him on his art and works”?
A) “I don’t go anywhere near him when he is at work” .
....And many more questions and answers that I can’t remember… Finally, the moment arrived when we could take our books to him for his autographs…C was leading the way, followed by Me, and G wanted the moment captured forever so he was persuading one gentleman to click his photo as the artist autographed his book.
Dr. R K Laxman, winner of Asia’s top journalism award, Ramon Magsaysay Award, and India’s prestigious award Padma Vibhushan, smiled at me, signed his name for me on his book “The Distorted Mirror: Stories, Travelogues, Sketches” .
He also drew the common man in my book on my request.
The day was fantabulous!!!
-- Sujay Sukumar (Blabbergob)