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Thursday, May 11, 2006

What's So Special About R. K. Laxman?

Some Zen master was heard saying 'A good sense of humour is the highest form of intellect.' Think of a person who could churn out humour for now nearly 60 years, day after day, year after year. With unabated standards. That's RKL for you!

Making a good cartoon once in a while is one thing; making excellent cartoons everyday for so many decades is nothing but genius.

A sense of humour at someone's cost has an element of inherent malice. But what do you say of a humour that's at the cost of oneself? I feel the cute Common Man always placed at a point from which he can't do anything but hopelessly observe the ludicrity of current affairs is a deep hurt in the heart of all Indians. RKL satires, not on politicians or corrupt bureaucrats, but on the Indian's absurd helplessness -- that's the invariant feature of all Laxman cartoons.
...and yet Laxman must have unsettled many a corrupt person by the very menace that all his cartoons seem to make silently to all parasites of the society: 'The common man is watching you; and one day he will give you his verdict.'
Let's see when.
Hats off to the genius!

1 comment:

Karthik said...

True. Its much much more difficult to create excellent cartoons everyday than to make good cartoons occasionally.

But I also believe that anyone who can create one really good piece can also create many more at the same level. He/she just has to discover 'how'.