11/ Laxman was not the greatest comic. His jokes were not always funny. But The Common Man was a masterful invention.
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12/ The political rhetoric of post-Independence India was ALL about 'aam aadmi': The Common Man.
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13/ From Nehru to Modi and Kejriwal, all have presumed to speak for the Common Man.
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14/ Laxman did not challenge this presumption directly by giving the Common Man a critical or satirical voice.
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15/ Instead, he simply mirrored the hypocrisies and bullshit of the political classes by having his character bear witness to it.
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16/ This is what made Laxman _the_ cartoonist of post-independence India.
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17/ He was not always the most politically astute. To those who do not understand his milieu, he can appear somewhat tame.
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18/ His cartoon commentary was not radical. It was even pedestrian at times. But the Common Man elevated every gag panel to sublime.
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19/ Laxman knew this, as his writings show. He did not claim political genius or astuteness. He knew his power lay in bearing witness
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20/ In a deep way, my own writing, while lacking the brevity of cartoons, is about bearing witness. I learned that from Laxman.
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21/ You need no genius to bear witness, nor great insight. Just the willingness to stay present and not look away.
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22/ You do not need to even understand or challenge what is going on. The witnessed will challenge themselves.
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22/ RIP R. K. Laxman, 1921-2015. The First Witness of modern India.
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