The Common Man

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The Common Man
Gurera's Tribute to Laxman.jpg
The Common Man in a tribute to R. K. Laxman by Shekhar Gurera
Publication information
Publisher The Times of India
First appearance You Said It (1951)
Created by R. K. Laxman
In-story information
Species Human
Place of origin India

The Common Man is a cartoon character created by Indian author and cartoonist R. K. Laxman. For over a half of a century, the Common Man has represented the hopes, aspirations, troubles and perhaps even foibles of the average Indian, through a daily comic strip, You Said It in The Times of India . The comic was started in 1951. [1]

Contents

When Laxman began to draw cartoons in The Times of India, he attempted to represent different states and cultures in India. In the rush to meet deadlines, he began to draw fewer and fewer background characters, until finally he found only one remaining—the now-familiar Common Man. The Common Man generally acts as a silent witness to all the action in the comic. According to anthropologist Ritu Gairola Khanduri, "Clad in a dhoti and a plaid jacket, the puzzled Common Man is no dupe: his sharp observations miss no detail of the political circus." [2]

Other depictions

The Times of India 1988 stamp of India.jpg
The Times of India 2013 stamp of India.jpg
The Common Man featured in 1988 and 2013 commemorative stamps

Statues

"The Common Man" at Symbiosis Institute, Pune The Common man by R. K. Laxman.jpg
"The Common Man" at Symbiosis Institute, Pune

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References

  1. Laxman, r.K (1998). The tunnel of time : An autobiography. India: Penguin books. ISBN   9780140272482.
  2. Khanduri, Ritu Gairola (2012). "Picturing India: Nation, Development and the Common Man". Visual Anthropology. 25 (1): 303–323. doi:10.1080/08949468.2012.688416. S2CID   143569147.
  3. "R. K. Laxman's 94th Birthday". www.google.com. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  4. Bhatia, Ritika (27 January 2015). "R K Laxman bows out but lives in the Common Man". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 23 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  5. "Celebs mourn cartoonist RK Laxman". The Times of India . The Times Group. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  6. Rushdie and the Common Man Archived 2015-01-29 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "The Common Man". Symbiosis Institute Pune. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  8. "Statue of common man unveiled". The Tribune. 18 December 2001. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  9. "Common man along sea face". Mumbai Paused. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  10. naik, Yogesh (15 May 2012). "Common man retires hurt". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  11. "Putting the common man back in place". Ahmedabad Mirror. 8 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  12. Kadam, Vikas. "Mirror - A short video on the common man statue". You tube. Archived from the original on 12 June 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  13. Datta, Rangan. "RK Laxman Museum in Pune — a legacy for the next generation". No. My Kolkata. The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2023.