Laxman’sThe Common Man Takes a Stroll India hadfine arts of sculpture and painting, and also had court jesters to poke fun
atcourtiers, but had not combined
political satire and drawing to make cartoonsuntil the British brought the art.During the era, cartoons touched on ending social evils but did notcriticize the elite. Since democracycame for the first time in India’shistory in 1947, political parties have provided fodder for satire and jobs forpolitical cartoonists. Meanwhile, thecommon man is “a silent, bewildered and often bemused spectator of events whichanyway are beyond his control” (p xiii).Such as:§The man beaten by VIP securityforces is far worse off than the man beaten by gangsters;§A school kid has to take twosatchels—one for books and lunch, the other for fees galore;§Soon the overpasses will needoverpasses over them;§A political defector firstconsults all parties, then tells his latest choice how wonderful they are—hemust not forget which party is presently his or that his former sworn enemiesare now his dearest friends;§A beggar is really a hotelowner trying to avoid extortionists, and a man lives in a humble home but rentshis mansion to others to avoid appearance, but not reality, of impropriety;§Corrupt
politicians are O.K. ifthey belong to/defect to our party—when police arrest/jail them, their absencecreates too much work for the few honest politicians. New elections empty jails of winningpoliticians. Politicians find any excuseto take bribes—when they leave office, they ship out much more than they shipin when they enter.§Cabinets are too busy arguingto actually take care of any national problems or keep campaign promises, butcan still draw up impressive plans to solve everything;§Violence so fills the newspapersthat now people watch TV for relative peace and quiet—hospitals solve diseaseproblems to clear space for violence victims;§Illegal structures should havefoundation stones set and demolished at the same event—when slums aredemolished, they just move, and they last longer than legal structures;§When the finance ministryreleases its budget, the protesters know what to protest about, but many timesthey still don’t know—they mistake what the whole uproar is about;§Even in the wilderness, peoplecan hear the distant roar of Parliament;§Road potholes swallow cars orprovide ready-made tunnels for metro trains;§Criminals and militantsfrighten the populace and politicians until they have a free ride;§Politicians/bureaucratstraveling overseas don’t know their goals and how to reach them, speak in Hindiand are ignored by the people of the nations they visit;§Turnover in politicians/VIPsmeans security guards don’t know their new boss’s face;§No rural development—in thevillage, life rarely advances—different politicians simply visit villages,stage protests, repeat promises, but don’t complete projects, so writingspeeches about achievement is harder;§Pavement dwellers need not fearlosing everything or being extorted for bribes, and can start creative businesses,or assert their proud dignity, pride and freedom—but no hope;§Construction mess and piles ofrubbish keep hawkers off pavements—and can become historic landmarks—likedilapidated buildings almost gone, yet preserved by court order;§No law and order problem—manylaws. Just an order problem. No anarchy shortage.§Rising prices mean you don’tbuy anything and thus save money—become a millionaire!§What’s so special about a“no-confidence” vote? We all vote thatway.