YOU SAID IT, LAXMAN SIR, BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE DID






Pic.: Pradeep Nanda

All through his professional life – for over six decades, that is – R.K. Laxman did only one thing: draw cartoons… He made that - otherwise ignored and uncared - common man speak through his silence, each day… and made him, literally, immortal. He made even that – otherwise most irritating and shooed bird - crow, immortal!

Imagine, a simple soul like you and me – a total common man – becoming a legend called R.K.Laxman… just by drawing his cartoons, every day! That, too, without formally learning to draw them from any school or teacher… Instead learning to do them on his own…

Yes, imagine, R.K. Laxman without his cartooning prowess!

It is just like imagining Amitabh Bachchan without his acting prowess… and Sachin Tendulkar without his batting prowess!

Amitabh did not go to any acting school and Sachin, though had learnt a few subtle things from his coach, Achrekar, I believe, had learnt on his own almost all his colossal batting-skills…

Ditto for Lata Mangeshkar, Milkha Singh or Dada Kondke… Ditto for Narendra Modi…

They learnt it on their own, and, they learnt it the hard way… with loads and loads of dedication, commitment, discipline and passion…

In life, none of us can be good at everything… leave alone ‘the best’. But, if we resolve to be good in one thing – that one thing which is close to our heart – and go about building up that skill, that prowess, by putting our entire heart and soul into it, can’t we excel in it?


Somewhere down the line, things have gone wrong when it comes to our self-belief. Parents, today, enroll their kids to great design schools without checking whether their kids have the aptitude and the attitude in place…

Design schools don’t bring out the designer in you… Your belief in the designer in you, does…

How many Arjuna’s could the great Dhronacharya produce? Don’t tell me, he had only one student under him! And, could Arjuna, the most-glorified student of Dhrona, learn the art of archery the way Eklavya could?

R.K. Laxman, his brother R.K. Narayan, Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tenulkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Milkha Singh and Narendra Modi… and hundreds of legends like these – are the Eklavya’s of this world… They discovered that one thing which they could do best in life… and invested all their energies into doing it… They believed in themselves… They remained completely faithful to their commitments…

Minus his cartoons, R.K. Laxman would have passed across this world just as his crow would have passed across the sky…
Just as his silent-man in checks-shirt would have!


You said it, Laxman sir, better than anybody else did!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...