As It Was In The Metropolis That The Cartoonist Spent Over Seven Decades Of His Life And The Common Man Was Born, Says His Son
Mumbai : The proposed memorial to legendary cartoonist R K Laxman, announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Pune last week, must be erected in Mumbai, his family has urged.
“The CM was very kind to announce the memorial, but the location has not been specified. We, especially my daughter Rimanika and wife Usha, are keen that it should come up in Mumbai, where Laxman spent over seven decades of his life and The Common Man was born,” son Srinivas Laxman told IANS.
He said that it was the vibrant and never-say-die spirit of the ordinary Mumbaikar that inspired the image of Laxman’s bespectacled creation – The Common Man – always silent with a confused and bewildered expression at the antics of politicians, generally in his trademark check shirt with dhoti, and a tuft of hair clinging to the sides of his worry-marked pate.
Srinivas, now a specialist writer on space exploration, said that his father started his cartooning career in Mumbai and walked the streets of the city, saw it developing into a global financial centre and chronicled it through his sketches.
“He had a long, 60-year old friendship with another great Mumbaikar and cartoonist, the late Bal Thackeray. They used to have lunch and tea at Chetna Restaurant in those days, laugh and joke. Before his death, Thackeray had visited my dad in Pune,” Srinivas said.
In the 1940s, when Laxman first came to Mumbai, he lived in the Mirabelle Hotel – which no longer exists – at Marine Lines and then at other smaller places before moving to his flat in the posh Breach Candy area, where he spent 70 years of his life.
Owing to practical reasons – the Mumbai building does not have a lift – the 86-year old Laxman shifted to Pune in April 2008. “But, his heart always beat for Mumbai. He always wanted to return and live here,” Usha said.
According to the family, a Laxman memorial in Mumbai would be a befitting tribute to both the great city and its prime resident, The Common Man, whose statue is already installed at Worli.
Quaid Najmi
