Abraham
Lincoln once said “God must love the common man, he made so many of
them”. All of us hear so much about this “Aam Aadmi” but I wonder who really this
common man is?
Writers
and film makers have shown us different faces of ‘common man’. R. K. Laxman sketched ‘The Common Man’ for over a half of a
century in Times of India, This Dhoti clad old man silently
witnessed all the action and represented the aspirations, fears and conflicts of
the average Indian. Anusha Rizvi wrote and directed “Peepli
Live” which showed another version of
common man in form of Budhiya Manikpuri, the hapless farmer, who finds
himself considering suicide as an escape from the debt trap. This film was inspired
from a classic of Frank Capra named meet
John doe where a common unemployed man
portrayed by legendary Gary cooper announces to commit suicide to make story
for the media. In the film ‘The Wednesday’, we saw an heartening transformation
of common man in form of Naseerudin Shah who decides to cleanse the system and
single handedly eliminates four most wanted terrorists in a methodical way. (Click here for a clip uploaded by me ). Now, which face of that is a reality is a mystery that
needs to be resolved?
This
common man who is deprived of any connection to system and those in power , is used as currency by our politicians who weep crocodile tears for him but
never really bother to alleviate his misery. Is there anything more to this
faceless entity , that is used as a ladder to climb to the top and when apex is
reached people forget all the steps they trampled under the feet. Emptiness and
hunger of common man has been the route to prosperity for many but sadly the
common man has remained empty and hungry.
Kaleidoscope of extremities has
all the colors but which one is really prominent is really a puzzle. Isn’t it
surprising that a man who, in premises of his house is a compassionate father,
a caring brother and a sensitive husband becomes part a faceless mob that is prepared
to throw stones and even take life of many who are just like him. That same
person in comfort of his cozy drawing room condemns apartheid in Africa,
talks about global village and ‘one universe’ but when he enters the polling
booth transforms into a fanatic and votes on the basis of cast and religion. Moved
by the misery and state of affairs around him he sometimes shouts slogans and
swears to remove corruption from root but when he attains power he becomes
the part of same corrupt structure and sets himself free by putting all the
blame on social and political system. Truly amazing that when this axe
enters the forest, one of the trees can always identify that, 'The handle was
one of us'. This double faced hypocrisy is all
around, isn’t
it surprising that,
How
a minority
Reaching
majority,
Seizing
authority,
Hates
a minority!
In my humble opinion, common man
is nothing more than a term that has no connection with social or financial
status of persons. Everyone who lives his life solely on convenience without
any firm principle and values is ‘just common’ nothing more than part of herd.
Such
persons just punch in the clock; no excitement, no enthusiasm, no creativity. This burn out comes because of lack of individualism and
thought. Such a person treads blindly on path of faith and such Faith is a terribly powerful thing -- to have and to
lose. It has sent men into battle for centuries, it has ripped families’
apart, driven wedges through friendships and has made us to choose run of the mill sort people of
no character as our leaders.
Why
are you here, on this earth? That is one question every individually needs to
answer to one self. But in seeking to
answer this question, keep in mind the words of Sir Lawrence Olivier, who said:
"If you truly want to change your world, my friend, you must change your
thinking.”
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