The Common Man

I was watching Rab Ne Bana De Jodi the other day and was struck by the way the wife describes her husband in it. She says – “My husband is a nice person, just that there is a commonness about him, the way he walks, he talks, he thinks – everything is like that of an aam aadmi”


Aam Aadmi – the common man. Did you know that “the common man is actually R K laxman’s creation. The cute old fuddy duddy with his stick and bag observing those around him and being unobserved himself. This guy came into existence in the comic strip “You said it” in Times of India in the 50’s and he struck a chord. Across generations we like this guy, empathize with him and generally we have a wry smile on our faces when we read the strip.

Cut!! So whats a common man? Why is he/she common? Coz he depicts the average population, everything about him/her is average, nothing too great or outstanding. The general majority of us fall into that category. I know I am special to my parents and among close friends, but I am still average. I don’t make heads turn when I walk neither do I make people faint with admiration when I speak. Indeed very rarely have I addressed a group of more than 10 people, if any, and held them spell bound. Not that I don’t dream of such things.


So then what is it that would make me NOT AVERAGE, NOT COMMON?


Well wealth would. The easiest possible way is amass hordes of money coz with money comes confidence and that stagger of knowing I am wearing branded clothes, driving around imported cars, talking to the who’s-who, having people to do my bidding. I am a cut above the rest, or at least quite a few of the average-ers. Hmm….so with wealth comes confidence and making people sit up and notice…….. so then why the wealth to have confidence…..could I not take a short cut and directly go to the wealth and get people to sit up and notice me?


Well, wealth gives me the power to back my words, to do things. So then there’s Power too in the equation. Oh yeah I shouldn’t forget intellect aka shrewdness. Without the capability of playing life like one would play chess, placing pawns and trying out strategies I would be a rich powerful dud translated that means super fast way to doom. Boy that’s a lot of powerful ingredients – confidence, power and intellect……looks like a lot of work and playing some hard ball too……hmm……


So what’s wrong in being a common man? He/She doesn’t turn heads or make people sit up and notice, but he /she lives a decent life, tries not to hurt anyone in the process, takes care of his loved ones, enjoys his/her moments of happiness, befriends other commoners, keeps faith, takes care of old parents, takes care of children…….ambitious to the extent that it doesn’t rock the boat too much.


We may not be outstanding, but hey we are NICE. In a world increasingly filled with violence, borders hardening and terrorism increasing, perhaps we are not a bad lot to be. Yes we may be meek, we may be more bothered by rising rents, EMI’s and telephone bills than peace talks between nations, but hey we make the world go round.