Sunday Editorial
Who is the common man of Bihar: Sushil Crorepati?
By Ratnakar Tripathy
Way back in 1990 when I first saw a rendering of R K Laxman’s ‘common man’ into a brass memento, a sculpture, it seemed a disaster to me. The 3-D touchy feely piece in front of me seemed a betrayal of the original drawing – not an improvement at all, of course, but not even a tolerable replica of the original thing! This was not just my impression but I saw several cartoon and sculpture aficionados wince at the sight of the metal ‘common man’ placed on the palm. Since then there have been any number of attempts to translate the drawing into a fulsome 3-D being, including live mimicry.
My conclusion is – a tangible and real ‘common man’ doesn’t work and it’s a waste of time to attempt one, unless you create your own version. The reason is you need to create the common man of your own times and mind spaces with costume, degrees of baldness and length of moustache of your own choice.
The latest common man in Bihar is Sushil Kumar, the 27-year crorepati, who worked as a data entry operator for Rs 6000 a month and gave private tuitions. He is also a postgrad from Patna University as well as a Bihar Public Service Commission aspirant.
After bringing home above 4 crores, he is now also an IAS aspirant too, according to latest reports. Yesterday, Sushil came back to a massive welcome in his hometown Motihari. He will build a house for the family, help his brothers stand on their own feet and as I imagine him, will leave for Delhi and settle in a room in Mukherjee Nagar in Delhi which is where the Bihar IAS story begins and ends, either happily or very very unhappily.
Times have changed – look at R K Laxman’s common man and look at Sushil. There is no resemblance in dress, demenour, age, hairstyle or stature. But like R K Laxman’s common man, Sushil seems like someone refusing to be crushed by the system. He aspires, works hard, waits for an opportunity and frankly admits that luck has a big role in his victory.
Way back, when RK Laxman used the common man as a ploy or a double, depending on how you interpret the relation, the idea was not to start with a clear definition of commonness – income, status, education or ability. The idea perhaps was to seek the help of a friendly spirit, a ghost called common man who will help him place his finger on the pulse of the nation on a daily basis.
I found Sushil’s story inspiring not because I see in him a great hero, but because I am able to see in him a normal Bihari. He helps me place my finger on Bihar’s pulse. Bihar has chased too many heroes and ideals at different times in history as well as ‘recent history’! Our shelves are soon going to collapse under the weight of these self-proclaimed deities.
So even as we feel some disturbing twinges of pain and bellyache caused by simple straight envy for the crores, let us join Sushil in celebrating his new found wealth and wish him success in IAS – if he makes it, that it won’t be to win endless crores at the expense of fellow citizens, unlike many of our cousins and uncles, is almost certain.