The Common Man does not speak.H has never spoken.He is a silent but wise spectator.Even the word 'spectator' is inappropriate for him.He is really a witness, a saakshi,to all that happens around him.To the discerning eye,his raised brow itself is the great indictment.To the sensitive mind,his melancholy expression is the worst form of chastisement.The Common Man is a mirror that never distorts.he is the most reliable barometer of our ethical and moral pretensions;yet he never sermonizes.
Others react to him with an uncalled for vehemence.He makes the hypocrite,the corrupt,the insincere,the pompous and the perfidious insecure.He has been around for more than 60 years.his appearance has remained the same for all these years.Chronology is not his concern.He is the gentle, but unwavering guardian of human worth and quality.He is eternal India.
Only one other person shares his passion for goodness and empathy:The Mahatma.To say that he is a miniaturized version of Mahatma would not be an exaggeration.He remains poor,not because he glorifies poverty ,but because he is capable of boundless empathy.He has the intelligence and the will to be the richest man in the world,but desists from doing so because means are more important to him then ends.
But why this vow of silence,people wonder.He remains silent,not because he is unsociable,smug,arrogant or diffident.Rather,the lack of speech symbolizes the silence of mind and the spirit.Amidst all the din that politicians,bureaucrats,moralizers,machines and vehicle create ,the Common Man baulks from adding to the decibel levels of the world.
Another year in his life is about to come to an end.He looks forward to a new year.He is never cynical,though he has every reason to be so.He cannot understand why some people create such a fuss about a temple instead of concentrating on their jobs and living simple ordinary lives.It is beyond him why those who have a great deal of wealth and opportunity need to shortchange the dead and trade in coffins.
The Common Man is a firm believer in the tenacity of the human spirit.It puzzles him as to how a few demolished towers can destroy human resilience itself.He is often amused by the juvenile confidence of the terrorist,the suicide bomber and the criminal.This is because he knows that concepts such as freedom,civility,decency,goodness and moderation are far greater than evil.The sword he knows, might win the battle today,but the pen and the song usually rewrite these victories as defeats.
All this is,of course,the very stuff of politics.Like all wise men,the Common Man is more intrigued by simpler questions.Here is a sample of such questions.Why do people not use garbage bins and instead litter the entire landscape around them?Why are our roads in a perpetual state of disrepair?Why is is so difficult to provide people with drinking water, sanitation and clean air?Why do people depend on the government for everything?Why do people give and take bribes?Why is quality education not universal?One reason why people prefer bombs to schools?Why are politicians so self-centered and self-righteous?
The answers are inherent in the questions.Yet, the Common Man does not despair of asking them repeatedly.We do not know if the Common Man is believer or not.His iconic form,created by a god among cartoonists, betrays nothing about his religious or spiritual beliefs.He embodies prayer,place of worship and holy book.His credo is simple and uncomplicated: Be awake,aware and vigilant.He is his own leader and follower. He is at once a supreme individual and the member of the community.HE IS US.WE, THE PEOPLE.
