Mumbai Art Street: R K Laxman’s Common Man at Utkarsh Mandal square gives a clarion call against noise pollution – The Indian Express

The Common Man stands beside a loudspeaker, with his umbrella hanging on his biceps and index finger of each hand in the ear, and a board is displayed behind which says ‘Stop this commotion, let me live in peace’ (Nako ha gongat, jagu dya re mala shantatene).

The installation was constructed using Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) funds in 2015. The city has a number of common man statues, but very few are used to send out a social message.

“For me, one of the tasks after becoming the municipal corporator was to beautify my ward and especially the junctions. We identified a few spots which could be used for this purpose. The Utkarsh Mandal square was even then a busy area bustling with traffic. Therefore, we decided to use this space to send out a social message to the public,” said Jyoti Alavani, former corporator of Vile Parle.

“Noise pollution is one of the biggest problems in the area, especially for senior citizens who always want us to work on the issue. We might not feel it, but for them, it is a major headache,” she said.

The road was always busy as commuters who earlier wanted to avoid Gokhale Bridge to travel to Lokhandwala, used to travel from here. Now, as the Gokhale Bridge has been closed the traffic has increased manifold. In the wake of increased traffic, the installation in the middle of the road speaks for the common man asking commuters to go slow on horns.

“When it was decided to send out a social message against noise pollution, we deliberated on the design. Instead of putting an unknown, abstract figure, we thought the message should go from a common man. And who better than R K Laxman’s common man,” said Parag Alavani, local MLA from Vile Parle.

Laxman’s daughter Usha Laxman said that the Vile Parle installation gives an overwhelming feeling as it sends an important message to society. “The Common Man statue should always be in public spaces. The idea behind father’s Common Man is perfectly captured in this. He is the spectator, out in the open, on the pavement, sees everything. Here he is shown troubled by the noise pollution sending the message that we common people suffer,” she said, while expressing her desire to see similar statues in public spaces, highlighting the common man’s issues.