India's iconic 'Common Man' wears a facemask in Mumbai to raise awareness around Coronavirus

• The statue of India’s iconic ‘Common Man’ in Mumbai was spotted wearing a facemask.
• RK Laxman’s Common Man comic strips were known from representing the average India’s concerns.
• Maharashtra is one of the worst hit states with more than 500 Coronavirus positive patients.

R.K. Laxman’s daily comic strips about the ‘Common Man’ has always represented the average Indian’s trials and troubles. This time the dhoti-clad comic strip character was spotted wearing a protective facemask in Mumbai.

The biggest statue of the Common Man is a 8-foot rall bronze structure at the Symbiosis University’s campus in Pune. However, the statue at Mumbai’s Worli seaface is one of the first to come into existence.

Maharashtra is one of the worst hit states in India will Coronavirus cases cases rising to 537 after 28 new cases were reported earlier today, April 4, by state’s health department.
The Common Man and India
The Common Man is always dressed in a dhoti with a small tuft of hair billowing in the wind as he gazes bewildered through his rounded spectacles at the scenes unfolding around him.

He commented on the most maddening of everyday inconveniences that the average Indian has to face — including what the father of the nation, Mahathma Gandhi, may think of the situations unfolding in the country.

The Common Man comic strip has always had something to say about some of India’s most significant moments. RK Laxman, the prominent cartoonist behind the series, died in January 2015 at the age of 94.

Coronavirus and the Common Man
The total number of cases in India has reached 2,650 with 183 Coronavirus positive patients cured and 68 deaths. However, these number may not be telling the whole story with experts suggesting that they may be underestimated with India’s testing rate being one of the lowest in the world.

According to experts, it’s going to take at least a year for there to be a vaccine against Covid-19 that will be effective and safe for human use. In the meanwhile, there’s a nationwide lockdown in place for 21 days. Whether or not it will be extended will depend on the data at comes in over the course of next week.

In Maharasthra, the state’s health minister Rajesh Tope has announced that the state may not lift the lockdown on April 14, even if the nationwide restrictions are lifted, if the residents do not adhere to social distancing and other best practices to avoid the spread of infection.

Three days before the lockdown was announced on March 25, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi first tested the waters with a ‘Janata Curfew’. Everyone came out of 5:00 pm to ring bells and make some noise for the dedicated health workers on the front lines of the pandemic.

Now, on Sunday April 5, Modi has again asked for the citizens of India to participate in a nationwide exercise. This time everyone is to switch off their lights and light a candle, torch or diya to show a “collective resolve” in fights the Coronavirus infection in India.

However, states are concerned that the sudden fluctuation in power supply as everyone shuts off their electricity puts power grids at risk. If a dispatch center or transmission utility were to trip — it could result in a cascading effect across the nation akin to the blackouts of 2012.

The Common Man would surely have something to say about the troubling times that India is facing today due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

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