I think it was in my second grade that I was caught drawing the bust of a nude by Michelangelo. I was sent straight away to my school principal, and my school principal, a sweet nun, looked at my book with disgust, flipped through the pages, saw all the nudes -- you know, I'd been seeing my mother draw nudes and I'd copy her -- and the nun slapped me on my face and said, "Sweet Jesus, this kid has already begun."
Mislim kako je to bilo u drugom razredu kada sam uhvaćen kako crtam poprsje golog tijela od Michelangela. Odmah sam poslan ravno k ravnateljici škole, a moja ravnateljica škole, dražesna časna sestra, je gledala u moju knjigu s gnušanjem, listala je kroz stranice, vidjela sve aktove -- znate, promatrao sam moju majku kako crta aktove i kopirao sam je -- a časna sestra me udarila po licu i rekla, "Isuse mili, ovo dijete je već počelo."
I had no clue what she was talking about, but it was convincing enough for me never to draw again until the ninth grade. Thanks to a really boring lecture, I started caricaturing my teachers in school. And, you know, I got a lot of popularity. I don't play sports. I'm really bad at sports. I don't have the fanciest gadgets at home. I'm not on top of the class. So for me, cartooning gave me a sense of identity. I got popular, but I was scared I'd get caught again. So what I did was I quickly put together a collage of all the teachers I had drawn, glorified my school principal, put him right on top, and gifted it to him. He had a good laugh at the other teachers and put it up on the notice board. (Laughter) This is a part of that. And I became a school hero. All my seniors knew me. I felt really special.
Nisam imao pojma o čemu priča, ali bilo je dovoljno uvjerljivo da prestanem crtati sve do devetog razreda. Zahvaljujući uistinu dosadnom predavanju, počeo sam crtati karikature svojih učitelja u školi. I, znate, dobio sam mnogo na popularnosti. Ne bavim se sportovima. Doista sam loš u sportovima. Nemam kod kuće najelegantnije uređaje. Nisam među najboljima u razredu. Dakle, za mene, crtanje mi je dalo smisao identiteta. Postao sam popularan, ali bojao sam se da me ponovno ne uhvate. Ono što sam učinio jest da sam brzo sastavio kolaž svih učitelja koje sam nacrtao, proslavio mog školskog ravnatelja, stavljajući ga na sam vrh, i darujući mu taj kolaž. Dobro se nasmijao drugim učiteljima i stavio je to gore na oglasnu ploču. (Smijeh) Ovo je dio toga. I postao sam junak škole. Svi maturanti su me znali. Osjećao sam se doista posebno.
I have to tell you a little bit about my family. That's my mother. I love her to bits. She's the one who taught me how to draw and, more importantly, how to love. She's a bit of a hippie. She said, "Don't say that," but I'm saying it anyway. The rest of my family are boring academics, busy collecting Ivy League decals for our classic Ambassador car. My father's a little different. My father believed in a holistic approach to living, and, you know, every time he taught us, he'd say, "I hate these books, because these books are hijacked by Industrial Revolution."
Moram vam reći malo o svojoj obitelji. Ovo je moja majka. Volim je do beskrajnosti. Ona me naučila kako crtati, i još važnije, kako voljeti. Ona je pomalo hippie. Rekla je, "Nemoj to reći," ali ja ipak to kažem. Ostatak moje obitelji su dosadni znanstvenici, koji su zaposleni skupljajući naljepnice s najboljih sveučilišta za naš klasični Ambassador auto. Moj otac je pomalo drugačiji. Moj otac je vjerovao u holistički pristup življenju, i, znate, svaku put kad bi nas učio, rekao bi, "Mrzim te knjige, jer te knjige je otela Industrijska revolucija."
While he still held that worldview, I was 16, I got the best lawyer in town, my older brother Karthik, and I sat him down, and I said, "Pa, from today onwards I've decided I'm going to be disciplined, I'm going to be curious, I'm going to learn something new every day, I'm going to be very hard working, and I'm not going to depend on you emotionally or financially." And he was very impressed. He was all tearing up. Ready to hug me. And I said, "Hold that thought." I said, "Can I quit school then?"
Dok je još uvijek imao taj pogled na svijet, ja sam imao 16 godina, dobio sam najboljeg odvjetnika u gradu, svog starijeg brata Karthika, i posjeo sam ga i rekao, "Tata, od danas pa nadalje odlučio sam da ću biti discipliniran, da ću biti znatiželjan, da ću naučiti nešto novo svaki dan, da ću biti jako marljiv, i da se neću oslanjati na tebe emocionalno ili financijski." I on je bio veoma impresioniran. Sav je bio u suzama. Spreman da me zagrli. I rekao sam, "Zadrži tu misao." Rekao sam, "Mogu li onda prekinuti školovanje?"
But, to cut a long story short, I quit school to pursue a career as a cartoonist. I must have done about 30,000 caricatures. I would do birthday parties, weddings, divorces, anything for anyone who wanted to use my services. But, most importantly, while I was traveling, I taught children cartooning, and in exchange, I learned how to be spontaneous. And mad and crazy and fun. When I started teaching them, I said let me start doing this professionally. When I was 18 I started my own school. However, an 18 year-old trying to start a school is not easy unless you have a big patron or a big supporter.
Ali, da skratim tu dugačku priču, napustio sam školu kako bih slijedio karijeru karikaturiste. Mora da sam napravio 30.000 karikatura. Crtao bih na rođendanskim proslavama, vjenčanjima, razvodima, na bilo čemu za bilo koga tko je htio moje usluge. Ali, najvažnije, dok sam putovao, naučio sam djecu crtati, a u zamjenu, naučio sam biti spontan. I lud i šašav i zabavan. Kada sam ih počeo podučavati, rekao sam dopustite mi da počnem to profesionalno raditi. S 18, osnovao sam vlastitu školu. Međutim, biti 18-ogodišnjak koji pokušava osnovati svoju školu nije lako osim ako imate velikog sponzora ili velikog pobornika.
So I was flipping through the pages of the Times of India when I saw that the Prime Minister of India was visiting my home town, Bangalore. And, you know, just like how every cartoonist knows Bush here, and if you had to meet Bush, it would be the funnest thing because his face was a cartoonist's delight. I had to meet my Prime Minister. I went to the place where his helicopter was about to land. I saw layers of security. I caricatured my way through three layers by just impressing the guards, but I got stuck. I got stuck at the third. And what happened was, to my luck, I saw a nuclear scientist at whose party I had done cartoons. I ran up to him, and said, "Hello, sir. How do you do?" He said, "What are you doing here, Raghava?" I said, "I'm here to meet the Prime Minister." He said, "Oh, so am I." I hopped into his car, and off we went through the remaining layers of security. (Applause) Thank you. I sat him down, I caricatured him, and since then I've caricatured hundreds of celebrities.
Stoga sam listao kroz stranice Times of India kada sam ugledao da je Indijski premijer u posjeti mom rodnom gradu, Bangaloreu. I, znate, kao što ovdje svaki karikaturist zna Busha, i kad biste trebali upoznati Busha, bila bi to najsmješnija stvar jer njegovo lice je užitak svakom karikaturistu. Morao sam upoznati svog premijera. Otišao sam do mjesta gdje je njegov helikopter trebao sletjeti. Vidio sam slojeve osiguranja. Iskarikirao sam put kroz te slojeve jednostavno impresionirajući stražare, ali zaglavio sam. Zaglavio sam kod trećeg. I što se dogodilo, na moju sreću, ugledao sam nuklearnog znanstvenika na čijoj sam proslavi radio crteže. Dotrčao sam do njega i rekao, "Dobar dan, gospodine. Kako ste?" On je rekao, "Što radiš ovdje Raghava?" Rekao sam, "Došao sam se upoznati s premijerom." On kaže, "Oh, ja također." Uskočio sam u njegov auto, i tako smo prošli kroz ostatak slojeva osiguranja. (Pljesak) Hvala vam. Posjeo sam ga, nacrtao ga, i od tada sam crtao stotine slavnih.
This is one I remember fondly. Salman Rushdie was pissed-off I think because I altered the map of New York, if you notice. (Laughter) Anyway, the next slide I'm about to show you -- (Laughter) Should I just turn that off? The next slide I'm about to show you, is a little more serious. I was hesitant to include this in my presentation because this cartoon was published soon after 9/11. What was, for me, a very naive observation, turned out to be a disaster. That evening, I came home to hundreds of hate mails, hundreds of people telling me how they could have lived another day without seeing this. I was also asked to leave the organization, a cartoonists' organization in America, that for me was my lifeline. That's when I realized, you know, cartoons are really powerful, art comes with responsibility.
Ovog se sjećam sa nježnošću. Salman Rushdie se naljutio, mislim, jer sam promijenio kartu New Yorka, ako primjećujete. (Smijeh) No, sljedeći slajd koji ću vam prikazati -- (Smijeh) A da ja to jednostavno ugasim? Idući slajd koji ću vam pokazati, je malo ozbiljniji. Dvoumio sam se da li da stavim ovo u svoju prezentaciju jer ovaj crtež je objavljen nedugo nakon 11. rujna. Ono što je za mene bilo, vrlo naivno opažanje, pretvorilo se u katastrofu. Te večeri, vratio sam se doma stotinama mailova mržnje. Stotine ljudi govorilo mi je kako su mogli živjeti još jedan dan bez da to vide. Ujedno su me zamolili da napustim organizaciju, crtačku organizaciju u Americi, koja je za mene bila linija života. Tada sam shvatio, znate, da su crteži jako moćni, umjetnost dolazi s odgovornošću.
Anyway, what I did was I decided that I need to take a break. I quit my job at the papers, I closed my school, and I wrapped up my pencils and my brushes and inks, and I decided to go traveling. When I went traveling, I remember, I met this fabulous old man, who I met when I was caricaturing, who turned out to be an artist, in Italy. He invited me to his studio. He said, "Come and visit." When I went, I saw the ghastliest thing ever. I saw this dead, naked effigy of himself hanging from the ceiling. I said, "Oh, my God. What is that?" And I asked him, and he said, "Oh, that thing? In the night, I die. In the morning, I am born again." I thought he was koo koo, but something about that really stuck. I loved it. I thought there was something really beautiful about that. So I said, "I am dead, so I need to be born again."
Ono što sam odlučio jest da trebam uzeti odmor. Ostavio sam svoj posao u novinama, zatvorio sam svoju školu, i zamotao sam svoje olovke i kistove i tinte, i odlučio sam putovati. Za vrijeme putovanja, sjećam se, sreo sam tog izvanrednog starca, kojeg sam upoznao dok sam crtao, a za kojeg se ispostavilo da je umjetnik u Italiji. Pozvao me u svoj studio. Rekao je, "Dođi i posjeti me." Kada sam došao, vidio sam najužasniju stvar ikad. Ugledao sam tu mrtvu sliku njega kako visi sa stropa. Rekao sam, "O, moj Bože. Što je to?" I pitao sam ga, a on je rekao, "O, ta stvar? Tijekom noći, umrem. Ujutro, ponovno se rodim." Pomislio sam kako je poludio, ali nešto kod toga mi je doista ostalo u pamćenju. Volio sam to. Mislio sam kako ima nešto veoma lijepo u tome. Pa sam rekao, "Mrtav sam, i trebam biti ponovno rođen."
So, I wanted to be a painter like him, except, I don't know how to paint. So, I tried going to the art store. You know, there are a hundred types of brushes. Forget it, they will confuse you even if you know how to draw. So I decided, I'm going to learn to paint by myself. I'm going to show you a very quick clip to show you how I painted and a little bit about my city, Bangalore. (Music) They had to be larger than life. Everything had to be larger. The next painting was even bigger. And even bigger. And for me it was, I had to dance while I painted. It was so exciting. Except, I even started painting dancers. Here for example is a Flamenco dancer, except there was one problem. I didn't know the dance form, so I started following them, and I made some money, sold my paintings and would rush off to France or Spain and work with them. That's Pepe Linares, the renowned Flamenco singer.
Želio sam biti slikar poput njega, osim što ne znam slikati. Stoga sam pokušao otići do umjetničke trgovine. Znate, postoji stotine vrsta kistova. Zaboravite ih, zbunit će vas čak i ako znate crtati. Stoga sam odlučio, naučiti ću sam kako slikati. Pokazat ću vam vrlo kratak isječak da vam pokažem kako sam slikao i pomalo o svom gradu, Bangalore-u. (Glazba) Morale su biti veće od života. Sve je trebalo biti veće. Iduća slika je bila još veća. I još veća. A za mene je bilo, morao sam plesati dok sam slikao. Bilo je tako uzbudljivo. Osim, počeo sam slikati plesače. Ovdje je, na primjer, plesačica Flamenca, osim što postoji jedan problem. Nisam poznavao plesnu formu, stoga sam ih počeo slijediti, i zaradio sam nešto novaca, prodao svoje slike i odjurio u Francusku ili Španjolsku kako bih radio s njima. Ovo je Pepe Linares, prestižan Flamenco pjevač.
But I had one problem, my paintings never danced. As much energy as I put into them while making them, they never danced. So I decided -- I had this crazy epiphany at two in the morning. I called my friends, painted on their bodies, and had them dance in front of a painting. And, all of a sudden, my paintings came alive. And then I was fortunate enough to actually perform this in California with Velocity Circus. And I sat like you guys there in the audience. And I saw my work come alive. You know, normally you work in isolation, and you show at a gallery, but here, the work was coming alive, and it had some other artists working with me.
Ali imao sam jedan problem, moje slike nikad nisu plesale. Koliko god sam energije ulagao u njih dok sam ih slikao, one nikad nisu plesale. Stoga sam odlučio -- imao sam to ludo Bogojavljanje u dva ujutro. Nazvao sam svoje prijatelje, slikao po njihovim tijelima i postavio ih da plešu ispred slike. I, odjednom, moje slike su oživjele. I zatim sam bio dovoljno sretan da zapravo nastupim u Velocity cirkusu u Kaliforniji. I sjedio sam poput vas ovdje u publici. I gledao kako moj rad oživljava. Znate, normalno radite u izolaciji, i izlažete u galeriji, ali ovdje, rad je oživio, i neki drugi umjetnici su radili samnom.
The collaborative effort was fabulous. I said, I'm going to collaborate with anybody and everybody I meet. I started doing fashion. This is a fashion show we held in London. The best collaboration, of course, is with children. They are ruthless, they are honest, but they're full of energy and fun. This is a work, a library I designed for the Robin Hood Foundation. And I must say, I spent time in the Bronx working with these kids. And, in exchange for me working with them, they taught me how to be cool. I don't think I've succeeded, but they've taught me. They said, "Stop saying sorry. Say, my bad." (Laughter)
Zajednički trud je bio prekrasan. Rekao sam, surađivat ću s bilo kime i svima koje upoznam. Počeo sam raditi u modi. Ovo je modni show koji smo održali u Londonu. Najbolja suradnja, je naravno, s djecom. Ona su nemilosrdna, ona su iskrena, ali ona su puna energije i zabavna. Ovo je rad, knjižnica koju sam dizajnirao za Robin Hood fondaciju. I moram reći, proveo sam vrijeme u Bronksu radeći s tom djecom. A u zamjenu za to što sam radio s njima, oni su me naučili kako biti frajer. Ne mislim kako sam uspio, ali naučili su me. Rekli su, "Prestani govoriti oprosti. Reci, moja greška." (Smijeh)
Then I said, all this is good, but I want to paint like a real painter. American education is so expensive. I was in India, and I was walking down the streets, and I saw a billboard painter. And these guys paint humongous paintings, and they look really good. And I wondered how they did it from so close. So, one day I had the opportunity to meet one of these guys, and I said, "How do you paint like that? Who taught you?" And he said, "Oh, it's very easy. I can teach you, but we're leaving the city, because billboard painters are a dying, extinct bunch of artists, because digital printing has totally replaced them and hijacked them." I said, in exchange for education in how to paint, I will support them, and I started a company. And since then, I've been painting all over the place. This is a painting I did of my wife in my apartment. This is another painting. And, in fact, I started painting on anything, and started sending them around town.
Tada sam rekao, sve ovo je dobro, ali želim slikati poput pravog slikara. Američko obrazovanje je tako skupo. Bio sam u Indiji, i hodao sam niz ulice, i vidio sam slikara panoa. I ti momci slikaju ogromne slike, koje izgledaju zaista dobro. I pitao sam se kako su to radili tako izbliza. Jedan dan sam imao priliku upoznati jednog od tih momaka, i rekao sam, "Kako možete ovako slikati? Tko vas je naučio?" A on je rekao, "O, vrlo je jednostavno. Mogu vas naučiti, ali odlazimo iz grada, jer slikari panoa su umirajuća, izumrla hrpa umjetnika, jer ih je digitalni print totalno zamijenio i oteo." Rekao sam, u zamjenu za podučavanje kako slikati, podupirat ću ih, i osnovao sam poduzeće. I od tada, slikam posvuda. Ovo je slika moje žene u našem stanu. Ovo je druga slika. I, zapravo, počeo sam slikati na bilo čemu, i počeo sam ih slati po gradu.
Since I mentioned my wife, the most important collaboration has been with her, Netra. Netra and I met when she was 18. I must have been 19 and a half then, and it was love at first sight. I lived in India. She lived in America. She'd come every two months to visit me, and then I said I'm the man, I'm the man, and I have to reciprocate. I have to travel seven oceans, and I have to come and see you. I did that twice, and I went broke. So then I said, "Nets, what do I do?" She said, "Why don't you send me your paintings? My dad knows a bunch of rich guys. We'll try and con them into buying it, and then..." But it turned out, after I sent the works to her, that her dad's friends, like most of you, are geeks. I'm joking. (Laughter) No, they were really big geeks, and they didn't know much about art. So Netra was stuck with 30 paintings of mine.
Kako sam spomenuo svoju ženu, najvažnija suradnja je bila s njom, Netrom. Netra i ja smo se upoznali kada je njoj bilo 18. Ja sam imao 19 i pol tada, i bila je to ljubav na prvi pogled. Ja sam živio u Indiji. Ona je živjela u Americi. Ona bi došla svaka dva mjeseca meni u posjetu, i tada sam rekao ja sam muško, ja sam muško, i moram uzvratiti. Moram putovati preko sedam mora, i moram doći i vidjeti te. Učinio sam to i bankrotirao. Tada sam rekao, "Nets, što da radim?" Ona je rekla, "Zašto mi ne pošalješ svoje slike? Moj tata poznaje hrpu bogatih ljudi. Pokušat ćemo ih navesti da ih kupe, i tada..." Ali ispostavilo se da, nakon što sam joj poslao radove, da su prijatelji njezinog tate, kao i većina vas, šmokljani. Šalim se. (Smijeh) Ne, doista su bili veliki šmokljani, i nisu znali mnogo o umjetnosti. Tako je Netra imala mojih 30 slika.
So what we did was we rented a little van and we drove all over the east coast trying to sell it. She contacted anyone and everyone who was willing to buy my work. She made enough money, she sold off the whole collection and made enough money to move me for four years with lawyers, a company, everything, and she became my manager. That's us in New York. Notice one thing, we're equal here. Something happened along the line. (Laughter)
Ono što smo napravili jest da smo unajmili mali kombi i vozili smo se cijelom istočnom obalom pokušavajući ih prodati. Ona je kontaktirala bilo koga tko bi mogao kupiti moje radove. Zaradila je dovoljno novaca, prodala je cijelu kolekciju i zaradila dovoljno novaca da me preseli na četiri godine s odvjetnicima, poduzećem, svime, i postala je moj menadžer. Ovo smo mi u New Yorku. Primjetite jednu stvar, ovdje smo jednaki. Nešto se dogodilo u međuvremenu. (Smijeh)
But this brought me -- with Netra managing my career -- it brought me a lot of success. I was really happy. I thought of myself as a bit of a rockstar. I loved the attention. This is all the press we got, and we said, it's time to celebrate. And I said that the best way to celebrate is to marry Netra. I said, "Let's get married." And I said, "Not just married. Let's invite everyone who's helped us, all the people who bought our work." And you won't believe it, we put together a list of 7,000 people, who had made a difference -- a ridiculous list, but I was determined to bring them to India, so -- a lot of them were in India. 150 artists volunteered to help me with my wedding. We had fashion designers, installation artists, models, we had makeup artists, jewelry designers, all kinds of people working with me to make my wedding an art installation. And I had a special installation in tribute to my in-laws. I had the vegetable carvers work on that for me.
Ali to mi je donijelo -- Netra upravljajući mojom karijerom -- donijelo mi je mnogo uspjeha. Bio sam doista sretan. Razmišljao sam pomalo o sebi poput rock zvijezde. Sviđala mi se pažnja. Ovo je cijela štampa u kojoj smo bili, i rekli smo, sada je vrijeme da proslavimo. I rekao sam kako je najbolji način proslave da udam Netru. Rekao sam, "Udajmo se." I rekao sam, "Ne samo udati se. Pozovimo sve koji su nam pomogli, sve ljude koji su kupili naše radove." I nećete vjerovati, sastavili smo popis od 7.000 ljudi, koji su napravili promjenu -- luda lista, ali bio sam odlučan da ih dovedem u Indiju, pa -- mnogo njih je bilo u Indiji. 150 umjetnika je volontiralo kako bi mi pomoglo s vjenčanjem. Imali smo modne dizajnere, umjetnike instalacija, modele, imali smo vizažiste, dizajnere nakita, sve vrste ljudi koji su radili sa mnom kako bi pretvorili moje vjenčanje u umjetničku instalaciju. A u počast ženinim roditeljima napravio sam posebnu instalaciju. Rezbači povrća su napravili ovo za mene.
But all this excitement led to the press writing about us. We were in the papers, we're still in the news three years later, but, unfortunately, something tragic happened right after. My mother fell very ill. I love my mother and I was told all of a sudden that she was going to die. And they said you have to say bye to her, you have to do what you have to do. And I was devastated. I had shows booked up for another year. I was on a high. And I couldn't. I could not.
Ali svo to uzbuđenje je vodilo do pisanja u medijima o nama. Bili smo u novinama, još uvijek smo u vijestima tri godine kasnije, ali, nažalost, nešto tragično se dogodilo odmah nakon toga. Moja majka se jako razboljela. Volim svoju majku i rečeno mi je odjednom da će umrijeti. I rekli su mi da se moram pozdraviti s njom, moram učiniti ono što moram učiniti. I bio sam devastiran. Imao sam izložbe bukirane godinu dana unaprijed. Išlo mi je odlično. I nisam mogao. Nisam mogao.
My life was not exuberant. I could not live this larger than life person. I started exploring the darker abscesses of the human mind. Of course, my work turned ugly, but another thing happened. I lost all my audiences. The Bollywood stars who I would party with and buy my work disappeared. The collectors, the friends, the press, everyone said, "Nice, but thank you." "No thank you," was more like it. But I wanted people to actually feel my work from their gut, because I was painting it from my gut. If they wanted beauty, I said, this is the beauty I'm willing to give you. It's politicized. Of course, none of them liked it.
Moj život nije bio veseo. Nisam mogao živjeti životom osobe veće od života. Počeo sam istraživati tamnije abscese ljudskog uma. Naravno, moji radovi su postali ružni, ali još se nešto dogodilo. Izgubio sam svu svoju publiku. Zvijezde Bollywooda s kojima bih odlazio na tulume i koje bi kupovale moje radove, su nestale. Kolekcionari, prijatelji, mediji, svi su rekli, "Lijepo, ali hvala vam." Više je bilo nalik na, "Ne, hvala." Ali želio sam da ljudi zapravo osjete moje radove u njihovoj srži, jer ja sam slikao iz svoje srži. Ukoliko su željeli ljepotu, rekao sam, ovo je ljepota koju sam vam spreman dati. Politizirana je. Naravno, nikome se nije sviđala.
My works also turned autobiographical. At this point, something else happened. A very, very dear friend of mine came out of the closet, and in India at that time, it was illegal to be gay, and it's disgusting to see how people respond to a gay person. I was very upset. I remember the time when my mother used to dress me up as a little girl -- that's me there -- because she wanted a girl, and she has only boys. (Laughter) Anyway, I don't know what my friends are going to say after this talk. It's a secret.
Moji radovi su postali autobiografski. U tom periodu, još nešto se dogodilo. Moj jako, jako dragi prijatelj je izašao "iz ormara", a u Indiji u to vrijeme, je bilo ilegalno biti homoseksualac, i odvratno je vidjeti kako ljudi reagiraju na homoseksualce. Bio sam jako uznemiren. Sjećam se vremena kada me majka znala odijevati kao malu djevojčicu -- to sam ja tamo -- jer je htjela djevojčicu, a ima samo dječake. (Smijeh) Kakogod, ne znam što će moji prijatelji reći nakon ovog govora. To je tajna.
So, after this, my works turned a little violent. I talked about this masculinity that one need not perform. And I talked about the weakness of male sexuality. This time, not only did my collectors disappear, the political activists decided to ban me and to threaten me and to forbid me from showing. It turned nasty, and I'm a bit of a chicken. I can't deal with any threat. This was a big threat.
Dakle, nakon toga, moj rad je postao pomalo nasilan. Pričao sam o toj muškosti koju pojedinac ne mora izvesti. I pričao sam o slabostima muške spolnosti. Ovaj put, ne samo da su kolekcionari nestali, politički aktivisti su me odlučili prognati i prijetiti mi i zabraniti moje prikazivanje. Postalo je gadno, a ja sam pomalo kukavica. Ne mogu se nositi ni sa kakvom prijetnjom. Ovo je bila velika prijetnja.
So, I decided it was time to end and go back home. This time I said let's try something different. I need to be reborn again. And I thought the best way, as most of you know who have children, the best way to have a new lease on life, is to have a child. I decided to have a child, and before I did that, I quickly studied what can go wrong. How can a family get dysfunctional? And Rudra was born. That's my little son.
Stoga sam odlučio da je vrijeme da okončam to i odem natrag doma. Ovaj puta sam rekao da moramo probati nešto drugačije. Moram ponovno biti rođen. I razmišljao sam o najboljem načinu, kao što većina vas koji imate djecu zna, najbolji način da dobijete novi najam na život, je imati dijete. Odlučio sam imati dijete. I prije nego sam to učinio, proučio sam što može poći po zlu. Kako obitelj može postati disfunkcionalna? I Rudra je rođen. Ovo je moj mali sin.
And two magical things happened after he was born. My mother miraculously recovered after a serious operation, and this man was elected president of this country. You know I sat at home and I watched. I teared up and I said that's where I want to be. So Netra and I wound up our life, closed up everything we had, and we decided to move to New York. And this was just eight months ago.
I dvije magične stvari su se dogodile nakon njegovog rođenja. Moja majka se čudesno oporavila nakon ozbiljne operacije, a ovaj čovjek je izabran za predsjednika ove zemlje. Znate, sjedio sam kod kuće i gledao. Plakao sam i rekao da tu želim biti. Netra i ja smo ranili naš život, zatvorili smo sve što smo imali, i odlučili smo se preseliti u New York. A to je bilo prije samo osam mjeseci.
I moved back to New York, my work has changed. Everything about my work has become more whimsical. This one is called "What the Fuck Was I Thinking?" It talks about mental incest. You know, I may appear to be a very nice, clean, sweet boy. But I'm not. I'm capable of thinking anything. But I'm very civil in my action, I assure you. (Laughter) These are just different cartoons.
Doselio sam se natrag u New York, moj rad se promijenio. Sve u mom poslu je postalo kapriciozno. Ovo se zove, "O čemu sam, jebemu, razmišljao?" Govori o mentalnom incestu. Znate, možda vam se čini kao da sam vrlo drag, čist, ljubazan dečko. Ali nisam. Sposoban sam misliti o bilo čemu. Ali, uvjeravam vas, vrlo sam civiliziran u svojim djelima. (Smijeh) Ovo su samo različiti crteži.
And, before I go, I want to tell you a little story. I was talking to mother and father this morning, and my dad said, "I know you have so much you want to say, but you have to talk about your work with children." So I said, okay.
I prije nego odem, želim vam ispričati kratku priču. Pričao sam s majkom i ocem jutros, i moj tata je rekao, "Znam da imaš toliko toga što bi želio reći, ali moraš pričati o svom radu s djecom." Pa sam rekao, u redu.
I work with children all over the world, and that's an entirely different talk, but I want to leave you with one story that really, really inspired me. I met Belinda when she was 16. I was 17. I was in Australia, and Belinda had cancer, and I was told she's not going to live very long. They, in fact, told me three weeks. I walk into her room, and there was a shy girl, and she was bald, and she was trying to hide her baldness. I whipped out my pen, and I started drawing on her head and I drew a crown for her. And then, we started talking, and we spent a lovely time -- I told her how I ended up in Australia, how I backpacked and who I conned, and how I got a ticket, and all the stories. And I drew it out for her. And then I left. Belinda died and within a few days of her death, they published a book for her, and she used my cartoon on the cover. And she wrote a little note, she said, "Hey Rags, thank you for the magic carpet ride around the world."
Radim s djecom po cijelom svijetu, i to je potpuno drugi govor, ali želim vas ostaviti s jednom pričom koja me uistinu, uistinu inspirirala. Sreo sam Belindu kada joj je bilo 16 godina. Meni je bilo 17. Bio sam u Australiji, i Belinda je imala rak, i rečeno mi je kako neće živjeti još dugo. Rekli su mi, zapravo, tri tjedna. Uđem u sobu, i tamo je sramežljiva djevojka, i bila je ćelava, i pokušala je sakriti svoju ćelavost. Izvadio sam svoju kemijsku olovku i počeo crtati po njezinoj glavi i nacrtao sam joj krunu. I zatim, počeli smo pričati, i divno smo se proveli -- ispričao sam joj kako sam završio u Australiji, kako sam putovao s ruksakom i koga sam prevario, te kako sam došao do karte, i sve te priče. I to sam joj nacrtao. I zatim sa otišao. Belinda je umrla, i nekoliko dana nakon njezine smrti, objavili su njezinu knjigu, i stavila je moj crtež na naslovnicu. I napisala je malu bilješku, rekla je, "Hej Rags, hvala ti na magičnom putovanju na letećem sagu oko svijeta."
For me, my art is my magic carpet ride. I hope you will join me in this magic carpet ride, and touch children and be honest. Thank you so much. (Applause)
Za mene, moja umjetnost je moje putovanje magičnim letećim sagom. Nadam se da ćete mi se pridružiti u tom putovanju magičnim letećim sagom, i da ćete dirnuti djecu i biti iskreni. Puno vam hvala. (Pljesak)